Chapter 5

1 Resources

Leveraging experimentation & optimization

Testing

As mentioned in the case study in Chapter 2 and throughout the entire beginner’s guide so far, it is not enough to just define a journey, set up the campaign and then watch the results come in.

Once the campaign goes live, A/B testing and systematic experimentation start. This is the work that separates outstanding campaigns from merely good ones.

Along the journey, you have several touchpoints and optimization levers:

  • Interest
    Audience Criteria

    People who already gave a regular blood donation OR people who have a personal interest in Leukemia. (The hypothesis was that people who already donated blood are more likely to be open to considering blood stem cell donations.)

    Targeting

    Behavior targeting: 

    • Custom and lookalike audiences based on people who donated regular blood
    • Custom and lookalike audiences from website visitors to pages on blutspende.ch that cover regular blood donations
    • Followers of the Swiss blood donation organization’s social media channels
    • Content engagers on social media – people who frequently engage with content published by the Swiss blood donation organization on social media
    • Lookalikes of people who signed up to become blood stem cell donors in this campaign

     

    Interest targeting:

    • People interested in blood donation
    • People interested in leukemia and other cancer topics
    Objective

    Visibility

    Storyline

    Leukemia can afflict anyone. Only a blood stem cell donation helps.

    Channels

    Facebook & Instagram ads

    Testing

    Ad testing on Facebook, Google, Twitter and LinkedIn

  • Belief
    Audience Criteria

    People who are actively researching how they can personally engage in the fight against leukemia.

    Targeting

    Behavior targeting:

    • People who engaged with SEE ads (and thus signaled interest)
    • Custom and lookalike audiences of website visitors to specific “blood stem cell” related pages on blutspende.ch

     

    Interest targeting: 

    • People who visited sites, used apps or searched keywords around leukemia and blood cancer
    Objective

    Consideration

    Storyline

    This is how the blood stem cell donation takes place, explained step by step. Campaign copy:

    Luca 1 – Leukemia 0.

    Thanks to a blood stem cell donation, Luca is back in school and enjoys being a child.

    Channels
    • Facebook & Instagram ads
    • Google ads (Search ads)
    Testing
    • Ad testing on Facebook, Google, Twitter and LinkedIn
    • Website and landing page testing
  • Action
    Audience Criteria

    People who are actively researching how a blood stem cell donation works and how to become a donor.

    Targeting

    Behavior targeting:

    • People who engaged with THINK ads (and thus signaled interest)

     

    Interest targeting:

    • People who visited sites, used apps or searched keywords around blood stem cell donations
    Objective

    Conversion

    Storyline

    Donate blood stem cells and save lives.

    Copy:

    Not quite ready to become a blood stem cell donor? Subscribe to our newsletter and follow us and other committed people in the fight against leukemia.

    Channels
    • Facebook & Instagram ads
    • Google ads (Search ads)
    Testing
    • Ad testing on Facebook, Google, Twitter and LinkedIn
    • Website and landing page testing
    • App testing
    • Login area testing
  • Confidence
    Audience criteria

    People who registered as a blood stem cell donor.

    Targeting

    Custom targeting:

    • People similar to those who signed up as donors in the campaign
    Objective

    Advocacy

    Storyline

    Message:

    You are a hero. Do you also have heroes who want to get involved in the fight against leukemia among your friends?

    Channels

    Email

    Testing
    • Email Testing
    • App Testing
    • Login Area Testing

split tests or dynamic creative tests that will generate statistically significant and reliable measurements of what content works best and with which audience.

You can run A/B tests on many different variables and objectives. Just make sure that you run one test after the other to avoid one test interfering with the other and compromising the validity and clarity of your data.

Optimizely and VWO.

We know that it’s often impossible in big companies to run such tests on the central website platform. This is where lean and agile landing page tools come in handy. The two leaders in this space are Unbounce and LeadPages. They offer A/B testing for their landing pages baked right in.

Mailchimp to Sendgrid to almost any big SAAS-powered email marketing suite, all offer A/B testing capabilities.

A/B testing and experimentation is a field of practice all its own. If you want to learn more on the subject, we recommend the following three resources:

  • Making Websites Win (Amazon) – an essential read for testing websites and anything else
  • A whitepaper by Optimizely on how to get started with A/B Testing & Experimentation (download in exchange for your email here)
  • Stop Guessing and Start Experimenting – a guide by Forrester that you can download here 

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