For two to four cents per contact, the researcher can now gather
market intelligence from both specialized vertical markets
(lawyers, doctors, etc.) or broad based horizontal markets (all
marketing executives across industry lines). In addition, these
same markets can now be tested in such confined geographical
areas as business executives in Hawaii or professionals in
Minneapolis.

Not only does the marketer overcome one of the traditional
problems in research…test sizes…he or she also reaps the
huge advantage of accurate measurability and accountability.
Since all responses can be directed right back to the research
organization, market feedback is both quick and accurate.

Many firms have difficulty in obtaining statistically
significant samplings through traditional channels because of
budget restrictions.

It’s not uncommon for important strategy decisions to be made on
the basis of sampling as few as 2,000 names out of a universe of
several million potential buyers. This is risky at best. It
could lead to marketing disaster based on serious sampling
error, or wrong conclusions drawn from insufficient data.

With direct response card packs, it is now possible to test or
survey as many as 100,000 potential buyers for as little as
$2,000 or less. For the research or direct marketing consultant
this results in meaningful figures which are both statistically
significant and forecastable.

Proper analysis of this larger sampling should result in
strategy decisions which are more accurate, more meaningful,
more valid and more profitable for the direct marketer.

The ability to order and conduct true A/B (or more) split run
tests of offers, prices, etc. has important implications for the
creative team.

The marketing intelligence gathered through card packs can be a
valuable road map to success. Critically important data,
discovered through card deck advertising, can determine the
answers to such questions as: Have we targeted to the correct
audience?

Is the audience responsive to the degree necessary to maximize
potential profitability?

Do we have the right combination of offer, price, copy,
graphics, headlines, terms, etc.?

Are the response/profit characteristics such that they justify
testing such other direct response media as direct mail, space
or broadcast advertising?

Is there potential for a variation of this product/service to be
marketed to a closely related audience?

What is the potential for back-end profits from related item
sales?

Are we barking up the wrong tree? Should we cut our losses now
and thank our luck stars that we were able to discover,
inexpensively, that we were wrong?

While the advantage of card decks as a market research tool
outweigh the disadvantages, there are some restrictions you need
to be aware of:

1. The card itself is small (about 3″x5″) and as such restricts
your ability to test such things as long copy and multiple
option offers. Some decks provide larger format sizes with the
ability to do fold-over inserts which provide more space, but
these options are at a substantial premium in price. The small
space can work to your advantage because it forces you to limit
your testing to those factors that have the most profound affect
on response and profitability…i.e. offer and price, for
example.

2. Color reproduction, if it is important to your product, is
not always the best. The conventional .007 Hi Bulk paper stock
normally used in card decks is not the best choice for color
printing. Most deck publishers, however, offer a coated stock
option and you may find it useful.

3. Response rates are,on the average, lower in card decks (1/4th
of one percent to 1 percent) than they might be in a free
standing direct mail package. On the surface this may appear to
be a disadvantage. In fact it is not. Your goal in market
research/testing is to obtain statistically significant data
across the broadest sampling possible…consistent with
budgetary limits.

Card decks allow you to achieve this goal, precisely. It’s much
better to have a 1/4th of 1% response from a 100,000 name
universe (250 responses) than to have a 12.5% (250 responses)
from a small 2,000 name test cell. Although the total numbers
are the same, the former example gives you a truer picture of
market conditions and possible product/service acceptance.

In summation, we have found that direct response card decks, if
used properly, can be ideal market research tools. Card decks
are inexpensive to use. They give quick accurate and projectable
results. They reduce the risk of sampling error, and the
resulting data is both statistically significant and inherently
more valid.

There’s only one way to know for sure…test it!