I’m a stickler for tracking results. But sometimes I have to remind both myself and my clients that making sales isn’t always the only yardstick by which to measure success.
Are You Making the Needle Move? When evaluating any campaign, look for evidence that your customers and prospects responded in some way, even if they didn’t buy right then. Check the number of catalog requests, your email open rate, whether there was a spike in emails and phone calls related to your advertising.
Sometimes changing a variable or two is all that it takes to close the sale. Watch for evidence that you’re at least making the needle move, then keep testing and refine the process.
It can take a while to nurture a relationship before someone is ready to buy. I certainly don’t expect new clients to appear every single time I send out a new newsletter or publish a new blog post. But the ringing phone and the many emails let me know I’m on the right path.
What Are You Learning? Sometimes you can learn things that will help you in other marketing efforts. At the moment, we’re running several paid search campaigns that include split-testing different headlines and descriptions. Determining the exact phrases that motivate prospects to respond not only improves our paid search results, but it helps improve any other advertising we do.
When testing any new marketing effort, don’t think of it as all-or-nothing, yes-or-no. Look for evidence that you’re moving the right direction, and if you are, find ways to build on what you learn.
