Catalog Testing: Whys and Hows

Patient: "Doc, testing in a catalog is a pain and it takes a long time to get the results. Do I need to test, or can I just go with my best marketing instincts or common industry wisdom?"

Catalog Doctor: "It's very tempting to skip testing in a catalog. However, I've seen too many ‘great marketing instinct’ and ‘common wisdom’ ideas crash and burn. It's much better to test first."

Trim Size Test Delivered Surprising Results
Common wisdom is that a full-size catalog (around 8 inches x 10.5 inches) will always beat a slim-jim (around 6 inches x 10.5 inches). Not always so. One test (and it was a well-constructed test) showed absolutely no difference in results between the two trim sizes (but a big difference in cost in favor of the slim-jim). Don't always believe common wisdom; test to know for sure what works for your catalog and your customers.

What Else to Test
Tests I've seen that paid off big include covers, offers, page count, order form, photos, product density, creative and, of course, lists. Creative and product density are the most expensive to test because you need to create two entirely separate designs and pay for plate changes on every page. A page count test can be done by adding an insert (e.g., four more pages) that offers marginal products that didn't make it into the main book.

Cover Tests
It's easy and affordable to test covers — it's a single plate change on one side of the sheet. And it can result in a big sales increase. One cover test had a beautiful image with messages vs. a cover with the same image without messages. The cover with messages won by 40 percent. Retested. Same results. That's not an unusual result. Other types of cover tests have yielded similar results.