As marketers, we are often taught to identify and tap into the pain points of our customers. But once we pinpoint these sources of customer anxiety, how should we proceed? Should we attempt to alleviate this stress through encouragement or empowerment, or should we instead ratchet up the tension, frightening prospects into thinking that only we can solve their problem? In this 35-minute live clinic, available at MarketingExperiments.com, we looked at six case case studies, covering everything from social media testing and nonprofit donation drives, to the overall messaging strategy of a Fortune 500 company.

1. Does Fear-based Marketing Work?
How one company saw a $45 million increase in revenue by
changing their messaging tone

2. Today’s speakers
Austin McCraw
Senior Director,
Content Production,
MECLABS Institute
Ken Bowen
Managing Editor,
MarketingExperiments

3. Background: Internal experiment to test Twitter messaging approaches.
Goal: To increase clickthrough to the Executive Series download page.
Research Question: Which tweet will generate the highest clickthrough rate?
Test Design: A/B split
Experiment ID: Internal Social Media Test
Record Location: MECLABS Research Library
Company: MECLABS Institute
Experiment: Background

4. Experiment: Tweet Version A
Version A Version B

5. Experiment: Tweet Version B
Version BVersion A

6. Experiment: Which tweet will win?
Version A Version B

7. Experiment: Which tweet will win?
Version BVersion A
41% increase
clickthrough rate

8. Design Clickthrough Rate % Rel. Change
Level of
Confidence
Version A 0.249% -
Version B 0.352% 41.0% 99%
Relative increase in clickthrough41%The Treatment significantly increased clickthrough by 41%
Experiment: Results

9. Experiment: Which tweet will win?
Version A Version BVersion BVersion A
41% clickthrough rate
Why?

10. Make Sure Deborah is Not Alone This Holiday Season
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Does negative marketing really work?

11. Today, we will review two key principles discovered
from experimenting across several negative
marketing campaigns and how these insights can
help you employ the right tone in your efforts.
Today’s focus

12. Does fear-based marketing work?
1. The most effective marketing campaigns leverage value rather than cost to
generate buying momentum. Our goal is to draw the customers toward value,
rather than push them away from cost.
Key principles

13. The exchange fulcrum
Learn more: meclabs.com/education

14. Experiment: Which tweet will win?
Version BVersion A
41% increase
clickthrough rate
Leveraging the cost of
ignoring the insight
Leverages the value of the insight

15. Experiment: Which travel insurance messaging will win?
Version BVersion A
330% increase
in conversion
Leveraging the cost of
not being careful
Leveraging the true
value of this
organization

16. Background: Net security corporation wants to increase customer retention.
Goal: To reduce churn rate for auto renew customers.
Research Question: Which approach to customer relationships will produce the lowest
churn rate?
Test Design: Change in messaging approach.
Experiment ID: N/A
Record Location: MarketingSherpa Case Study Library
Company: Symantec
Case Study: Background

17. Case Study: Background
Read more: marketingsherpa.com/symantec

18. Case Study: The customer
Read more: marketingsherpa.com/symantec
• B2C users of the Norton digital
protection suite of products.
• For this campaign, Symantec was
specifically targeting auto-renewal
customers.

19. Case Study: Customer pain points
Read more: marketingsherpa.com/symantec
• Customers are increasingly concerned
about threats and the threat landscape as
data breaches are picked up by media –
Target, Sony, etc.
• Though they are aware of the threat, they
are not educated on it and not sure how to
best protect themselves.
“[Customers are] becoming increasingly aware of
threats and the threat landscape, especially as
more and more high-profile data breaches, hacks
and threats swarm the media."
Solange Deschatres
Global Sr. Manager, Content Marketing
Strategy & Storytelling,
Symantec

20. Case Study: The challenge
Read more: marketingsherpa.com/symantec
Like most security companies, Norton’s
creative and marketing has historically
relied on threats and fear.
"We promote breaches and attacks and the need
to protect oneself from cyber criminals. I think as a
marketing challenge, this tends to disassociate the
customer from the brand.”
Sherri Chien,
Director of Content Strategy & Storytelling,
Symantec

21. Case Study: Campaign
Read more: marketingsherpa.com/symantec
• Symantec wanted to create the “stickiness” of a real relationship between brand and
customer.
• Humanized the relationship between Norton and auto-renewal customers by offering
empowering content that would educate customers instead of just messaging that
would scare them.
• Built out a new cyber Norton Lounge – designed to be the digital equivalent of a
frequent flyers lounge – that moved away from messaging that preyed on customer
fears and went toward messaging that allowed customers to associate Norton with
living their digital life with confidence.

22. Case Study: The Norton Lounge
Read more: marketingsherpa.com/symantec
“Living Well Online”

23. Case Study: Fear vs. Customer-empowerment
Read more: marketingsherpa.com/symantec
“Living Well Online”
“A Computer is a Weapon”

24. Case Study: The winner
Read more: marketingsherpa.com/symantec
“Living Well Online”
• Auto-renewal churn decreased
by 3% with the new messaging
approach.
• Per Symantec, each 1% increase
in retention rate is equal to $15
million in net annual revenue.
• $45 million in annual net
revenue derived from the
Norton Lounge.

25. Case Study: The winner
Read more: marketingsherpa.com/symantec
“Living Well Online”
• Auto-renewal churn decreased
by 3% with the new messaging
approach.
• Per Symantec, each 1% increase
in retention rate is equal to $15
million in net annual revenue.
• $45 million in annual net
revenue derived from the
Norton Lounge.
“It is better to light a candle than to curse
the darkness.”
– Eleanor Roosevelt

26. 1. The most effective marketing campaigns leverage value rather than cost to
generate buying momentum. Our goal is to draw the customers toward value,
rather than push them away from cost.
2. The most effective marketing campaigns focus on the impact of action, rather
than the result of inaction. Our goal is to create positive (not negative)
momentum in the psychology of our customer’s.
Key principles
Does fear-based marketing work?

27. 91% increase in downloads
Experiment: Which life insurance messaging will win?
Version B
Version A

28. Honor Deborah with a Tribute donation to CaringBridge
and you’ll help even more people surround each other
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CaringBridge Needs Your HelpMake Sure Deborah is Not Alone This Holiday Season
Your contributions to Deborah’s journal this year made
sure that they never felt alone. Your tax-deductible
donation in Deborah’s honor will make sure that
CaringBridge continues to bring hope and healing to
those who need it most.
Donate Now
Version BVersion A
31% decrease in donations
Experiment courtesy of our
friends at NextAfter.com
Experiment: Which illness-based messaging will win?

29. Experiment: Which child safety messaging will win?
Headline A
Does a sexual offender live your neighborhood?
Identify Registered Sex Offenders Living Near You
34% increase in conversion
Headline B

30. Experiment: Which child safety messaging will win?
Headline A
Does a sexual offender live your neighborhood?
Identify Registered Sex Offenders Living Near You
34% increase in conversion
Headline B

31. Experiment: Which child safety messaging will win?
Headline A
Does a sexual offender live your neighborhood?
Identify Registered Sex Offenders Living Near You
34% increase in conversion
Headline B
“Empathy is the essence of the marketer's
intuition. Empathy enables the marketer
to identify with the market and experience
its desires.”
– Flint McGlaughlin

32. Review of Key Principles
1. The most effective marketing campaigns leverage value rather
than cost to generate buying momentum. Our goal is to draw
the customers toward value, rather than push them away from
cost.
2. The most effective marketing campaigns focus on the impact of
action, rather than the result of inaction. Our goal is to create
positive (not negative) momentum in the psychology of our
customer’s.

33. #WebClinic