Convert More Customers: Tips & Tricks For Running A/B Tests On Your Email Campaigns
Email continues to be one of the most effective online marketing tactics but many companies struggle to establish benchmarks or successfully improve performance. How many people are receiving, reading and acting on email messages? Those are all key questions to improve email marketing performance.
Email open rates can vary depending on the target industry and even the job function of the prospects. Testing to improve email marketing performance is essential, but determining which variables have the largest impact on the overall effectiveness of an email campaign can seem overwhelming.
However, a process driven approach to identifying success factors that lead to increased conversions will set your company up for success both short term, and long term.
One way of improving your email marketing process involves testing: A/B or multivariate testing, to assess which tactics lead to the desired outcomes such as click throughs and conversions.
What is A/B & Multivariate Testing?
Put simply, A/B testing involves sending out different versions of any email campaign to segments of your existing customer or subscriber list. Typically A/B testing includes changing only one element at a time, whereas multivariate testing includes multiple elements. There are many variables to consider when running an email test so it is best to pick a maximum 3-4 items to test for each campaign. If you are unsure about which variables to test please reference the list below for guidance.
What Can Be Tested?
As mentioned you don’t want to get carried away with testing too many variables at once. Below I have included some of the tactics that your team may want to consider when running a A/B or multivarite email test.
- Time of Day
- Day of Week
- Subject Lines
- Body Copy
- Layout
- Calls to Action
- Design (including images)
- Personalization
- Offer
Sample Email Test
Who Should A/B Email Test Be Sent To?
If you search online or talk to marketing experts you may receive a variety of answers. Depending on your list size you will want to send out A/B tests to a large enough segment to collect enough data to make an informed decision. I would recommend splitting your list into three parts:
- Recipients of test A – ¼ of your list
- Recipients of test B- ¼ of your list
- Recipients of the “winning” email – ½ of your list
What Should Be Tracked?
- Open Rate
- Click Through Rate
- UnSubscribe Rate
A Best Practice Approach For Running A/B & Multivariate Tests for Email Marketing
Data Doesn’t Lie: Base your course of action on proven numbers, not which email you BELIEVE will perform better.
Use Tools: Services such as MailChimp provide a tool for running A/B tests.
Test Often: The way that your audience reacts to information will evolve, make sure that your process evolves as well.
While we talk a lot about search optimization, social media and content marketing here at Online Marketing Blog, make no mistake: Email Marketing is a powerful communication and conversion tool. It integrates well with other online marketing efforts to both attract and retain customers. Remember ABO: Always Be Optimizing. It applies to email marketing performance just as much as pay per click or SEO.
I’m curious to know what tests your company may have run in the past. What were your results? How did these results shape your process going forward?
Gain a competitive advantage by subscribing to the
TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.
© Online Marketing Blog, 2012. | Convert More Customers: Tips & Tricks For Running A/B Tests On Your Email Campaigns | http://www.toprankblog.com
Meta
Archives
Recent Posts
- Surprising workout chisels your body LEAN
- How to Grow Your Own Food in Small Spaces
- An Open Letter to All Science Bloggers, Tweeps and Facebookers
- 3 Big Mistakes Supplement Users Make
- In Search of Voodoo: Empathize to Optimize Your Customer’s Journey on the Search & Social Web
Home Business News
- Money and the Pursuit of Poetry May 24, 2013Poet Peter Money is photographed at his home in West Windsor, Vt. on Tuesday, May 21, 2013. Money is also the publisher of Harbor Mountain Press in Brownsville, Vt. […]
- Hard Money Lender Lima One Capital Releases Its Observations And Forecast For The US Housing Market In 2013 May 24, 2013GREENVILLE, S.C., May 24, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Lima One Capital, the largest hard money lender in Atlanta , predicts that the U.S. housing market will continue to rebound thanks largely to the efforts ... […]
- 7 Fun Ways for Retirees to Make Extra Money May 23, 2013Retirement can be a difficult transition for many of us. We spend 8 to 10 hours per day working hard, and it's tough to just stop working completely. Of course, we all have plans and projects that we have ... […]
- Top ten weirdest holiday home insurance claims revealed May 23, 2013Renting out your holiday home is an easy way to make a bit of extra money – but if something goes wrong you could get landed with a large bill for any damage. And it seems anything can go wrong. […]
- Money Spent To Keep Kids From Smoking Is No Bribe May 23, 2013DEAR ABBY: I was surprised to see you equate a concerned grandmother's creative solution to smoking with bribery in your Feb. 14 column. The word "bribe" has a negative connotation. What the grandmother did was offer an incentive, not a bribe, that will benefit her grandchildren in the long run. I think the woman should be congratulated.Now fo […]
Personal Development
- Renowned Oakland community leader David Glover dies after battle with cancer May 24, 2013David Glover, an unrivaled leader of community self-improvement in Oakland's toughest neighborhoods and a more than two-decade long champion of social justice, died Wednesday. He was 60. […]
- Working on school improvement May 23, 2013Cordele — Dr. Rhonda Hayes, superintendent for Crisp County Schools held a meeting with teachers, administrators and community leaders Monday for a self assessment of the schools and system as a whole. […]
- Coastal Improvement Corp.: Delivering high-quality products and service for jobs of all sizes. May 23, 2013Coastal Improvement Corp. has been in business since 1991, and over the past two decades, it has become one of the premier home-improvement and installation companies in the area. […]
- Solana Beach School District recognizes local students, volunteers May 23, 2013Once a year, the Solana Beach School District staff selects students from each grade level to receive the Solana Beach School District Student Inspiration Award. Areas for selection include: • Fellowship • Courage • Self or Academic Improvement • Effort • Community Service • Leadership […]
- Damien Sandow Show Will Eventually Happen and Be an Improvement over Miz TV May 22, 2013Damien Sandow getting his own Piper's Pit -type show is inevitable, and it will have more claim to being awesome than Miz TV . The fact that WWE hasn't put one of its best talkers in a recurring talk show yet is surprising. Sandow may or may not get to the point of winning world championships or being the company's top heel, but he's alre […]
Health & Nutrition
- Rodale Announces New Publishing Partner For Men's Health Italy May 23, 2013NEW YORK, May 23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Rodale Inc., global healthy lifestyle publisher, today announced that Men's Health Italy will be published by Edisport Editoriale, expanding the company's relationship ... […]
- Cycle Stuff Direct Looks at Cycle Fitness Nutrition May 23, 2013SOUTHAMPTON, England, May 23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Everyone knows that cycling is fantastic for our overall fitness and health, but what about nutrition and how it has an impact on cycle training? All ... […]
- UK children’s foods often higher in fat and sugar, study finds May 23, 2013A significant number of foods marketed to children in the UK are higher in fat and sugar than foods marketed to adults, suggests new research published in Public Health Nutrition. […]
- The ‘health halo’ effect: Nutrition claims may lead to bigger portions May 23, 2013People tend to choose larger portions of foods when they are marketed as ‘healthy’, suggests new research led by a team from the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland. […]
- Discovery Familia Expands Its Health Content Offering May 22, 2013MIAMI, May 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Mondays and Wednesdays are now health nights on Discovery Familia. The network has incorporated two nights of programming dedicated to physical and emotional health ... […]