Testing One Tactic vs. Another

Testing the results of your individual lead-generation tactics is just the first step. You also need to test and measure lead-generation tactics against each other until you know which tactics give you the best results. You should then spend more of your marketing budget on tactics that provide the most high-quality leads and are the most cost-effective for your company.

To test tactics against each other, you should establish a baseline tactic (often called a control) and a test tactic. A baseline tactic is a lead-generation tactic that you are currently using. A test tactic is a tactic you want to test against the baseline. (It doesn’t have to be a new tactic. It can be one that you have used for some time.) After developing and employing a lead-generation campaign for the test tactic, you should measure your results against the baseline to find out which tactic provides more leads and is more cost-effective.

However, you may have to compare the test tactic against the baseline more than once. It may take you several tries to learn how to use a test tactic effectively, especially if it is a new one for your company. On your first campaign, the test tactic may not perform as well as your baseline tactic, but that doesn’t mean you should abandon the test tactic. After three or four campaigns, the test tactic may start to produce better lead results and be more cost-effective. After you’ve tested the test tactic against the baseline several times, you will start to get a clearer idea of how well the test tactic is performing for your company.

Once you’ve tested a tactic against a baseline, you can start to determine which are your primary and secondary tactics. Your primary tactics are the most efficient and cost-effective tactics in providing leads for your company. Again, once you’ve determined your primary tactics, you should devote more of your marketing budget and resources to them. You may have more than one primary tactic. For example, after several rounds of testing tactics, you may discover that two or even three of the tactics you use (e.g., direct mail, e-mail, social advertising) produce a similar number of high-quality leads (e.g., approximately 5,000 per month for each tactic) and are all relatively cost-effective. In that case, you should concentrate the majority of your marketing budget on using those three tactics.

Secondary tactics are those that may be less efficient and/or less cost-effective than your primary tactics. You should devote less of your marketing budget and resources to using secondary tactics. However, you shouldn’t discard a secondary tactic just because it doesn’t produce as many leads and/or it isn’t as cost-effective as a baseline primary tactic. You should never have the mindset that a tactic doesn’t work. A secondary tactic may still be of use to you if you exhaust your primary tactics and need backup tactics to make up the difference in your lead quota.

For example, say you have a primary tactic that produces about 5,000 leads per month at an average cost of $20 per lead. A secondary tactic produces 2,000 leads per month at an average cost of $60 per lead. Your secondary tactic still provides you with a large number of leads per month, but it’s not as cost-effective as your primary tactic. But let’s say your target cost-per-lead is $100. Under this scenario, your secondary tactic is still cost-effective because it requires only $60 to acquire each lead. Therefore, you should keep using the secondary tactic to supplement your primary tactic.

The testing of tactics against each other is an ongoing process. You should continuously test the results for each tactic you use, and compare results between primary and secondary tactics. In a few months or years, a primary tactic may not perform as well as it does today. The needs and goals of your business may change, or your target customer may shift, or the tactic itself may evolve in such a way that it doesn’t work as well or is not as cost-effective for your type of company.

Comparing your test results among tactics will tell you when a primary tactic is not working as well for your company, and when a secondary tactic is perhaps working better and/or is becoming more cost-effective. If the secondary tactic is now outperforming the primary tactic, you should make it a new primary tactic, and devote more of your marketing budget to it. You can still use your previous primary tactic as a secondary tactic, but devote less marketing budget to it.