The Testing Mindset : Why People Don't Test
People don’t test their websites or most anything else for that matter.
They know about testing. They talk about testing. But in the end, poeple don’t test.
So what is testing? It is a simple comparison of one situation in contrast with another. That’s all that it is on the surface. You show, do or present the prospect or customer one thing and then you show them something else.
Testing at a basic level is trying something new to see if it works.
So what is it that gets in the way of people doing more testing?
Since I am talking to people everyday about this subject, I may be able to offer some insight.
Reason #1 – Fear of Change
The first reason that people don’t test is that they are afraid that what they are doing may not work. So that is just a fear of doing something different or new.
Trust me. I have run plenty of tests that don’t pan out. But the key is that you learn something about your market every time you do the test. Whenever you test something, ask these questions:
- What did I learn?
- What I am going to do with this data?
Reason #2 – Tool Phobic
The next reason that people don’t test is that they are looking for the perfect tool. There is no perfect tool. A testing tool does primarily two things. Rotate the creatives in front of the visitor and track their movement, action or response as they are on the site.
Sorry but that is all the tool can do.
Understand that some tools will do this better than other tools in terms of accuracy, ease of setup and data presentation. But at the end of the day, you are presenting a situation and letting the prospect “vote with their click” as to whether they like the situation that they are in or not.
So stop trying to find the best tool in the world. Find the tool that you will use to gather the data that you are looking to collect.
Reason #3 – Statistic Misunderstandings
Another reason that people don’t test is that they are immediately gripped by the idea of statistics.
Statistical validity, statistical confidence and reliability. This is usually a conversation for engineers and mathematicians. But all of a sudden folks that have never studied stats are having these deep conversations about statistics. And believe me, the questions get really deep and profound.
There is a way to do away with all of the statistical conversations and it has everything to do with the design of the experiment and the inputs.
If you design the experiment the right way and design the inputs all of these conversations about statistics go away. The key is to design tests that have clear winners and clear losers. That is the trick and I learned this years ago as I learned how to apply the taguchi method to online marketing.
Reason #4 – Don’t Have Time
This is a big one. I don’t have time to test.
Translation: I don’t have time to make may business work better.
Reason #5 – Traffic is More Important Than Sales
And the last one. Testing will mess up my SEO. You don’t have to test in an SEO environment. PPC isolates your traffic and does not impact your SEO efforts. Besides do you want more traffic or more sales. I want the sales. Yes, I know without traffic (exposure) you will make no sales. But, targeted traffic gets you more sales. The key is targeted traffic. Not just traffic.
So those are the 5 reason that I have seen over the last few years and many many tests.
If there are other reasons outside of the above. I invite you to comment.
Testing is known to be the one technique that undercuts all the methods in the marketplace for improving your business.
After you learn about:
- Copywriting
- Webdesign
- Traffic Generation
- PPC
- Web2.0
- Membership Sites
- Banner Advertising
- Co-Registration
- Graphic Design
- Cold Calling
- Live Chat
- Blogging
- Article Marketing
- RSS
- Video / Audio
- Viral Marketing
- Closing Skills
- Marketing Strategy and Tactics
you still must test to improve and perfect your results.
So develop a testing mindset. You will start to see opportunities that you can’t see now.
So, in closing, testing is not an event it is a mindset that will carry you to your own success.
Filed under Action and Results, Business Development, New Thinking, Taguchi l Multivariate l Multivariable l Split Testing by David Bullock
Comments on The Testing Mindset : Why People Don't Test »
Big Dave,
Cool thoughts, and for someone that's a bit of a techno geek, I think you're on the money. But, and I did what ya asked and turned this insight onto life, and … for the other 99.5% of us, I think the reason people don't test is FEAR. Plain old garden variety FEAR.
We live in a world that uses fear as a motivational method. We use it to encourage us to buy, not to buy, to eat, not to eat, to love and not to love etc.
Fear is used in just about every marketing message there is. From Erection Aids to pet food. Now I have to worry that if I don't take the magic pill I won't be able to get it up and if I do - what do I do in 5 hours when it's still up!
If I don't feed Fido the special "magic" kibble, he may get sick, if I do, is it tainted food that might make him sick!
So we are encouraged by Madison ave and every crappy Internet marketer out in this ether on every level to be scared.
And what is Fears Ugly wife - Denial.
I have a friend that was a huge record producer in the 70's and 80's. Next time you're at a ball game and you hear them sing the song " Na Na Na Na… Na Na Na Na… Hey Hey … Goodbye" you can feel privileged to be able to add a couple of cents to his bank account because he wrote that inane lyric. (Truth be told, that was just filler gibberish… but it stuck. Question…Would you be afraid to leave gibberish in?)
Well we were in a bar that we frequented after recording sessions, and there was a waitress that he was smitten with. Night after night I encouraged him to ask her out, but he wouldn't. One night I walked into the Studio and saw him at the piano, He had written a song about her. The lyrics in the hook were "I'd rather live in my fantasy than to find out she doesn't love me."
Now, sound thinking tells ya that that's just a BS way to think - BUT most of us think the same way.
Who hasn't shied away from talking to someone because they were afraid they weren't good enough, or handsome or pretty enough. I know you haven't Dave, because… well.. you're the most beautiful black man on the planet, but the rest of us have.
Now sing a long with me…"Id rather live in my fantasy than to find out that I'm spending 3 dollars a click to make a diollar! " or the old favorite "I'd rather live in my fantasy than to pay 3 dollars a click and turn people off by my new "tested" crappy title, headline, graphic or copy and maybe loose a sale."
Fear and Denial dude,they are one big old married couple, walking most of us down the aisle of mediocrity and a very possible slow painful death.
How do we overcome it. The same way you overcome your fear of jumping off a bridge. You strap on the bungy cords, you find a talented, experienced, understanding mentor that has "Been there… done that", you say a couple of Hail Mary's and an Our Father just to seal the deal and you jump like an idiot!
That first step is a real bitch.
It's the unknown we are afraid of. I almost freaked myself out on a deal this weak until my good friend and Sales Mentor John Paul Mendocha smacked me hard on the head and said - Dude, you are making up this stupid negative scenario in your head, Go in, talk to the Customer, find out what they need amd THEN react - STOP REACTING BEFORE YOU HAVE THE FACTS!
God bless him, he changed my head before the meeting and I knocked the deal out of the park and likely added a zero to my bank account balance.
But it could have easily gone the other way.
I just got a new tattoo on my wrist of the Kanji symbol for courage and the words "You Make The Rules" . It means so much to me. I'll have to discuss that thinking with ya at another time. But, it's really been the way I roll for the last 35 years. The funnt thing was I was programmed to think that I was breaking the rules. Now I see the rules that are already in in place and I ask "Why?" Then I make my own rules
Dave, teach us all how to overcome the fear. Teach us how you overcame and overcome fear today. You know you're one of my heroes and a Dude I am so happy to call a good friend, but we never discussed fear.
Talk to me goose!
Thanks for letting me rant
I gotta go take that Bitch Step!
John Jaworski
Thanks John. Glad to know ya. Fear is what holds us in place hoping that what is isn't. Testing and trying something new is the only way to improve and move forward. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't but if you never give it a shot, you will never know.
It is all data for you to evaluate and *then* make a decision. Not *before* you have the data and feedback from the marketplace. If we can hold the idea that it is only data and feedback. Then I think that stress levels will go down and people will start to do the one thing that helps everything. Ask questions. Get answers and do something with the data.
BTW: Nice Rant. You are inspiring me to do something different today. Thanks for the comment.
- David B.