How to Test a Campaign
Adapt or die. That’s the mantra of business, and in marketing it holds true. A successful campaign will never get to a “set and forget” status. There are always improvements you can make to your targeting, messaging and creative that will make for a more effective selling proposition. Learning what to test, and how to make meaningful changes, is the secret to building effective campaigns.
First Tests
After you have a campaign up and running, producing a solid conversion rate, you’ll want to explore some of the “low hanging fruit” of your campaign. Start with something simple like day parting. Review the data you have on conversions and look for clusters where there is increased activity on your site. Start by choosing the top three days for sales, then set up a new group of ads to test these dates. If the test is a success, meaning you see a better conversion rate or higher profit margins, you can move on to the times of day that perform best for you.
This gives you two options. You can increase bids for the days and times you’re most likely to convert or cut the campaigns off during dates and times you are not as likely to see activity.
Future Testing
Some concepts for future testing might include your messaging. Try adding keywords you’re bidding on to your ad copy. Another idea is to look at sizes, or at demographic targeting. You can test just about every aspect of your campaigns; just keep each change isolated. If you try to change too much at once, it will be difficult if not impossible to determine which of your changes had the biggest impact.
Bio: Ted Dhanik has written for AdAge, Venture Beat and other outlets. As the CEO and co-founder of engage:BDR, Ted Dhanik understands digital advertising. For more information on mobile or desktop advertising, contact Ted Dhanik or engage:BDR.
