Taguchi Method: The Key In Ad Optimization?
Saturday, November 04, 2006
For people who are looking for the secrets on how to master ad
optimization, your prayers have been answered. With the help of
Taguchi method your ad can land 10 or more times on the results
pages. There is no doubt that you have probably heard of people
trying to conquer Google Adwords by testing different ads that
get a better click-through rate, since doing so can reduce
costs considerably. Now the Taguchi method raises this kind of
testing a couple of notch higher.
Just what is the Taguchi Method? The Taguchi method is actually
a technique use for designing experiments that converge on an
ideal product solution. It was developed in the late 1940s by a
Japanese inventor named Dr. Genichi Taguchi, who was then
working as an engineer at NTT (a Japanese phone company). The
method has been used in designing cars and computers. So if you
were wondering why the quality of Japanese cars is so high, that
is all due to Taguchi.
Now you are probably wondering how this kind of method became
associated with advertising. Well, the credit for that would
have to go to James Kowalick who introduces the use of the
Taguchi Method to significantly increase the response rate for
ad campaigns.
The basic idea of the Taguchi method is to test as many
variables as possible all at once. Now if you applied that in
ad optimization, instead of testing two web pages (each with a
different headline), you can test 40 different versions of the
page, like different headlines, different graphics, different
forms, including a testimonial or not, shifting the order of
copy, whatever you can think of.
Then the system applied some complicated mathematical technique
to determine which factors contribute the most to your goal.
Then you can immediately look at all the factors and easily
make your optimized page. Compare to the old ways that is easy
as breeze.
Before what marketers use is the simple A/B split testing,
which is very different. What you do here is make two pages,
each with a different headline, and do a test to find the
winner. After which you then make two different pages where you
change something else, and then you find a winner from that. So
by the time you have tested all 40 elements, you would have
spent a lot of money and time in testing alone!
If you are still unconvinced as to whether or not the Taguchi
method is indeed acceptable to use in ad optimization then take
a look at the web. A quick search on the net will show you just
how many people are using this method in order to improve their
rankings. If that is not proof enough and notice how many
optimization software that are based on the Taguchi method are
being sold online. There is a very high demand for them. So, if
people are willing to pay for it then it must be truly worth it.
But you do not have to spend money. You yourself could see the
difference whether or not this method will work on your ad.
Another way to take advantage of the Taguchi method in order to
improve your ad is to apply it in Adwords. Just imagine, if you
could test for one keyword, all the combinations that could get
your ad the best response and optimize it dynamically, that
would make your site pretty hot!
The big question is, can Taguchi help me optimize automatically
to get the best Adwords ads out there? Well, the answer is yes.
The interview the profit doctors did with the guy who talked
about the "Taguchi method" of multi-testing many variables at
once, instead of simple a/b split testing, got me interested in
looking to see if there were any resources that cost less than
$150,000 per test.
Success stories regarding the use of the Taguchi method in
advertising abounded the net. One of the common examples cited
is at the SES convention there was a company that conducted
tests like this for companies such as http://ask.com and eBay,
for about $30,000 per test. It was obvious that they were using
the Taguchi method for this. They have refined their materials
and are now providing programs for ad agencies. Admittedly,
their system is now very sophisticated and of course very
expensive.
Another company that does this for fortune 500 companies has
clients like Colombia house, Accenture, Wal mart, Timberland,
Monster, Zales, sharper image, and other big name companies.
So, there is no need to say that this is a good service to use
for ourselves, and then possibly to offer to our clients for
big bucks. You'll see dozens of stories like this along with a
couple of testimonials from people who claim to have conquered
ad optimization by simply applying the Taguchi method.
For years the Taguchi method had been successfully used for a
lot of other things. For instance in manufacturing, if you want
to test a whole bunch of different factors of design of a piston
or engine, for example, something to get optimum results. The
Taguchi method is use, so why not use it to optimize your ads?
Today, there are a lot of ad optimization programs that use the
Taguchi method. All of them are easily accessible over the
Internet, with their prices varying from cheap to exorbitant.
For example, if you are good in math and can handle a program
with kind of an arcane interface for just 2000 bucks you can
buy a program that runs on your desktop. You can also get an
academic version for 99 bucks.
But the bottom line is this. If you are trying to increase your
profits and at the same time reduce your costs with the help of
your online marketing campaign, you need to use "taguchi
thinking" in order to get the results that you want.
Just how many times have you heard the old clinch, "If you are
not testing you are wasting time and money." Keep in mind that
underneath all of the traffic generation techniques and the
newest promotional methods, testing is still fundamental.
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posted by Dennis Cheesman @ 7:06 AM,
