5 tests to run now

We all like to take some time off during the low season (which for many of us is right now), but smart PPC marketers also use this time to put themselves in a prime position when the tide is higher. high.

• In retail, this will kick in in October (probably earlier than ever this year).
• In B2B, this means preparing for the end-of-year push that requires hitting quotas and engaging brands that are close to meeting new annual budgets.

Regardless of your elevation or the particular timing, I like to perform five tests during the slower season to help clients leverage their knowledge when the tide is high. These are :

1. Channel diversification tests

When choosing a new channel to test, the first things to consider are:

• How much can this help you reach valuable users.
• Where good people spend their time.

Depending on the size and goals of your business, you can weigh the pros and cons of niche platforms with significant targeting and intent (for SaaS, perhaps it’s relevant subreddits or a platform like Capterra) compared to larger platforms with more reach and less precise targeting (YouTube or connected TV).

Once you’ve chosen your channel(s) to test, you need to come up with a budget. Ideally, your brand or client has a test budget to play with, but if not, consider moving the budget from the same stage of the buying journey.

For example, if you’re looking to increase your awareness and want to test Reddit, evaluate the performance of spending on platforms like the Google Display Network to see if you can leverage it without having too big an impact on your income.

In terms of timing, I think there are no bad times to run tests. Remember that your goal should be to learn.

If demand is relatively low, you’re not offering aggressive promotions, and the direct response is relatively soft, this is a particularly good time to test the conversion funnel.

When evaluating timing, use testing to gain insights you can leverage during your peak season.

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2. Landing Page and CRO Testing

The warm weather is also a good time to tweak your existing landing pages or launch new ones to see how they perform.

The ultimate goals are to improve user experience and conversion rates – some of our clients have seen an increase of over 15% through these efforts.

Build your list of landing pages to address based on a combination of impact (engagement volume) and opportunity (low CVR).

You can assess this by reviewing your data (spend, traffic and CVR) within your advertising platforms or by performing cross-channel assessments in GA4.

First, test the highest impact variables:

• Copy above the fold.
• A layout that makes an impact at a glance.
• Added different types of social proof.
• Form fields and copy.
• Different CTAs.

To get the clearest information when editing or reorganizing a page, duplicate it and run A/B tests between the new and old versions. This approach also prevents performance from dropping if you test riskier changes.

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3. Testing seasonal creations and offers

There are only a limited number of advanced seasonal creative tests you can do (Christmas themes may not work in July, for example), but you can test how different special offers, promotions and CTAs resonate with your users.

It’s also a good idea to look for different opportunities to run seasonal PPC promotions:

• For retail, the usual examples would be Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and other relevant secondary holidays.
• For B2B, the end of the quarter and the need to hit quota can leave room for limited-time promotions to test with your users.

Many industries may also experience their own seasonal peaks.

Consider the academic calendar if you are in education or the registration period if you are healthy and schedule tests outside of high water to take advantage of learnings.

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4. Incrementality tests

One of my favorite testing initiatives for slower times is incrementality testing.

Basically, test segments of your campaigns to see if they actually generate the return you think or if users in those segments would engage or purchase without seeing your ads.

These can take the form of stress testing or geographic testing.

• For exclusion testing, create groups that don’t see your ads and measure their performance against groups of similar composition who see your ads to gauge the difference.
• For geo testing (a form of exclusion testing), identify specific geographies to remove and measure the performance of those geographies against those still receiving ads.

The success of learning from these tests depends on a few key factors:

• The right variable (and only one variable, whether it’s geolocation, age, or some other factor).
• Identify segments to compare whose composition is close enough to produce clear results.
• Sufficient data density to assess the level of incrementality generated by your expenses.

If you find that your campaigns aren’t that progressive, the next step is to determine where to reallocate spending for greater impact.

Often, moving funds from direct response to the top of the funnel to build brand awareness and reputation is a long-term play.

If you’re wondering when to start incrementality testing, the most common reason is that you’re spending more but not getting a higher ROI.

Another reason, although less common, is the decline in close-won rate during later stages of the transaction. This suggests that it is possible to build customer loyalty earlier in the process.

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5. Testing Default Settings

Yes, this is kind of an excuse to remind you to check your default settings (e.g. Google search partners, audience expansion on any channel, etc.).

My general rule is to turn off any settings that will give the ad platform the power to scale your campaigns.

For smaller brands or brands without sophisticated analytics setup, it’s best to simply turn these settings off and monitor the impact (I assume the impact will be improved efficiency).

Even for brands with more robust measurement systems that tell them that GSP and audience expansion are driving revenue, the off-season is a good time to run on/off tests to measure the effects of their campaigns .

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Prepare your PPC campaigns for periods of high demand

Human nature makes it difficult to get comfortable when the sun is shining, and it will be months before you see the traffic that will make or break your year. But your competitors feel the same urge to turn off their laptops.

Brands that conduct these tests now and have a system in place to analyze and store the results to deploy when the tide begins to rise will have a significant advantage in times of crisis.

Remember that when you congratulate yourself at the end of December, you must thank your summer self.