Post-Testing Techniques of Advertising Copy

The following are the post-test techniques for measuring the effectiveness of the advertisements –

(1) Recognition Test – It determines the readership of the advertisement in the newspapers and journals. This test is conducted by personal interviews with readers, and magazines or newspapers. The interviewers locate the readers of the particular issue of the magazine in question. They, then, go through the magazine page by page with the respondent indicating those advertising elements which he or she recognise as having read.

The data collected by this test indicate the proportion of qualified readership of a publication who claims to have ‘seen’, ‘read some’ or ‘read most of the elements of the individual advertisement. These measurements may also seek to obtain quantitative data regarding the parts of an advertisement which were seen or heard.

(2) Recall or Impact Test – The recognition test measurers the stopping power of the advertising but goes not tell us what the readers understood or retained of the advertisement. The recall test is designed to measure the impression of readers or viewers of the advertisement. If a reader has a favorable impression of the advertisement, he will certainly retain something of the advertisement. The measures of interest would be obtained by interviewing the readers or viewers or listeners, days after the advertisement or commercial is appeared in the newspaper, or on T.V. Interviewer asks the questions from the readers / viewers and in  response to the question asked, the reader reveals the accuracy and depth of his impression by his answers.

(3) Psychological Analysis – The whole process of advertising is psychological in character. It is therefore, natural to apply some psychological tests to measure the effectiveness of the advertising.

Four psychological testing techniques are most commonly used –

• (a) Tests of readability and comprehension;
• (b) Tests of Believability
• (c) Attitude tests; and
• (d) Triple Associates Test.

• Tests of Readability and Comprehension It this technique, by means of a series of penetrating questions and by other techniques developed by psychologists, the ease of readability and comprehension is determined, in advance of publication. It is determined by the interviewer under this method whether and to what extent the readers have gone through the advertisement.
• Tests of Believability An advertisement message effective. ness can be measured by the degree of credibility the readers have in the product. A scale technique is generally employed to measure the credibility by putting several statements or product claims before. the consumers and are created by them. The statement or product Claims gets the highest priority votes may be taken as the most effective statement or claim.
• Attitude Tests : A number of attitude tests are developed by the psychologists who can be applied to copy testing. Typical consumers are exposed to sample advertising messages, either printed or oral. The interviewer then asks series of penetrating questions, to determine the attitude produced by these various message. Psychological reactions such as age, involvement, the eye of person who would use the product and the personality of the product reflected by the advertisement being tested, are obtained. The researcher looks especially for elements in the advertising which arouse psychological hostility.
• Triple Hostility Tests – these ties in advertising with recall by seeking to learn the extent of the consumer association with the product, the brand name and copy theme. The test is useful only when the advertising features a specific theme or slogan, which the reader may remember. This procedure is sometimes known as theme penetration.