Give a Huq?

It's good to see some examples of AB testing that aren't just about which web page works best. And here's another example of Magazine cover split testing. This months issue of Company magazine is running with two variations of it's cover, one with presenter Fearne Cotton, the other with presenter Konnie Huq (who's married to this guy by the way).  As you can see both covers are the same bar mention of the featured presenter and the hero shot; even the poses are almost identical. I've mentioned magazine cover testing before in a previous article here but I havn't seen any recent evidence of the Press engaging in this kind of marketing test in recent years. Would be (mildly) interesting to see who wins this particular test.

Cover story - what magazines can teach us

So what do magazines like Heat, OK, Glamour and the National Enquirer have to do with Optimization and multivariate testing?

Well as far as those glossies are concerned and Web Optimization we're being told as marketeers to adopt the same design model these magazines use to get countless people to buy them week after week. These publications obviously have to compete in a fierce market where the cover is the singular entity that can make the difference between a huge circulation or being just another magazine on the shelf. When constructing your sales message or call to action we should endevour to recreate that strong headline message or cover story that makes a customer buy, purchase, convert. According to industry analysts 80% of the purchasing decision is based upon what's on the front cover of a magazine. These guys are the experts, they know the value of catching the eye and conveying the message in a single shot, so surely our web pages should aspire to do the same whenever we seek to acheive the biggest bang for our buck?

Now in terms of magazines and multivariate testing the National Enquirer, a tabloid magazine, famous for running, amongst other things, items on alien abduction and conspiracy theories, has a massive circulation of around 2.5 million readers in the US.
Faced with a downturn in sales in recent times the publishers decided to enlist a company to undertake an MVT experiment. This company developed several versions of the same magazine cover and distributed them in a limited number of outlets, available only in a couple of states and then monitored which one had the biggest sales. Despite a large cost involved with running the different covers the Enquirer reported a 20% increase in sales as a direct result of the experiment. I think this illustrates the reach and scope of multivariate testing these days showing that's not just confined to the web.