Valuable Cases vs. Spots on Air: Any Correlation?

by Caitlin Zarrella | October 16, 2015

hands holding stack of 100 bills shutterstock_480869Where do the big cases come from?

All firms are looking for the big cases. The question we want to answer is, “Where do you find them?” It has long been the belief of some that big case values do not live in the same places where we find everyday calls. The strong, direct response (DR) programming that has some of the best efficiencies doesn’t always have the best reputation, i.e. Jerry Springer, Maury Povich, and Steve Wilkos.

If we’ve said it once, we’ll say it at least 15 more times (today)—we are a data driven agency. We follow all the data to ensure we’re making the right (and best) decisions based on the numbers. With that in mind, we wanted to see if we could chase down the big case. Where does it live?

We asked several clients to provide us with the call dates and times of their highest fee Auto cases from the last 3 years.

Then, we looked at their specific media buys and traffic to see if there were any trends between the valuable cases and the message that was running when that person called.

Our findings? Unfortunately, the data proved to be inconclusive. Because of the nature of the data, there’s no solid way to prove that a specific spot can be solidly linked to the most valuable cases. While there were some interesting correlations and trends, we just don’t feel comfortable enough to put all of our eggs in one spot’s basket.

So, the bottom line is that big case values live in the same places as the small ones. Efficiency wins the day and once you have a solid DR buy in place, you can afford to fund the branding areas—higher visibility, lower efficiency areas.

And we will continue our current processes of watching programs, spots, and stations that prove to work in generating calls for your firm. Data-driven marketing doesn’t always yield crystal clear results, but it has always proven to be the most effective route for making your phone ring.