When Marketing And Testing Interact - Panera Bread

This is always tough ... marketing wants to perform a marketing tactic, and somebody else wants to test a strategy (often the marketing team).

This image represents a marketing tactic ... use your mobile device (#mobilefirst) to order food ahead of time, and receive $5 off for choosing this tactic.

In a marketing world where you don't test anything, this is fine. The tactic works, or the tactic does not work.

In the real world, this tactic decomposes into a series of questions that somebody will want answered.

1. Will a customer switch to mobile once awareness of the channel has been achieved?
2. Does $5 off your purchase work as a tactic?
3. Does mobile cannibalize sales from other marketing tactics?
4. Does $5 off your purchase cannibalize sales from other marketing tactics?
5. What is the interaction between mobile advertising and a $5 off promotion?
6. Does the combined tactic work better on best customers, average customers, or new customers/prospects?
7. Will a customer who uses a $5 off tactic pay full price using the mobile tactic in the future?
8. Does $5 off diminish the likelihood of a customer paying full price in the future?
9. What does it mean when a customer won't pay full price for a meal but will happily purchase with a $5 discount?
10. Will a customer using the mobile device revert back to old habits, or will the customer switch to use of the mobile device in the future?
11. Which combination of tactics is most profitable?

In the real world, there are at least these eleven questions, and probably many more questions to boot. These are the questions your Executive Team want you to answer. You know this, because these are the kind of questions they throw at you at high and unanticipated velocity when you present your findings.

Describe for me how you would answer the questions for your Executive Team. Use the comments section, or send me an email, and describe how you would address the intersection of marketing tactics, testing tactics, and Executive Questions.