Single, Focused E-mail Call-to-Action Can Hike Clicks

One e-mail creative rule of thumb is that adding call-to-action buttons adds click-throughs, but recent e-mail testing by Whirlpool found that focusing on a single call-to-action (CTA) improved response. MarketingSherpa featured the Whirlpool results in a recent case study article. Whirlpool's e-mail control package had three buttons labeled "Learn more" at the bottom of the e-mail, each directing consumers to three different pages for information on different products. A fourth CTA button was located in the middle of the page: a gold "See Details" button directing to the rebate that the campaign was designed to promote. The test package paralleled the control but used only the one CTA gold button in the middle of the page, driving consumers to the rebate download landing page. "The theory was if you highlighted one call-to-action button that was the primary focus, you'd get more people to go to that landing page than the other creative, which sent people into completely different products," Thomas Mender, Senior Manager at Whirlpool, explained to MarketingSherpa. And the theory worked: The single, focused CTA creative achieved a 42% increase in clicks for Whirlpool. For more details of Whirlpool's e-mail testing, including subject lines and segmentation, go to http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/case-study/whirlpool-lift-clickthrough-testing-culture

Overcautious CPL Targeting Can Sap Lead Volume

A recent Target Marketing magazine article addressed a common direct marketing challenge: A cost-per-lead (CPL) target in testing winnows acceptable lists or media and scales down roll-out for fewer potential leads. This occurs because conservative marketers prefer tested lists/media that outperform a target CPL to guard against any unexpected roll-out declines in response. That caution may actually undermine maximized results, however. Article author Chuck McLeester presents an alternative strategy of combining a test's "big winners" in terms of CPL with its "little losers" -- for a larger cumulative universe that will deliver more leads at an acceptable cumulative CPL. Of course, both winning and losing lists/media from a test should be re-tested at larger quantities to make sure response holds up before going to roll-out. Yet the end result of a cumulative-CPL strategy can be a big boost in cost-effective lead generation: McLeester provides an example that takes roll-out from a little over 4 million impressions, out of a potential 15 million, up to more than 12 million impressions, while keeping well within the target CPL. For his spreadsheet analysis example, see http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/blog/how-maximize-your-lead-volume-within-your-allowable-cost-per-lead#