Grunt Test

After recognizing that competing insurance websites usually made the signup process difficult, Geico, an insurance company, offered a signup website that was so easy that, according to their unique selling proposition, even a caveman could use it. Their claim was that their website passed the 'grunt test'.

Performing the grunt test involves determining whether your target market can affirmatively answer 3 questions within seconds.

1. What do you offer?
2. How will your offering improve their life?
3. What must they do to buy it?

From the perspective of customer communication, whether through website design, campaigns, research & development surveys, product launchs, product labels or otherwise, passing the grunt test is critical for lead generation and conversion. After all, analytics show that if your communication does not pass this test within a few seconds, potential customers will lose interest.

Landing pages, product pages, campaign pages, any type of advertising should pass the grunt test to convince leads to follow the call to action.

To clarify, the test involves the following elements. # 1 involves clear and simple product identification, #2 involves unique value proposition and responding to customer problems (like pain points, desires or other key motivation factors). #3 involves the call to actions.

CONTENT RELATED TO THE GRUNT TEST

• Unique value proposition
• Branding 101
• All things 'Branding'
• Landing pages 101