Understanding Testing

What is testing?

Testing is a series of investigations that evaluate your assumptions on why something might or might not work. In CSO messaging, testing measures your priority audience’s reaction and helps determine whether they will find your message understandable, believable, and appealing.

You should test to see if your messaging and programming will perform as well as you think it will.

As people who work in communications we are under pressure to create ideas that will resonate with our audiences and change how they think. Testing lets us know whether the idea we pick works before we roll it out.

What could I test for?

You should test the elements in your campaign that you think could drive the most impact with your audience to see how they respond to them. On the right are some elements that matter in how effectively you communicate.

... elements that drive the most impact with your audience.

Comprehension

Will your intended audience understand the message relayed?

Attractiveness

Is the message related to the issues faced by them?

Relevance

Is the message related to the issues faced by them?

Improvement

Will your intended audience understand the message relayed?

Believability

Is the message believable and realistic to them?

Acceptance

Is the message related to the issues faced by them?

How can I test my messages?

Using Low-Cost Message Testing Guidebook that outlines qualitative and quantitative approaches that can help you gather feedback from your intended audience.
Using Online Message Testing Platform

Online Message Testing

In addition to using the Low-Cost Message Testing methods described in the guidebook, you can also use our Online Message Testing Platform, an AI-powered online tool designed to provide rapid feedback and recommendations to help you develop and refine behaviorally informed messages before further testing with your intended audience.