how you can use email to discover the essence of your value propostion

How You Can Use Email to Discover the Essence of Your Value Proposition (in 5 Simple Steps)

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Austin McCraw Senior Editorial Analyst MECLABS

Austin McCraw joined the MECLABS research team in 2007 after graduating from University of Florida's college of Journalism and Communications. Since then, he has reviewed over 2,500 experiments, written over 300 hours of training, and developed five professional certification courses on the topics of Offer Response Optimization and Value Proposition. Currently, he works directly with Dr. Flint McGlaughlin, Founder and Director of MECLABS, on his academic and commercial writing projects. He lives in Florida with his wife and three sons.

Today’s Presenter

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PART I: AN EXPERIMENT

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Background: Company provides technology and product supply to the oil and gas industry. For this experiment, they were making a specific segment (drilling engineers) of their opt-in list aware of an upcoming conference. Goal: To determine the most effective point of value Primary research question: Which value category (Overcoming challenges or generating results) will generate the most response? Approach: A/B split test (variable cluster)

Experiment ID: Protected Location: MarketingExperiments Research Library Test Protocol Number: TP2067

Research Notes:

Experiment: Background

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Experiment: Background

Which emphasis will generate the most response?

Option #1 Overcoming Challenges

Option #2 Generating Revenue

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Version A: Overcoming Challenges

• “…researching to find solutions to the monitoring and technology issues you face…”

• “How can deepwater risk be reduced?”

• “How can you adjust parameters based on new downhole data?”

• “What are the newest insights around stick-slip mitigation?”

Experiment: Version A

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Version B: Generating Results

• “conduct in-depth field tests to leverage the latest technology… recent results will be presented”

• “…improved penetration rates and higher quality wellbores…”

• “...outperforming conventional drilling BHA’s by more that 350%...”

• “…10% improvement on ROP…”

Experiment: Version B

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Subscription path CTR Relative diff v. control

Version A (Overcoming Challenges) 20.93% 17.05%

Version B (Generating Results) 17.88% -

17% Increase in clickthrough rate Version A generated a 17.05% higher clickthrough rate than Version B

What you need to understand: The email message focused on overcoming challenges outperformed the email focused on results, leading us to conclude that for this segment there is more value in obtaining the solution to problems.

Experiment: Results

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Experiment: Results

The greater gain was new knowledge we obtained about the customer.

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Key Principles

1. The goal of a test is not simply to get a lift, but rather to get a learning.

What you Need to Understand

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Key Principles

1. The goal of a test is not simply to get a lift, but rather to get a learning.

2. We should always strive to better understand our customer, and in particular, to understand the essence of our value proposition.

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The Expression (The Message)

Uncovering the Essence

Testing (Value Proposition)

The Essence

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Key Principles

1. The goal of a test is not simply to get a lift, but to get a learning.

2. We should always strive to better understand our customer, and in particular, to understand the essence of our value proposition.

3. Email is one of the most effective ways to quickly test and discover your value proposition.

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Why is email so great for testing?

1. Ease of changes

2. Large sample size

3. Highly competitive environment

4. We already have to do it

Testing Value Proposition with Email

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Our Experiments

SL #2: 5 horrifying mistakes designers make with color

SL #1: How to effectively use color on a website

SL #2: Does content marketing really work?

SL #1: How to Optimize your Content Marketing How-to

Discovery

How-to

Discovery 47.9%

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Today, I am going to walk you through a simple 5-step method for using email to test your value proposition.

Today’s Focus

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WARNING: Email testing is useless if you are NOT willing to be a:

miserable failure

Important Warning

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PART II: 5 SIMPLE STEPS FOR USING EMAIL TO TEST VALUE PROPOSITION

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STEP 1: Identify Potential Claims of Value

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STEP #1: Identify Potential Claims of Value

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Top Claims of Value Subject Line (SL) Testing of Value Proposition

Body Copy (BC) Testing of Value Proposition

Value Proposition Testing Process

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STEP #1: Identify Potential Claims of Value

Imagine for a moment, that you are selling mortgages. What would be potential claims of value one could make?

1. Reliability

2. Lowest Rates

3. Easy Process

4. Brand Name

5. Payment Plan Options

6. Reduced Anxiety

7. Service Quality

8. Community Involvement

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STEP 2: Estimate the Force of Each Claim

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STEP #2: Estimate the Force of Each Claim

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Appeal

Appeal – “I want this” Exclusivity – “I can’t get this anywhere else”

- - - +

+ - + +

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Claims of Value Appeal Exclusivity

Reliability

Payment Options

Lowest Rates

Brand Name

Payment Plan Options

Reduced Anxiety

Service Quality

+ - ? + + ? +

+ + ? -

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Reliability

Payment Options

Lowest Rates

Brand Name

Reduced Anxiety

Service Quality

+ - ? + + ? +

+ + ? -

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Reliability

Payment Options

Lowest Rates

Brand Name

Reduced Anxiety

Service Quality

+ - ? + + ? +

+ + ? -

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We teach a more in-depth process for identifying and evaluating your claims of value in the Value Proposition Development Course.

Value Proposition Worksheet

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STEP 3: Test within Subject Lines (Round 1)

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STEP #3: Test within Subject Lines (Round 1)

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Background: Large Financial Institution Goal: To determine which claim of value will generate the greatest response Primary research question: Which subject line will produce the greatest open rate? Approach: A/B Multifactorial split

Experiment ID: Protected Location: MarketingExperiments Research Library Test Protocol Number: TP2092

Research Notes:

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Lowest Rates

Payment Options

Brand Name

S/L: Own Your Home Sooner with Free Bi-Weekly Payments

S/L: Discover the Advantages of [Brand Name] mortgages

S/L: Mortgage Rates under 2.7%. Find a solution in minutes.

SUBJECT LINES CLAIMS

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Claim Subject Line OPR Low Rates Mortgage Rates below 2.7%, find a solution in minutes 19.28% Low Rates Low mortgage rates – starting under 2.7% 18.58%

Hidden Fees Low mortgage rates with no points or hidden fees 18.10% Payment Plan Own your home sooner with free bi-weekly payments 20.99% Brand Name Buying or Refinancing? Check out [Brand Name] 17.16% Brand Name Discover the advantages of [Brand Name] mortgages 19.80% Community Looking for a lower mortgage rate? You’re not alone. 18.08%

Anxiety Spending too much on your mortgage? 18.22% Anxiety Getting the lowest mortgage rate? 19.37% Anxiety Mortgage payments too high? 18.67%

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Claim Subject Line OPR Low Rates Mortgage Rates below 2.7%, find a solution in minutes 19.28% Low Rates Low mortgage rates – starting under 2.7% 18.58%

Hidden Fees Low mortgage rates with no points or hidden fees 18.10% Payment Plan Own your home sooner with free bi-weekly payments 20.99% Brand Name Buying or Refinancing? Check out [Brand Name] 17.16% Brand Name Discover the advantages of [Brand Name] mortgages 19.80% Community Looking for a lower mortgage rate? You’re not alone. 18.08%

Anxiety Spending too much on your mortgage? 18.22% Anxiety Getting the lowest mortgage rate? 19.37% Anxiety Mortgage payments too high? 18.67%

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STEP 4: Test within Body Copy (Round 2)

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STEP #4: Test within Body Copy (Round 2)

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Background: Large Financial Institution Goal: To determine which claim of value will generate the greatest response Primary research question: Which email will produce the highest clickthrough rate? Approach: A/B Multifactorial split

Experiment ID: Protected Location: MarketingExperiments Research Library Test Protocol Number:

Research Notes:

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Payment Options

Version A

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Customer Service

Version B

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STEP #4: Test within Body Copy (Round 2) Version B – Customer Service Version A – Payment Options

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Subscription path CTR Relative diff v. control

Version A: Mortgage Payment Options 1.44% 240.7%

Version B: Customer Service 0.42% -

241% Increase in clickthrough rate Version A generated a 240.7% higher clickthrough rate than Version B

What you need to understand: The email message focused on payment options outperformed the email focused on customer service by 240.7%.

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How did we infuse different value propositions into the body copy?

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Five Key Parts: 1. First Sentence

2. Featured Bullets

3. Bolded Phrases

4. Call-to-Action

5. Post-Script

Overcoming Challenges

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STEP 5: Interpret and Implement

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STEP #5: Interpret and Implement

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Question #1: What was the financial impact of the test?

Question #2: What did we learn about our customer?

Question #3: Where can we apply these insights?

Three Critical Questions for Test Interpretation

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603% 257% 28%

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Summary of Steps

5 Simple Steps for Testing Value Proposition with Email

STEP 1: Identify Potential Claims of Value STEP 2: Estimate the Force of Each Claim STEP 3: Test within Subject Lines (Round 1) STEP 4: Test within Body Copy (Round 2) STEP 5: Interpret and Implement

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Summary of Steps

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