Great article (as usual). Inspiring. My “80%” is definitely spent crafting sales copy angles, when later test results will only send me back to the drawing board. Thanks for reminding me to save the woman hours for what really counts- test results!

Hope you had a blast in Hawaii!

Rebecca

Regards
Dave Wong
http://www.SuccessEnroute.com

And James, I aim to find out the answers to your questions.

@Michel,
I have the feeling that large corporations are the sloppiest ones, when it comes to testing their sales messages on their Web sites. Especially, if “Internet” is not their core business. They rather spend big bucks $$$$ on “Web Design” agencies before the launch, launch it and forget it. If the sales are not high enough, they are likely to throw some extra money into all sorts of advertising channels. If they get a better targeted “crowd” to their Web site by that means, it might improve the conversion rate, but the potential of improving the copywriting by testing is left out almost completely. Corporate culture is one part of the problem.

I have to confess that you “Americans” are ahead, when it comes to selling. You probably have heard the rather “old joke” about what a Japanese, a German, and an American guy would do with a great product. I save your blog from this one.

Have a nice weekend.

I concur with everything written above, but I have two questions:

1. How do you know when you’ve hit 20% of how long it might take?

2. Does that mean we only have to pay 20% of the copywriter’s fee?

I think Ryan may have invented “Bum Copywriting”!

Cheers,
Howard Tiano,
The “IM OutSourcerer”
http://www.OutsouceOuttakes.com

Thank you.

The 80/20 rule is about every aspect of your life.

Every single aspect of your life. Period.

Thank you for such a down to earth example and application.

I will share this article with my clients and my employee’s.

Be well,

20/20 Ex - Hostage / Professional Visionary
formerly known as John Wingert
http://www.nlplive.com

I totally agree, 100%. Ryan’s article is powerful in so many ways.

When I speak on copywriting at seminars, I tell people that, testing is not some added benefit or extra tool. Because, without testing, it’s like letting non-buyers rob you blind. Here’s how…

Say you wrote a salesletter pulling in a measly 1%. But you’re happy because 1% gives you a decent income. Let’s say that this salesletter produces $5,000 a month on average. Everything is honky-dory.

But, if you’re like 99.9% of marketers out there who DON’T test, and if your salesletter has been “live” for a year (12 months), say, then every moment that goes by without testing is really LOSING you money.

For example, you do a test and discover that a change in the headline resulted in a 2% conversion. Again, nothing to sneeze at. But 2% is still DOUBLE the previous 1% rate.

Where’s the problem? Most people will look at that and see that doubling their conversion rate in one test as a good thing. They’re happy. And after a full year of NOT testing, and then seeing such a dramatic jump, they stop at that point. They think “doubling their conversion rate” is a good thing.

It is, but this is where I digress. Sure, it’s “better late than never.” But the real way to look at it is as 1% of your market “stealing” money from you and has been for over a year.

Take the above scenario: $5,000 a month equals to $60,000 for a year. You’re not only making more money with testing. (As Ryan said, testing is not about making more money per se, it’s about discovering what your market WANTS.)

But also, you’ve allowed your market to rob you of $60,000.

That’s the kicker. Literally. They kick themselves when they fully realize how much money they left on the table all this time by not testing, or as Ryan said, by being a perfectionist.

Something to think about.

As a copywriter who over delivers for my clients…it is totally natural for me to “stick with my client” through testing a marketing piece or campaign.

On top of that…

If you were my client, and I educated you on the value of testing instead of perfecting a marketing campaign…and the results potential that comes with it…wouldn’t you be more willing to “get something out there” and refine it as long as I stuck with you during the process?

(which really requires less time and effort for a good copywriter than you might think)

Good discussion starter James. I love this stuff.

I completely agree. We all need to spend a little more time optimizing according to the 80/20 rule. Copywriting is a excellent place to start that process.

Get something 80% “complete” in 20% of the time and get it out there under test. That will always be more efficient than striving for perfection (which is unattainable anyways).

I’ll be interested to see the take of “copywriters for hire” though. How many copywriters for hire would be willing to work like that with customers (ie: staying with the process through initial testing)? How many customers would be willing to work with a copywriter for hire who admittedly didn’t give it their 100% (their 80% instead) and instead are willing to let the testing process work out the kinks and help with that (meaning giving multiple versions of at least some of the copy)?

-James D. Brausch

It is refreshing to see you are writing about ways to be more efficient in a copywriting business.

As you know, that resonates at a deep level with me.

I am going to track back this article. Good job Ryan.

Joseph Ratliff
Author of The Profitable Business Edge 2