Benchmark data, marketing metrics, marketing tests

SUMMARY: Two of the biggest challenges when fielding a customer survey is getting people to start the survey, and then keeping them engaged enough to finish it.

See how a credit union designed its annual member survey to get more responses and better information about what customers wanted. Includes details on writing questions in a conversational Q&A format to increase completion rate, and why email was the best promotional channel. read the complete case study

SUMMARY: Before you conduct your next email test, make sure you're not falling into a trap that can muddy your results or limit the gains you might otherwise achieve.

We spoke with an email testing expert from our sister company, MarketingExperiments, to uncover common mistakes marketers make when running email tests. Read why good analytics and segmentation are crucial forerunners to testing, and why a blockbuster discovery from one test actually can be a risky thing for a marketing team. read the complete article

SUMMARY: "Advertising on blogs or social networks" was rated the most accurately measured (32%), and was also rated the least effective (16%). More than 90% of companies believe that social media is the most effective in accomplishing brand building goal, followed closely by goals for attracting website visitors. view the complete research record

SUMMARY: There is often reluctance to fix a machine that’s not broken. But when the machine is wasteful, minor tweaks can bring greater efficiency without sacrificing performance.

See how a menswear retailer brought their catalog circulation issues under control, realized huge savings, and invested in customer acquisition. Includes six lessons from their experiences. read the complete interview

SUMMARY: Social media is gaining respect at a critical time – when budgets are being formulated. And this attitude adjustment is having a major effect on marketing spending. read the complete article

By Anne Holland, Content Director

Search pay per click (PPC) URLs are fairly short because of the nature of the beast. You are not given much room to type in a long URL.

So, the hot search PPC testing tactic is specific wording and capitalizations. Example: Should your text ad say www.ClickHere.com, or will you get better response with www.ClickHERE.com, or perhaps www.ClickHereFREE.com?

As all experienced search marketers know, organic search results get the lion's share of... read the complete blog post