How do I test a message before spending money?

Whoever writes a company's message knows it too well to judge it. Every word makes sense to them. The reader, who arrives without that context, may understand something else. The solution is not to guess: it is to test with real people, simply and cheaply, before investing.

What is tested

• Whether it is understood: can the person say what you do and for whom?
• Whether it interests: does the person want to know more?
• Whether it is believable: does the person trust what they read?
• Whether it leads to action: do they click, reply, book, get in touch?

Five ways to test, from cheapest to most complete

1. The five-second test. Show the message (a headline, a page, an ad) to someone for five seconds and take it away. Ask: what does the company do? For whom? What do you remember? Do this with five people who do not know the company.
2. Conversations. Tell the message to current customers and to people in the audience you want to reach, and listen to how they repeat it in their own words. Where the repetition drifts from what you wrote, the message is getting lost.
3. Two versions by direct contact. Send version A to half of a list of contacts who allowed it and version B to the other half, and compare replies. Only for small lists, and careful to change only one thing.
4. A minimal ad or post. Put a small budget, or a post, on testing two wordings, and see which brings more clicks and qualified replies.
5. A pre-offer. Announce a waiting list or pre-registration for a new service and see how many people sign up.

How to read the results

• Few cases give hints, not proof. Five people who do not understand are a strong signal; five extra clicks on one version are not.
• Change one thing at a time: the headline, the invitation, the order. If you change three, you do not know what worked.
• Look at quality, not only quantity. A version that brings many clicks but few right enquiries may be attracting the wrong people.
• Decide before the test what you will do with the result. If A wins, I do this; if B wins, I do that.

Common mistakes

• Testing only with friends and colleagues, who like you and say yes.
• Explaining the message to the person before they read it: the test is lost.
• Changing everything at once and then trying to work out what worked.
• Declaring a winner with too much or too little data.

When the main message is not yet written, start with the value proposition in one sentence, and if you sell to several audiences, see how to write the message for different customer types. In Brand Strategy, the sentences go past outsiders before they go on the website and in ads.

The five-second test, in half an hour

Choose the main sentence from your website, your profile or an ad. Show it, for five seconds, to five people who do not know the company, and take it away. Ask each one, in this order: what does the company do? For whom? What do you remember? Write the answers as they were said, without correcting them. If three or more answer well, the sentence works. If not, rewrite it with the words people used, and repeat with another five. Usually, two rounds are enough to arrive at a sentence that is understood.

In short

• Test whether it is understood, interesting, believable and leads to action.
• The five-second test and conversations are the cheapest.
• Change one thing at a time and decide beforehand what to do with the result.
• Few cases give hints, not proof, and friends always say yes.

Quick questions

How many people do I need to test?

To see whether a message is understood, five people who do not know the company already show the main problems. To compare versions with numbers, many more are needed, and it pays to be cautious with conclusions.

Can I test with my customers?

You can, and it is useful, but include people who do not yet know you: customers already know what you do and understand even a confusing message.

What if the version I preferred loses?

Accept the result, but ask why. Often the difference is in one word, which can be fixed without giving up the idea.