Revenue from the annual Quicken upgrade effort is a significant contributor to Intuit’s annual sales, but the product has matured to the point that improvements are often more incremental than breakthrough. Quicken upgrade campaigns are robust with more than 10 communications—each with a dozen or more versions—over the course of seven months. Results from direct mail were diminishing, so reaching stretch goals required increasing the performance of email.

Intuit has always tested offers extensively at the beginning of upgrade cycles, but for 2008 we took a more aggressive approach testing creative and “pulse promotions” that ran for very limited timeframes. We focused our efforts on short-form creative and breaking out of the typical Quicken look and feel to grab customers’ attention.

Total units sold increased by more than 70%. Direct sales increased by more than 50%, while retail units more than doubled. Short-form and “pulse promotions” generated increased activity and greatly improved click-through rates.