The Value of the Test

There was an interesting post by Michael I. Norton and Jill Avery, Making Charity Pay, in the Harvard Business Review.  Certainly worth a read. What really started me thinking was the first sentence in the last paragraph, “Third, conduct careful experiments.”

Cause Marketing is on the rise and I would say rightly so.  In addition to being a source of revenue for the partner NGO, studies, such as the Nielsen 2013 Consumers Who Care Study, consistently show consumers want to do business with companies that do good.

And many would say, you can’t overlook the positive impact a well-run cause marketing campaign can have on your own company’s bottom line.

This is where you should pause and consider if your company would have still made this number of sales or gained this number of new customers without this campaign?

Being able to confidently provide the true value of a cause marketing campaign backed by hard data, perhaps even before it is asked, will put you in your CFO’s good graces every time. Hence the value of the test.

Bottom line: Make sure you have valid comparison data, such as may be gathered through A/B testing (comparison of two versions that are identical, save for one variation which in this case would be the supported cause) and, just like in math class, show your work.

The floor is open for discussion. 

Mark Shamley, President & CEO, ACCP