What’s your offer and why should I care?
As I sat down to type this article I noticed an online ad for Target touting $4 generic prescriptions and $10 for a 90-day supply. The ad is competing with Wal-Mart, Walgreens and CVS in my marketplace, among others, but the point is it made me think about perhaps getting my prescriptions filled at Target. Traditionally I would have not considered them.
What got my attention? It was the offer…specifically the three month supply for only $10. Knowing that the attention-span of folks online is much shorter and we have to grab them with relevancy, I then began searching for great offers – you know the kind that resonate with the target audience and thus are inherently relevant and create a real call-to-action. To my surprise, offers do not seem to be tested nearly enough.
I discovered a lot of headline and creative tests, different landing pages/microsites and even format/size tests, but not a lot of offers. Besides the target lists/media you use, offers are the second most critical element to the success of your marketing.
If you are going to test a headline (subject line in email), why not test adding an offer, or better yet, testing several offers in order to increase your ROI?
Web/Landing pages/Microsites
In most online communications, the call to action involves a click to another destination – a Web site, landing page or microsite. This is where “selling” your offer needs to continue and this is also an overlooked place where more comprehensive offer testing can be done to boost revenue.
Make sure your offer is repeated here and that you test headlines and copy positioning/messaging of your offers to discover how to increase sales. Being graphically consistent is a given but is worth mentioning. Carry your offer through in all channels after your testing determines which offers works best.
What’s the best offer?
When you test offers there is a tendency to offer more, assuming that the steeper discount or beefed-up promotion will result in a higher ROI. That’s not true and another reason you need to test offers.
Your offer has to be believable. More specifically, you need to test your offers in order to get the best results possible. Keep in mind that the promotional offer with the highest return often defies logic.
Whatever you market, your goal is to create interest and then action. This is where basic psychology comes into play. If you are offering a coupon and you test $3 off, $1 off and 75 cents off for a $5 item, which will perform best?
Did you guess $3? If so, you’re likely incorrect. Why? To the customers and prospects, the offer seems too good to be true; they will assume that there must be a reason for the steep discount, and probably not a good one. The best offer, from my experience, would be the $1 off. It typically would get the best results.
Take Hyundai Motors America and their campaign offering Hyundai Assurance—the recession-inspired program that allows buyers to return cars with no penalty if they lose their job. They have gained market share with the offer while others, including the mighty Toyota showing sales declines. HMA’s VP of Marketing was recently quoted as saying: “And consumers look at us differently because of the offer.”
They have applied and continue to test offers in both online and traditional media with great success.
Now is the perfect time to test offers. With the economy down, everyone is looking for a special deal. It really works. Case in point, yesterday my wife was shopping online at Kohl’s. I asked her what she was buying and why. She responded: “I received a 30% discount e-mail coupon and it expires today. So I have to spend it online because I don’t have time to go to the store, otherwise the discount will expire. I’m buying some shirts.”
Make finding compelling offer tests a priority in your marketing planning. Remember that offer-driven communication can really impact your bottom line, upward, when done correctly.
Grant A. Johnson is the chief measurable marketing officer at Brookfield, WI-based Johnson Direct LLC.
