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How NOT to Test Creative. 6 Common Mistakes You Can Easily Avoid.

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Jacqueline Murray
Posted by Jacqueline Murray on Sep 29, 2016 8:00:00 AM
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You and your team have spent countless hours preparing to launch a new healthcare marketing campaign.  You really like the creative your agency has presented for your medical device or diagnostic.  You aren’t sure which of the options you should move forward with. Or, perhaps you like one idea and your boss likes another.  How do you find out which option is going to connect with your customers and support your objectives?  The answer, of course, is to conduct market research.  But this campaign is too important to you to just check a box.  How do you make sure the results guide you and your team in the direction that’s going to be successful?

You’re right to pause when you consider how to proceed, as too much of the research we’ve seen over the last few decades is not designed to yield accurate, actionable information about campaign messaging or creative.  Don’t make the same mistakes we see made over and over again.

1. Don’t ask which one they like best.

The most common mistake I see is to start out a creative test by asking the participant which concept they like best. You don’t care which concept they “like” best.  You care which concept helps you meet your objective, whether that’s conveying a believable message about your brand or motivating your customer to buy. Asking participants which concept they like is like asking them their favorite color:  interesting, but of no help to you.

Not only do you not care which concept they like, but their reaction is likely to be skewed by how they think their choice reflects on them—especially if you’re asking the question in a group setting, such as a focus group.  For example, in a group of professionals, such as physicians, your respondents may tend to choose the option that makes them look smart, and they may be reluctant to choose an option that they feel makes them look like they are influenced by “clever advertising.” This type of cognitive bias is called Social Desireability Bias.   

Instead of asking which concept they like best, ask something related to your objective and phrase the question from the perspective of what a third-party thinks, feels or will behave.  For example, if your objective is to determine which ad will generate the most awareness, you might ask “Which of these ads do you think would get the most attention from your colleagues in <insert journal name>?" Followed by “What about that particular ad do you think would get their attention?”

2. Don’t forget to ask why.

You might notice I presented a pair of questions for the example in the previous section. It’s really important to dig deeper and ask “why,” especially when asking questions that could be answered with a single choice,  a yes / no answer, or a rating on a Likert scale of 1 to 5.  The answer to “why” is where all the great insights come from – especially when testing creative.  Understanding why a particular piece of creative work resonates–or does not resonate–with the target audience is critical to knowing what adjustments may need to be made—and whether you’ve got a winner or need to go back to the drawing board.

3. Don’t ask the wrong people.

All messages and creative should be developed for an audience. The composition of that audience may be very specific or very diverse. For instance, an ad that will run in a specialized medical journal is targeting a very specific medical professional or clinician. Conversely, a product brochure may need to address a broad audience because it will be used to provide information to multiple buyers with different personae. It’s critical to test your creative with the personae that you are trying to reach.  So, testing with a different audience – such as your internal team – may not give you accurate feedback.  What your internal team likes might not resonate with your target audience.  

It may not be practical to interview or survey every persona your creative targets, or to get a large sample of every group; but, it’s important to get feedback from as many of your personae as you can to make sure that what resonates with one group doesn’t miss or alienate another. Your personae may  each have different motivations and they’re certainly motivated differently than your colleague in the next office.  If you have to ask an internal team, at least ask a team of customer-facing people, such as sales or customer support personnel.  In a pinch, they can be suitable surrogates and give you some insight.  But, be advised they will probably be more conservative than your customer and will shy from any edgy ideas.

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4. Don’t test too many variations.

There’s no hard and fast rule about how many different versions you should test, but, the more variables you introduce, the larger the test sample will need to be to get accurate results.  In our experience, testing no more than three creative options is a good rule of thumb.  The options should be selected to meet your testing objectives, which could include the visual style, the message hierarchy or variations in positioning.  

5. Don’t forget to ask about the message.

Ensuring that you’re communicating the intended message is a primary objective of creative testing.  It is important that you ask your survey participants open-ended questions, such as “What do you think the company is trying to tell you with this ad?” Having your respondents articulate the message they are receiving gives you a good indication of whether or not your creative is conveying your message clearly.  

Once you’ve had them articulate what messages they have received, it’s important to evaluate how effective those messages are.  If one of the messages that they articulate is “it’s faster than the old way,” then the follow up questions could be “How important do you think having a faster solution is to physicians like you?” and “Why is faster important to physicians like you?”

The graphic elements of a creative piece attract attention and can generate an emotional response, but, more importantly, they are a powerful tool to convey your message.  It’s easy to get a reaction to the visuals, but it’s more challenging to understand what message the visuals are conveying. Don’t forget to ask questions about what the imagery conveys and whether or not it supports your messaging.    

For example, you could ask questions such as, “What do you think the company is trying to emphasize by choosing to show this type of image?” or “Considering the graphics or images in each option, which visuals most support the company’s message?" and “Why do you think these images are effective (or not effective) in supporting the company’s message?”

6. Don’t forget to ask about emotions.

It’s important to build an emotional connection to your brand. Understanding how a particular creative piece supports or detracts from the emotional response you want can seem like a difficult task.  One way to easily collect emotional response data is to use emoticons.  Ask respondents to select the emoticon that best represents how the creative being tested makes them feel – and then ask WHY!!

If your agency is conducting the research, they shouldn’t make these mistakes since it’s not their first rodeo.  But, if you’re using a separate research firm or are conducting the research internally, the final mistake you need to avoid is excluding  your agency from this process.  Leverage their experience and respect the investment they’ve made in your campaign.  Have them provide a consulting role. You’ll be glad you did.


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Jacqueline Murray  is a Marketing Strategist for DardenLentz, a B2B Marketing and Branding Agency focused on healthcare and technology.  Jacqueline heads the firm's Ohio office, established to support the region's bioscience industry.  She has held senior positions with global marketing responsibilities for both diagnostic and medical device companies.

Topics: Brand Development, Medical Device and Diagnostic Marketing, Healthcare Marketing, Market Research, Ohio