by oran » Tue Jul 01, 2003 2:25 pm
Great posts, Henrik. I always count of you for "deep thinking."
My opinions/generalizations on the subject are:
1. internet sales are a form of advertising. As such, the century long history of various advertising methods could be helpful.
2. direct mail (my background) has always been the most scientific (ie. measurable) form of advertising for the last century -- until the internet started a brief few years ago. (The internet has the potential to be even better, because it can be so much faster in getting and implementing results.)
3. therefore, direct mail findings are possibly useful and applicable as a starting point for internet sales.
4. the basic tenet of direct mail is TEST everything.
5. generalizations are useful for scheduling your TESTing. Therefore, TEST first what you think will give you the best improvement, ie. make you the most money.
6. to finally bring it home, if you think that header graphics might be important in your specific market to your specific customer list, TEST that hypothesis early in your TESTing process. If you think it unimportant, TEST that guess later.
7. To summarize, everything in advertising is a guess until you TEST!
8. Bravo James C. for TESTing and broadcasting your results.
Best wishes to all,
Oran Kangas