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These test campaigns have other purposes. They answer countless questions which arise in business. A large food advertiser felt that his product would be more popular in another form. He and all his advisers were certain about it.
They were willing to act on this supposition without consulting the
consumers, but wiser advice prevailed. He inserted an ad in a few
towns with a coupon, good at any store for a package of the newstyle product. Then he wrote to the users about it. They were almost unanimous in their disapproval.
Later the same product was suggested in still another form. The
previous verdict made the change look dubious. The advertiser hardly thought a test to be worth while. But he submitted the question to a few thousand women in a similar way and 91 percent voted for lit.
Now he has a unique product which promises to largely increase his sales. These tests cost about $1,000 each. The first one saved him a very costly mistake. The second will probably bring him large profits.
Then we try test campaigns to try out new methods on advertising
already successful. Thus we constantly seek for better methods,
without interrupting plans already proved out.
In five years for one food advertiser we tried out over fifty
separate plans. Every little while we found an improvement, so the
results of our advertising constantly grew. At the end of five years we found the best plan of all. It reduced our cost of selling by 75
percent. That is, it was four times more effective than the best plan
used before.
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