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The scientific testing of advertising copy is probably one of the oldest marketing “secrets”. Split run testing has probably been in use at least since Claude Hopkins wrote “Scientific Advertising” back in 1923. The most successful marketers set themselves apart by their use of various testing methods to tweak, adjust and refine offline marketing campaigns to achieve huge profits.

Split-run testing (also known as A/B Testing) in particular is the most scientifically accurate advertising testing method known within the advertising and marketing industry. Let me explain how split run testing operates.

Split run testing originated in the traditional print advertising and direct mail industry. To conduct a split run test in a print publication (usually a newspaper or magazine), half the circulation of an issue is printed with one version of an advert and the other half is printed with an alternative version of the advert.

It is important to note that the adverts would be almost identical apart from just one element such as the headline. This allowed the