Like many of the Maxims, this one is complementary to the previous one. If you have an existing campaign that’s been working for you, stick with it. BUT ALWAYS, always test against it! I mean, if you get better results, could you handle better results? And if the results of your test aren’t as good, you’ve still got a winning campaign. Now test again.
“But when does the testing stop?” When you have all the business you can handle and don’t want to grow anymore. Don’t laugh. I’ve run into this attitude on hundreds of occasions. Growth is simply not an option. It requires too much… whatever.
Case in point: An old-line, membership-only City Club asked me to review their membership program. They didn’t have people in “sales,” they had “membership services.” They didn’t “market” for new members, they held sponsorship drives (which they “marketed” to their existing membership!), and if a member had a list of prospects (say, other executives in his office building or condominium), they would send out a classy letter on gilded-letterhead, congratulating the recipient for being touched by supreme grace and chosen for inclusion in their exclusive enclave. OK, none of this was the real problem.
When I pressed further, it turned out the same letter had been used since 1968 (NO exaggeration!). They had NEVER tested any other letter. How well did it work?
“Great!”
“What’s ‘great?’”
“Lot’s of calls!”
“What are ‘lots of calls?’”
“The phone rings off the hook, every time we send it out!”
“Yes, but how many calls?”
“Oh, we don’t track all the calls, there are a lot, though!”
I kept prodding, but I think you see the pattern. They didn’t know. And that’s wasn’t even the main problem! They didn’t really want to know!
They were unwilling to test against the cherished letter. It worked OK, why fix it? I offered to do a second letter the next time they had a nice mailing (for example, to a few hundred condo dwellers), with appropriate tracking. I suggested doing a 10% test of the whole. No go. As far as I know, they’re still using the same letter. Probably still makes the phone ring, too. Lots and lots!
Never stop testing… you can ALWAYS do better than your best.
