Last week we introduced the idea of testing your sales letters.  We'll pick up that conversation with 2 ways you can and should test your sales letters for maximum profits.

First, there’s split testing, which is the fastest way to test and get to a reasonable conclusion.  Let’s assume you have a postcard and you want to leave everything the same but test four different headlines, and you have 4,000 similar addresses to mail to. You do “nth name testing”; that means Headline #A goes to every 4th name, Headline #B to every 5th name, Headline #C to every 5th
name, etc.  So you evenly divide the list without bias among the headlines being tested. Some media (like Val-Pak or MoneyMailer) will let you split test within a single buy.

Second, there’s testing against a control.  A “control” is a marketing strategy that already works well and you’re using it on a continuing basis - maybe it’s a series of letters you mail every month.  You have been using it long enough you know what it produces.  You have a “known” to measure against.  Now you can start trying to improve that control, ideally one step or variable at a time.

Dan Kennedy talks a ton about testing in his book, ‘The Ultimate Sales Letter.  He even talks about the steps to take with a finished sales letter before you actually mail it!  Imagine that, testing before you mail!  You can get Dan’s book here.

Next post I'll cover the 'hot buttons' you should investigate before you try and beat your control.  Until then, keep on marketing!

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