Testing, Testing....1, 2, 3.

A quick blog posting today.

Jeesh, I cannot believe how passé testing for e-mail blasts has become, particularly from in-house marketing departments. Two case in points:

1) received an email blast on Oct.20, 2005, from a competitor to my current company in the federated search space (def: one search, any public/private data source) and their entire recipient list was available for public viewing. As a competitor, this means that I could see all of their prospect. It also means that each of their prospects’ competitors could see what was happening at the other side of the fence. Not good. Trust was comprised and good will possibly diminished or erased altogether;

2) Received an inadvertent news release to the financial community (e.g. investors, analysts, etc.) from a company and its NYC investment bank – small world, too, as it was the first i-bank that my twin brother worked at when he moved to New York in 1997. The email had to be re-called and another email sent apologizing that this not-meant-for-public-consumption announcement was delivered.

So, the lesson for the day: test, test, and test again. Pre-test and the test...for proper delivery...for proper display....for proper content...and then for effectiveness. When you’re done testing, then measure. Obvious there are more complex procedures within each aspect of testing, but the concept is a simple one to follow and every marketer and their mother should buy in to it, period. Okay, so the word of the day? T-E-S-T.