Eye Doctors Are Great Researchers
Our eye doctors are great researchers. Every day they conduct hundreds of A-B tests, “Is this one better, or is this one clearer.”
In marketing today, testing is key to conversions. A-B testing is a basic way to compare two versions of an ad or marketing effort. Sometimes even the smallest change yields incremental results.
A-B testing can help you market better to see what will pull better or result in more clicks or form fills. We use A-B testing in our digital media buying to help know which ads are more effective on each medium (yes, ad A may be better on Facebook, but ad B is more successful on Google). But remember, correlation doesn’t imply causation and can lead to what researchers call spirituous correlations. So the large button on the ad for one experiment does not mean all buttons should be large to be successful.
We’ve found that you can test radically different approaches to see which leads to more conversions (likes, shares, clicks and form fills). So you can test one ad with a cartoon image against ads with more realistic photos. Or, you can test small differences to see how you can optimize your products and services marketing.
Take a look at the bag of Cascade. There is a small difference between the two bags on the shelf. Can you see the difference?
It is in the color of the pods. One is yellow, the other bag is blue. No other variable has been changed.
I’m sure in a few months you will only see yellow-pod bags or blue-pod bags. I’m rooting for the yellow pod.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle.
After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant.
He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.”
Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.”
One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College.
Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board.
Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.