Q1: What variables should be considered when testing my direct mail pieces?

A1: The most significant variables to test are those that usually have the greatest impact on response rate. These include; offers, prices, premiums, creative (including strategy, format and copy), seasonality / timing and of course, list selection. It is important to test one element at a time, so you'll be able to clearly link cause and effect. Initially, test the more substantial differences in your approach, so that you can adjust your program later on by testing finer points. (Since direct mail is a responsive medium and you'll often achieve profitable results quickly. Your next level of testing then becomes a matter of determining how you can make a "good thing even better.")

By testing with small but statistically significant mailings, you can also keep expenditures to a minimum. Testing does not cost a lot, so it can also encourage you to explore some innovative new approaches that might turn out to be breakthrough result-getters. You'll find testing to be an interesting, informative and highly profitable exercise, full of marketing and advertising lessons that you would not have learned otherwise.

Q2: When should I test?

A2: There are as many answers to that question as there are companies with mailing programs tailored to their special products, services and markets. But here are some overall guidelines.

• If you want to fine-tune a successful mailing to get even better results.
• If the cost-per-order or cost-per-inquiry isn't what you had hoped for.
• If you are presented with a new creative concept that you feel might be a significant performer but (prudently) requires more than just a gut instinct to justify a major rollout.
• If you want expand your market via a wider-ranging list selection.
• If something in your marketing mix changes like a new price point, a new discount or a promising premium.
• If you have a new product or service to introduce.

Q3: How frequently should testing be done?

A3: An ongoing testing program is always the best policy with direct mail. As you know, the marketplace is dynamic and constantly changing. So continuous testing is a powerful tool that allows you to stay ahead of those changes. Testing provides valuable knowledge and any smart marketer knows that you can never have too much of that. However, hunches, intuition and new creative concepts will always play an important role in this discipline. So we need to balance those assets with the realities of response rates and numerical analysis that testing offers. Together they form a very effective system of controls that also tap into artistry and fresh ideas.