Testing in advertising research. Advertisements

Advertising testing must be carried out at all stages of its development and placement. At the planning stage, the concept is tested, at the execution stage - the submission of materials, at the placement stage - its effectiveness. A distinction is made between pre-testing and post-testing.

Preliminary testing, in turn, is divided into three stages: at the beginning of development, at the layout stage, at the end of advertising production.

Pre-testing is used to measure the variables of the message itself, but is not suitable for measuring variables related to the choice of advertising media, the development of advertising schedules, or the development of the budget.

Qualitative testing of advertising involves conducting it comprehensively, from development to implementation. For example, Millward Brown's "Link" test study examines the emotional and rational response to an advertising message. This testing method is aimed at predicting the effectiveness of advertising and identifying the reasons for the positive impact of advertising on respondents.

Pre-testing ads minimizes the possibility of overspending on ineffective ads. Testing ads during the development phase helps to determine with a high degree of probability whether an advertising message will succeed or fail.

Pre-testing can be carried out at all stages of advertising creation. At the beginning of creation, the general concept is tested without analyzing its individual elements. “A concept is a detailed written definition of the positioning, benefits of a product, reasons for its production or a unique product proposition ... The main task of the concept is to present the key idea simply and realistically, creating the most complete understanding of the product for consumers, and to ensure that a reliable assessment of their responses to this idea."

During testing at the beginning of creating advertising, researchers will find out how accurately the essence of advertising is conveyed, how the product is positioned in the minds of consumers. Some resort to testing several versions of the concept to select the optimal one.

In the course of further testing, polls, in-depth interviews and other methods are used. Questions that are asked to respondents during the concept test are aimed at collecting general information about the respondents (demographic and social characteristics) and to determine the effectiveness of conveying the main idea.

As a rule, testing is carried out in four stages:

Definition of the target audience;

Choice of research methodology;

Drawing up a questionnaire for the survey;

The concept presentation procedure is determined.

The key characteristics of the consumer audience are determined;

The research methodology is chosen;

A questionnaire is being compiled.

The test results should show how the consumer audience perceived the proposed draft of the advertising message, as well as explain the reasons for such perception.

According to the Association of National Advertising Producers, “Most advertising firms test their creative advertising ideas before producing ads and placing them in the media. These companies resort to testing the transmission of advertising intent, testing the effectiveness of the finished advertising product, or both forms of verification.

In addition to the general concept, when developing advertising, variable messages are also tested at the initial stage. For example, when testing advertising, the compliance of illustrations, body text, font set, etc. is checked. In addition, the structure of the message, visual and verbal characteristics are tested in terms of their transmission of information.

According to recent marketing research, in recent years there has been a shift towards testing commercials at the stage of their creation with the involvement of focus groups of potential consumers.

It is necessary to distinguish between testing the finished advertising product and testing the advertising intent. Testing of the finished advertising product is characterized by the following characteristics:

Is more evaluative;

Conducted on the basis of a fully completed advertising product;

There are standards against which test results are compared.

The choice of method for testing the effectiveness of advertising largely depends on the specifics of the chosen advertising medium. Usually, most advertising testing methods are adapted for their application to television advertising, which is due to the high cost of this information carrier and, accordingly, the fact that the cost of error is very high here.

A widely used advertising message test is the "Kotler Points System", which focuses on the AIDA model. In the course of this test, the experts distribute the points according to the individual stages of the advertising impact on the evaluation sheet. The sum of points acts as an indicator of the quality of advertising.

Kotler's standard list has been supplemented by other researchers with additional criteria that are more important in terms of design than marketing. Most experts come to the conclusion that good advertising should be endowed with the following qualities: clarity, originality, aesthetics, persuasiveness, joy.

After the development of advertising, several variants of the advertising message are usually tested. Also, at the final stage, advertising is tested from a legal point of view. This check helps to anticipate allegations of fraudulent advertising and possible prosecution. The main idea of ​​the audit is that all advertising elements must comply with external and internal legal regulations.

It should be noted that legal norms regulate not only the advertising itself and the means of its placement, but also the testing methods. For example, in the United States, the quality of testing, the acceptability of its results and the reliability of the conclusions drawn are also evaluated according to the following indicators:

Definition of the general population;

Planning testing and applying control groups;

Compilation of a questionnaire and its questions;

Analysis of the data obtained and the form of presentation of the results;

Project management.

Testing advertising at the development stage and at the end of its creation allows you to feel the structure of the advertising message, gives operational results, is flexible and has a fairly low cost. When conducting research at the development stage, experts are faced with the following dilemma: the more often and more accurately measurements of advertising, the less they say about subsequent behavior.

Experts note that a high-quality testing system should measure not one indicator, but several at once in the aggregate.

The final testing that takes place after the appearance of the advertisement is called the final testing. Final testing, unlike preliminary, does not have a certain amount of artificiality. During the final testing, the behavior of people is realistic and not subject to distortion. Also, during its implementation, a number of factors are taken into account that also affect the final result, such as: means of advertising placement, time of advertising placement, frequency of its outputs, etc.

Final testing allows you to evaluate the real impact of advertising on real, and not just on potential buyers. At this stage, as a rule, consumer awareness of advertising, knowledge of its elements, brand preference, etc. are monitored. Such testing gives the advertiser the opportunity to see recurring factors to further establish general trends and principles aimed at increasing the impact of advertising. When analyzing the results of advertising testing, the advertiser comes to the conclusion that he needs to change - an advertisement or an advertising medium.

Through the final testing, the advertiser seeks to answer the following questions:

How much has the number of people who understand the properties, advantages and benefits of the product increased;

How much has the number of people predisposed to buying a product increased;

How much has the number of people who applied for the product increased;

How much the number of people who bought the product has increased.

The main disadvantage of final testing is that it requires significant time and financial costs.

During the final testing, a basic measurement is first carried out, and after a certain time a control measurement is made, the results of which are compared with the basic one.

In order to evaluate real results, tracking studies are carried out, which are divided into wave and continuous. Continuous ones are held every day, and the second ones are held at intervals, for example, once a quarter. With the help of tracking, the dynamics of changes in product consumption, the degree of awareness about it, and other indicators are usually measured.

Final testing often uses a reference market, for which two similar markets are taken, one of which is advertised and the other is not. After placing an advertisement in one of the markets, the sales results in them are compared, thus establishing the degree of impact of the advertisement.

It is generally accepted that the optimal number of tested markets is 5-6 regions. Most advertisers use large and medium-sized markets for this purpose. The tested market should represent a certain composition of the consumer audience and the information preferences corresponding to it. Also, this market should be relatively isolated from neighboring ones, from which advertising leakage can be carried out. Advertising in these markets should be approximately the same in terms of spending on it. It is important to understand that testing in individual markets is not always a guarantee that the whole market will eventually react in the same way. To reduce this risk of distorting the results, the use of average data from not one, but from several placements helps.

Thus, in order to verify the effectiveness of advertising, various studies and tests are carried out, which can reduce the cost of an advertising campaign by adjusting advertising before it is placed on the mass market. Evaluation studies can also be useful after advertising has been placed, for example, when evaluating the processes of advertising influence on current sales.

• testing advertising concepts and materials;
• study of the effectiveness of an advertising campaign;
• media research.

Testing advertising concepts and materials

Testing of advertising materials is carried out before the advertising campaign to increase the effectiveness of the impact of the advertising message. Preliminary testing of print, television and audio advertising - newspaper and magazine advertisements, video and audio clips, outdoor advertising layouts - is a widespread and very important area of ​​marketing research.

As a rule, the development of advertising materials is most often carried out using qualitative research methods. “In particular, standard, mini- and special creative focus groups, in-depth interviews, as well as such special techniques as brainstorming and interactive interaction are actively used. Using the methods of analogy, association, personification and various projective situations, advertising ideas are searched for, an advertising concept is developed, and additions to it are developed. Such preliminary research allows you to outline the main directions, determine the "style" of the advertising campaign, formulate key ideas, sometimes - build storylines and select advertising characters. Ideas expressed directly by representatives of target audiences are extremely important in the development of promotional products” .

• what do the representatives of the target audiences like or dislike in the proposed advertising concepts;
• how understandable and unique are the proposed options for advertising concepts;
• assessment of the importance for potential consumers of individual elements of the product (service);
• assessment of the intention to purchase products (provided that the price is known and without it);
• if two or more versions of concepts are being tested, comparing them with each other and choosing the most preferred option according to the representatives of the target audience.

Next, you need to test the developed advertising materials. “Analysis of the reaction of representatives of the target groups to the developed advertising layouts is carried out both as part of a direct survey (for example, during a Hall test), and in the process of conducting focus groups or in-depth interviews.”

• understanding the main idea of ​​the advertising message;
• perception of the advertising message and assessment of individual elements of advertising materials, what do the representatives of the target audience like or dislike in the proposed options;
• compliance of the advertising message with the needs and specifics of the perception of the target audience;
• compliance of advertising with the image of the brand already established in the minds of the audience if the product is not new to the market;
• persuasiveness of the advertising message;
• the study of various parameters of an illustration of an advertising message - a color scheme, characters, text, slogan;
• uniqueness of advertising materials;
• memorability of advertising materials;
• the degree of consumer confidence in the tested materials.

“In addition to choosing the most attractive option

advertising, it is of great importance to study the reasons and motives for choosing or rejecting a particular layout or its individual parts. This information helps to “fix” existing options or create a new one. In this case, usually the base for drawing up the optimal advertising concept is the option that received the most positive feedback. By bringing together the positive features of all advertising concepts, developers will be able to get a “closer to ideal” option.

“According to experts, if we take the entire number of tested advertising concepts as 100%, somewhere around 20% of them are completely accepted after testing, developers simply refuse 20%, and the remaining 60% are accepted, but with certain modifications” . Testing advertising concepts and materials is an essential element of an effective advertising campaign and allows you to form recommendations for choosing and improving the concept.

The effectiveness of advertising is a change under its influence of the following parameters: the number of new buyers; the number of all buyers; amounts of sales or purchases; the number of customers attracted by this advertisement; share of regular customers.

Let's consider three factors of testing and evaluating advertising: whether to test or not; what and when to test; what criterion or test to use.

Typically, tests at the first three stages are called preliminary, and at the final - final testing. At each of the four stages, different types of tests can be used, which will differ depending on the type of advertising - print or broadcast.

costly mistakes and determine the parameters for measuring the success of advertising.

The objects of testing are product characteristics, the reaction of target groups, the perception of the content of advertising messages (and their parts), the choice of means of distribution, general; perception of advertising.

To test advertising at the preliminary stage, they use memory tests, portfolio and theater tests, focus groups (traditional and electronic), information technology, etc. The key question of choosing one of the methods is: what is a measure of advertising effectiveness for a product of a given brand, for a given company in the present situation of marketing?

Memory tests. This testing method is aimed at assessing the recognition and memorization of the commercial (message).

Recognition means whether the buyer can recognize in the new advertising message what he saw before. An example of recognition testing is the tests of television commercials (Red Up drinks) by Wimm-Bill-Dann (see Figure 12.2). These tests were carried out as a survey by mail, in which questionnaires were sent to 1,000 buyers whose children receive the color illustrated magazine Ginger Up. Interest in the task caused 500 response letters. The question about recognition is given at the beginning of the questionnaire. Below are questions about association with a product brand, which is a critical aspect for most companies. On average, 60% recognized the advertisement, and 73% were able to correctly select the desired brand from the three options offered. The correlation coefficient between repeated tests was 0.98.

Recognition is a necessary condition for the effectiveness of advertising. If an ad fails this test, it is ineffective. Nestle's advertising messages are very recognizable (Fig. 13.2).

recall with a hint (the reaction of the buyer is stimulated by showing an illustration from the advertisement);

self-remembering.

The most well-known method of determining memorability on television - a survey of viewers 24-30 hours after the ad was shown - is called the next day memory test (day-after-recall - DAR). The essence of DAR is to survey by phone from 150 to 300 TV viewers 24 hours after the appearance of television advertising according to an approved questionnaire, for example:

"Remember the previous day's ad for one of the product categories." If respondents cannot correctly identify the brand, they are told the category and brand of the product and again asked if they can remember the advertisement.

Using the DAR method, the percentage of ad viewers who remember something specific from the commercials they saw more than a day ago is determined. This indicator is called the percentage of proven memorization. The DAR method also provides a special verbatim transmission (reproduction) of what viewers remember from advertising messages, and allows you to analyze the information remembered by viewers about the essence of the main message that was transmitted.

Problems with the recall score are that recall tests are not appropriate for emotional advertising; the recall rate of an ad evoking feelings increases if recall is not stimulated by the name of the product or brand, but instead a cue is given - a description of the first scene of the ad. In addition, the reliability of memory tests is questionable. When examining advertisements for one of the numerous product classes, it was found that the correlation coefficient of repeated tests is extremely low (below 0.3).

Memory tests are overly dependent on the attractiveness and nature of the TV program (the DAR method for advertising in new TV programs is on average 25% lower than for advertising shown in other TV programs).

The results of the memorability test vary markedly depending on the nature of the buyers involved in the test (the impact of the DAR method is higher for loyal buyers and lower for disloyal ones). In one study, seven out of eight studies evaluating the effectiveness of memorability tests found little to no relationship between memorability and persuasiveness scores.

Portfolio and theater tests. Portfolio tests are associated with a change in brand preference caused by television advertising. The portfolio testing technology includes the following steps:

a sample of up to 450 respondents from different places of residence is formed (by phone);

of the respondents form groups of 25 people and ask them questions related to the use of the product brand;

respondents are offered to watch a certain half-hour musical program with the participation of four professional performers. In the middle of the program, for example, seven commercials are included, including four test ones;

after watching the program, respondents are asked a question without prompting about the recall of the brand name, the answer to which forms the basis for assessing random awareness (percentage of those who remembered that the brand was advertised).

An important element of the portfolio test is the use of multiple ad impressions. Advertisers should keep the following in mind: Emotional ads should be tested in a multiple-impression mode, as compared to rational ads, such ads receive a response to it more slowly when repeated, so a single display of a test ad will not provide an objective assessment of the responses that would be received in case of repetition. frequently repeated ad impressions.

At the end of the portfolio test, respondents are asked how they understand the slogan of the message, the secondary ideas of the advertisement, evaluate the announcer presenting the advertisement, the whole advertisement message, whether they perceive the uniqueness of the advertised brand and see differences with similar brands, are there any annoying or embarrassing elements in an advertising message, whether it is able to lure the viewer, etc.

The memorability score has only diagnostic value and is weakly related to the success of an advertising campaign.

The theater test helps to assess how easy it is to read and perceive the advertising material in the presented advertising messages to the potential consumer.

Using focus groups to test ads. Focus group is a method of testing advertising used in conducting qualitative marketing research. Focus groups in advertising are used in cases where it is necessary to obtain information from buyers about the perception of advertising materials, about the association and opinion associated with advertising, about consumer behavior after displaying advertising materials.

This method is based on a special form of in-depth interview conducted in a group.

During the work of the focus group, its participants, according to a specific scenario agreed with the customer, exchange views under the guidance of a moderator (host). To organize focus groups, recruitment is carried out and buyers from among the target audience of the customer of this study are invited. The entire conversation is recorded on video or audio media for further transcription and analysis.

Traditional focus groups can precede and follow quantitative advertising research. In the first case, the main task of the focus group is to determine the main directions for conducting quantitative research. In the second case, the work of the focus group is aimed at clarifying the data of a quantitative study, supplementing it as a result of a more detailed study of the information received earlier.

The use of an electronic focus group (EFG) is a method of studying the assessments and opinions of respondents, based on the use of modern electronic equipment. The areas of application of EFG are:

a) television: analysis of television programs - identification of a sequence of strong and weak episodes; forecasting the audience rating, identifying "prime moments";

c) testing of design solutions: comparative assessments of various design solutions in the field of architecture, fashion
and others, including at the development stage; evaluation of the quality of fragments of video and computer presentations;

d) political consulting: customer training for communication
with the audience; "finishing" of political advertising; express analysis
and adjustment of the election campaign in the final period
one before the elections; analysis of video recordings of public speeches and pre-election debates of political leaders - identification

episodes with high and low ratings to adjust the content and style of public speaking.

The method of using EFG is based on the work of the group, teaching | whose sources are selected randomly or according to some specific principle, depending on the task of the study.

Each participant receives a special electronic sensor with a five-point scale, with which he must record his reaction to what is happening.

During the work of the group, the electronic equipment every second takes and remembers the readings of the sensors, systematizes, generalizes them and combines them with the video material.

Electronic registration of EFG participants allows dividing the audience into a certain number of groups in accordance with the purpose and objectives of the study. After appropriate explanations and setting the task, the moderator (leader) shows the tested video material to the audience. Each of the participants, using an electronic sensor, fixes their reaction to what is happening on the screen (like - dislike, interesting - not interested, agree - disagree, etc.) on a five-point scale.

Conducting a group interview with a part of the respondents participating in the EFG at the end of the EFG makes it possible to find out the motivation of the registered reactions, to compare the verbal and non-verbal assessments of the respondents.

The use of information technology. To study the reaction to advertising, information technologies are widely used, with the help of which they try to catch changes in the functioning of the nervous system of potential buyers or their emotional arousal in the process of displaying advertising. This advertising message testing method uses the following methods:

eye photography. This method uses a device that captures the movement of a person's eyes by photographing a small point of light reflected from the eyes, or filming the movement of the eyes. The device shows a dot on a print advertisement or on a package where the eye is focused 60 times per second. It is possible to analytically determine what the viewer (reader) saw, what he returned to and at what point his gaze was fixed;

measurement of pupillary dilation(pupilometry). This method is associated with the determination of pupil dilation, which, as you know, dilate when they see something interesting and pleasant, and narrow when they encounter an unpleasant or uninteresting phenomenon. One use case for this property is to use it when testing a new television program;

conjugate programmed advertising analysis(conjugately programmed analysis of advertising - CONPAAD). This method of advertising testing uses a foot or hand-operated device controlled by the respondent, which adjusts the intensity of the sound and picture of the TV. The viewer must make an effort to endure the signals programmed to destroy a particular image;

electroencephalogram(EEG). Some companies test ads for the number, nature, and distribution of brain signals they evoke. Respondents-volunteers are seated in places, and sensors are connected to different parts of the head. During the demonstration of advertising, the signals coming from the sensors are recorded using electroencephalography and analyzed to determine the effectiveness of the impact on the respondents of the tested advertising.

The economic efficiency of advertising is the economic result obtained from the use of an advertising medium or the organization of an advertising campaign. This result is usually determined by the ratio between the gross income from additional turnover as a result of advertising and advertising costs. The general condition of the economic result is that the gross income must be equal to or greater than the amount of advertising expenses.

Psychological effectiveness is the degree of influence of advertising on a person (attracting the attention of buyers, memorability, impact on the purchase motive, etc.).

The main materials for analyzing the economic efficiency of the results of the company's promotional activities are statistical and accounting reports on the growth of turnover. Based on this information, it is possible to investigate the economic efficiency of one advertising medium, an advertising campaign, and the entire advertising activity of the company as a whole.

To study the effect of the psychological impact of advertising on buyers, methods based on accounting and assessing the nature of the impact of individual advertising media on a person are used.

The effectiveness of the psychological impact of advertising media is characterized by the number of customer coverage, the brightness and depth of impressions that these media leave in the memory of a particular person, the degree of attracting his attention.

The effectiveness of the psychological impact of advertising on the consumer can be determined by observation and experimentation.

The method of observations is used in the study of the impact on consumers of individual advertising media. This method is passive in nature, since the observer does not affect the buyer in any way.

With the experimental method, the experimenter can create a variety of combinations of advertising media and, by comparing the reactions of buyers, choose the most successful of them.

Evaluative methods for determining the effectiveness of advertising. These methods are direct and indirect.

Direct scoring methods directly reveal the effectiveness of advertising by interviewing or testing buyers, company employees, experts, random individuals and using score (Table 13.1) and rating (Table 13.2) estimates, as well as comparison with a well-known advertisement during testing.

Indirect valuation methods are based on survey methods (phone, fax, visitors, buyers), comparison (differences in advertising, advertising costs and the number of new buyers, advertising volume and the number of new buyers), calculation (potential, possible audience, target audience, share of responses from outside target audience).

When interviewing callers by phone (“How did you find us?”), you need to decide when to ask a question, record all calls or selectively, as well as the degree of applicability of the survey method for various types of advertising. In this case, the following parameters are recorded - the absolute number of callers for a certain period, the number of callers in this period compared to the number of callers in other periods, the number of callers for a specific advertisement.

Pre-testing increases the likelihood of preparing the most effective texts before the money is spent on advertising.

Pre-testing can be done:

- at the beginning of the test creation process;

- during the creation process;

- at the end of creation.

At the beginning of the creation process, the main idea of ​​​​advertising is tested. The advertiser himself must answer a few basic questions:

Is the idea really original?

- Would I understand this idea, being an ordinary buyer, and not its creator?

It is also useful to test the main idea with the help of a group of people who are not related to this advertisement. Thus, the flaws of the future text can be detected even at the stage of developing the main idea.

In the course of creating the text, outlines of the structure and argumentation are tested. This is also done with the help of an independent group of people.

In order to check the literary processing of the text, you can simply read it aloud: clumsy words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs, clumsy places, rhythmic errors are easily detected.

At the end of the text creation, its various variants are tested. The best one is chosen. Before being placed in the form of an ad and paying money, it is subjected to a separate scrutiny.

Testing can have multiple purposes. So, in advertising of inexpensive goods, it is important to determine the degree of recognition and memorability of a product or brand, but in the case of attracting large amounts of money, the object of research becomes persuasiveness.

Awareness (usually emotional) advertising test evaluates how well potential buyers recognize the advertisement, content, product name or brand of the company.

When persuasiveness is tested, attention is drawn primarily to the understanding of the title, slogan, code, keywords; on the perception of the uniqueness or differences of the product, on the presence of annoying or embarrassing elements.

A persuasive text should exclude misperceptions and unforeseen associations. If everything is done correctly, then the person should easily get involved, respond positively to himself “I can relate to this”, “I can imagine myself doing this”, etc.

In terms of content, texts can be tested based on questions or comments that consumers have after studying advertising. The following phrases will say a lot:

“I don’t even know if I need this product?”

“I want to know more about him…”

Any text should be evaluated in terms of the veracity of the content, sincerity. First of all, the creator of the advertisement should ask himself:

– can I say everything described in this ad to a person in a personal conversation, looking into his eyes?

Are the statements in this text true?

Can they be proven?

Are there any misleading statements?

Are the benefits or results overstated?

– are there any misleading images?

– is there anything missing that could make the announcement untrue?

Are opinions presented as facts?

Do the images match the text?

- Are there any words or phrases in the text that discriminate, degrade someone's dignity?

Does this advertisement violate the rules of good taste?

When testing, polling, ranking, recall in a selection, recall in a publication, in a program, in an advertising block are often used.

Polling is perhaps the easiest method. Different questionnaires can be developed for different testing purposes.

In general, such a survey should show:

- attitude to the product and its seller;

- the main points or minor points are underlined in the text, etc.

When choosing options, ranking is often used. Representatives of the target group of the consumer are offered to arrange the texts shown to them in terms of interest, attractiveness, persuasiveness, etc. Thus, the best option is found.

In order to bring testing closer to a real life situation, advertising is placed in a selection of other ads. Then representatives of the target consumer group are asked to recall the ad itself, its text, illustration, etc.

Remembrance is also used in the publication. For such testing, consumers are given a layout of a newspaper or magazine, with an ad placed among other advertisements and journalistic materials.

When testing, it is important to keep in mind that there are three groups of ad readers:

1. Those who noticed the ad (those who can remember seeing the ad);

2. Classifiers (those who can classify a product or service, associate them with the name of the company, trademark);

3. Read the text more than half.

After consumers have viewed a selection of materials or a layout of a publication, you should interview them and compare the ratio of those who noticed the test ad to those who read it by more than half. 10 who read the ad more than half of the 30 who noticed it (or 1/3) would be a high ratio, and 3 out of 30 or (1/10) would be a low ratio.

By analogy, recall is tested in television and radio programs, in advertising blocks.

With the help of special equipment, it is possible to record the movement of a person's eyes - to note: whether he saw a specific advertisement, how much time he spent studying it, whether he returned to it again. The degree of interest shown in advertising is also determined. When we see something curious, pleasant, our eyes widen and, on the contrary, narrow when we meet something uninteresting, unpleasant.

Even more sophisticated equipment allows you to track the reactions of the brain. If you connect the electrodes to different parts of the skull, then the analysis of the frequency and amplitude of brain activity will indicate the intensity of attracting the attention of advertising in general and its various parts.

The choice of tests must always be justified. For a complete picture, it is worth using several of them, with different criteria, giving, among other things, the big picture.

After testing, you can refine the ad to the point where it begins to be perceived as it should. When testing testifies to a positive perception, then you can safely publish advertising - at least because of the quality of the text, extra money will no longer be lost.

From the book Personnel Management Models author Pomerantseva Evgenia

Publications in periodicals 1. Verkhoglazenko VV Personnel motivation system // Director's consultant. - 2002. - No. 4.2. Dontsov B.I. Structure and dynamics of activity motives. Voprosy psihologii. - 1984. - No. 4.3. Zakharov N. L. "The Riddle of the Russian Soul", or Features

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In further testing, all research tools are used: surveys, in-depth interviews, etc. The questions asked during concept testing are aimed, firstly, at collecting information about brand usage, demographic characteristics of respondents, etc., and secondly , to determine the effectiveness of the transfer of the main idea, the persuasiveness of the transfer of the main idea, the intention to buy, etc. and, thirdly, to determine the specific characteristics of a particular concept.

Typically, testing involves four stages. The first step is to define the target audience. The second step is to select the research methodology. The third is a questionnaire. The fourth defines the procedure for presenting the concept.

During the creation of advertising the transmission of the advertising intent is tested, which also includes four stages. First of all, test advertising messages (ads, clips) are created in a "draft version". Next, the key characteristics of the consumer audience are determined, the research methodology is selected, and a questionnaire is compiled. The test results should show how the consumer audience perceived the proposed draft of the advertising message, as well as explain the reasons for such perception.

An example of a transfer of intent test questionnaire is the following: :

It is worth noting that, according to the Association of National Advertising Producers ( Association of National Advertisers), “most advertising firms test their creative advertising ideas before producing ads and placing them in the media. These companies resort to testing the transmission of advertising intent, testing the effectiveness of the finished advertising product, or both forms of verification. .

In addition to the idea of ​​advertising, variable messages are tested at the initial stage of its creation. For example, when testing individual ad elements, the effectiveness of illustration, title, body text, layout, font set, etc. can be tested. Structure, argumentation, various visual and verbal approaches can also be tested in terms of how well they convey certain information, etc. d.

Interestingly, according to the latest research from leading advertisers and advertising agencies, “most TV commercials for pre-testing are currently made using animation (drawn images of ad sequences with sound overlay), using focus groups of consumers or randomly selected consumers in a shopping arcade, with key tests for clarity of information and credibility of the main points of the advertisement… The last decade has seen a trend towards such faster, better research using draft advertisements.” .

During the verification at the final stage of creating advertising it is tested to what extent advertising corresponds to the set strategic and communicative goals, whether it can be placed.

The difference between testing a finished advertising product and testing the transfer of an advertising intent is that: “it is 1) more evaluative than diagnostic; 2) as a rule, it is carried out on the basis of a completed promotional product; 3) is usually carried out by specialized research companies; 4) there are norms with which the results obtained during testing are compared” . At the end of creating an ad, several message options are usually tested.

The choice of methods for testing the effectiveness of a finished advertising product is largely determined by the specifics of the advertising medium planned for use. Most of the tools for testing at the final stage of advertising production are developed for television advertising, since the cost of error in television advertising is very high.

One popular advertising message test is the Kotler Points System, which is based on the AIDA model. In the course of this test, the experts must allocate points for the individual stages of advertising influence on the evaluation sheet. The sum of points (from 0 to 100) is an indicator of the quality of advertising.

Ad evaluation according to the Kotler points system :

“Espe and Walter added other quality criteria to Kotler's list that are more important from a design perspective than from a marketing perspective. According to members of the club of heads of advertising design departments (Germany), good advertising is characterized by the following features: originality, clarity, persuasiveness, aesthetics and joy. . One general list of 10 criteria was compiled, according to which 71 experts evaluated 24 ads. The scores obtained were combined. The analysis showed that good advertising is characterized by:

"Originality: 'new, different, changes norms, awakens attention, pushes for further reading, it is a pleasure to watch.'

Clarity: “understandable, its meaning is immediately comprehended, the essence of the information is clear, the benefits are clear, the arguments are justified.”

Influence on behavior: “evokes desirable feelings and behaviors” .

Factor analysis using criteria from the list of Kotler and the Association of Artistic Art Directors :

	Originality	Clarity	Influence at behavior
Originality	0,87
Clarity		0,85
credibility		0,72
Aesthetics	0,59	0,63
Joy	0,79
signal influence	0,76
Influence on Interest in Further Reading	0,77
Cognitive Influence		0,74
affective influence			0,72
Impact on behavior			0,84

Note:factor value >0.50

Also, at the final stage, legal testing (testing from a legal point of view) is carried out. Such verification helps protect against allegations of false advertising, stop the advertising campaign and possible prosecution. Both the main idea and all advertising elements must follow both external and internal legal regulations.

Legal rules should apply not only to advertising as a finished product, but also to the methods of testing it. For example, in the United States, the Federal Trade Commission also assesses the quality of “testing, the acceptability of advertising research results, and the reliability of the conclusions drawn on the following items:

‒ determination of the general population and selection of observations;

‒ study design and use of control groups;

‒ compiling the questionnaire and the format of the questions;

‒ qualification and training of interviewers, analysis of the methods they use;

‒ data analysis and presentation of results;

‒ research project management .

In general, testing at the beginning, during and at the end of creating an advertisement helps to get a feel for the structure of the message, gives relatively prompt results, has considerable flexibility and has a fairly low cost. When testing at the ad creation stage, researchers “face the classic dilemma that confronts these types of events: the more accurate and frequent measurements of ads, the less they say about subsequent behavior ...”

The researchers note that a good testing system should measure not one indicator, but several at once - for example, attitude, memorization, etc., and not one thing.

Final testing (post-testing) of advertising

Testing carried out after the advertisement has appeared in its final form in the media is called final testing (post-testing, post-factum testing, tracking, post hoc measurement, control measurement, etc.). Final testing does not have the main drawback inherent in preliminary testing - a certain amount of artificiality. During the final testing, people's behavior is not distorted, it is natural, realistic. To this, it should be added that during the final testing, a number of factors are taken into account that also seriously affect the results. First of all, this is the specifics of the means of advertising distribution, the time of advertising placement, the frequency of its presentation to consumers, etc.

Testing ads after placement allows you to evaluate its real impact on real buyers. The final step is usually to track awareness of advertising and brand, knowledge of advertising elements, brand preference, etc. further enhance the effectiveness of advertising. Analyzing the results of advertising testing after publication or airing, the advertiser comes to an understanding of what exactly he needs to change: the advertisement itself or the advertising medium.

In order to know exactly what to do in a given situation, the advertiser, through post-testing, must receive answers to questions such as the following:

- how much the number of people who understand the properties, advantages and benefits of the product has increased,

- how much the number of people predisposed to buying a product has increased,

- how much the number of people who applied for the product has increased,

- how much the number of people who bought the product has increased,

etc.

In search of answers to these questions, the advertiser collects, summarizes and analyzes data on the number of visitors to his store (office, etc.), on the number of real and potential buyers, on cash flow (daily, weekly, monthly, annual); compares several of its advertising campaigns with each other, its ads with competitors' ads, ads of a certain type of product of the current year with the same ads of last year, etc.

The disadvantage of final testing is that it requires a lot of money and time. s x costs.

When conducting post-testing, a baseline measurement is first taken (behavior of target consumers, product positioning; sales data, etc.). After some time, a control measurement is taken and the data obtained are compared with the data of the base measurement. More accurate post-testing will be multiple measurements.

For example, “Eric Marder came up with their own approach to perform data tracking without doing individual research for the customer… She brought together a group of 3,000 women from 1,000 areas. Each woman keeps a record of all the TV commercials she sees on one random day each month. Before watching TV on the appointed day, she writes down her shopping intentions for each product category. On the appointed day, she watches TV as usual, in addition, she writes down the time, channel and advertised brands of all the advertisements she sees and her purchase intentions immediately after the advertisement is shown. Received messages (RMs) are defined as the total amount of advertisements recorded per 100 women. The persuasion rate (PR) is defined as the cumulative percentage of RM that creates a shift in purchase intent from some other brand to the advertised brand. Subscribers receive quarterly reports on RM and PR for all competitive brands in this product class.” .

To evaluate real results, monitoring (tracking) studies are carried out, which are often divided into continuous and wave studies. The former are held daily, the latter in waves, for example, once a quarter. Tracking usually measures the change in consumption of a product, the degree of awareness, etc.

When post-testing, you can use the control market. To do this, two approximately identical markets are taken: advertising is placed on one, and not on the other (control). After placement, sales results are compared, thus establishing whether they are affected by this advertisement or not.

Very complex testing systems are often used. So, Alvin Ekhenbaum proposed “to use the so-called chess technology to check and process the results of trial marketing. It has three main elements...

1. Division of the entire economic space into separate groups of markets. These markets are randomly selected and must be equal in size (for example, three groups of TV companies from 10 regions described by Nielsen).

2. Use of various strategies when working with groups. For example, the level of investments in one group will be 80% of current costs, in another - 100%, and in the third - 120%. Ekhenbaum also suggests using local media as advertising media for testing - newspapers, local television and magazines. Thus, each level of spending will correspond to three media plans.

3. With the help of the relevant audit services, the results are tracked throughout the year. The key to the success of this plan is representativeness, clear control and ease of evaluation (because the regions specified by Nielsen are used)" .

It is believed that the optimal number of tested markets is at least 5-6 regions. Some advertisers prefer to use the largest markets in testing, while others consider testing on medium ones to be sufficient. Moreover, testing in large markets is too expensive. However, it is easier to estimate sales in a large region than in a few isolated markets.

The tested market should represent not only a certain composition of the audience, but also the information preferences corresponding to it, both in terms of the channels for obtaining information and in terms of the time of its receipt.

There should not be a monopoly of the tested media in the tested market. It is believed that the minimum number of speakers present is the average market number in the country.

The tested market should be sufficiently "isolated" from neighboring ones, from which advertising "leakage" can occur. It can affect consumers and distort test results. In order to resist the "leakage", advertising is placed in local media, in programs or headings with a pronounced local informational character.

According to experts, to test the market, it is necessary to ensure 95% coverage of its territory.

Disadvantages - high cost and disclosure of their plans to competitors.

It is important to understand that when testing in control markets, there is still no guarantee that the target market will react in the same way - there are too many different interrelated factors.

The use of averages of not one, but several placements will help reduce the risk of distorting test results. And the advertiser should always correlate the results obtained with common sense.

So, various evaluative studies or tests are carried out to test the effectiveness of completed or almost completed advertising. They save money by adjusting advertising before the media is funded. Thus, testing helps to avoid multimillion-dollar errors. Evaluation studies can also be useful after advertising has been placed, for example, when evaluating the processes of advertising influence on current sales.

However, from the point of view of practitioners, not all research and not always have value. Sometimes they can not only help, but also harm the work. Practitioners' intuition can be a more accurate tool than scientific research. Tests and their results are not decisions themselves, they only provide practitioners with information that, when combined with the advertising worker's empirical experience, enables them to make informed decisions.

We have reviewed the testing steps. Particular attention was paid to preliminary testing (pretesting), as it increases the likelihood of preparing the most effective texts before the money is spent on advertising.

Another type of testing - post-testing (or final testing), for its part, does not have the main drawback inherent in pre-testing - a certain amount of artificiality. During the final testing, people's behavior is not distorted, it is natural, realistic. During the final testing, a number of factors are taken into account that also seriously affect the results. First of all, this is the specifics of the means of advertising distribution, the time of advertising placement, the frequency of its presentation to consumers, etc.

More detailed information on this topic can be found in the book by A. Nazaikin