A/B Testing in Email Marketing
Hey there! A/B testing in email marketing isn’t just for advanced marketers. In fact, 39% of brands don’t use A/B testing for their email campaigns, and that can mean missed conversions and sales.
Take HubSpot, for example. They did an A/B test to find out if using a personalized sender name or a generic company name works best.
The results? Emails with personalized names saw a 0.53% increase in open rates and a 0.23% increase in click-through rates. These may seem like small improvements, but they resulted in the acquisition of 131 new leads for the company.
To make your outreach campaigns more personal, finding the email address of each prospect along with their name instead of using generic ones is a big help. By using A/B testing, you’ll see how this approach can make a difference.
Now, let’s dive into the fun stuff! What exactly is A/B testing in email marketing? How can you do A/B tests? What kind of things should you test? Let’s explore together!
What Is A/B Testing and Why Should Marketers Care?
Savvy email marketers love to do A/B testing for a good reason. It shows you what works best and allows you to maximize your efforts to get the best ROI. How do you do that? You send different versions of the same emails to different groups of subscribers. Then, you analyze the results and see what version yields the best results.
The level of difficulty depends on what you want to test. Basic tests involve trying different subject lines to see which one gets more opens. For more advanced tests, you use different email templates to see which one gets more click-throughs.
How to Do A/B Testing in Email Marketing
With the right process, email marketing A/B testing is not that complicated. Here are 4 things you need to do to make sure your A/B tests are well-implemented.
- Set your goals.
- Form a clear hypothesis.
- Do your tests.
- Implement your findings.
Set a Goal
Before you dive deep into the technical details of A/B testing, start by setting a clear goal. What would you like to improve, such as your open rates, click-through rates, or conversions?
The answer is more likely to be right in front of you. This is an issue you have been having difficulty with or an aspect you think could produce improved outcomes. The objective you establish will guide your testing process, so it is crucial to determine a clear baseline – your current level of performance – as well as a desired result – the enhancement you hope to achieve.
Form a Hypothesis
Alright. Now, it’s time to develop a specific hypothesis. Pick the variables you’d like to test. Then, form a clear hypothesis that defines how changes in those variables are going to impact your metrics.
For example, for email subject lines A/B test, a good hypothesis is:
“The company name in the subject lines will land us better open rates.”
For conversion rates, this is different. To make conversions better, you should test your copy and email templates. In this case, a great hypothesis is:
“We need to add the sender’s name and signature to the intro of our emails to create a more personal connection. We also need to add landing page links with clear CTAs throughout emails and lists of benefits to our copy. These things improve our conversion rates.”
Do the Testing
Okay, you now have the A and B versions of your email. Congrats! Now, send them both to your email list.
Ensure your email marketing campaign runs for enough time to guarantee precise outcomes. Don’t forget about things like the best sending times and weekdays. After the test is completed, it is essential to analyze the outcomes.
Analyze the data to identify which version of your email performed better. Did the experiment’s outcome confirm your hypothesis, or did it go against what you were expecting? Every result offers important insights.
Implement the Findings
Now, your focus is on using your testing outcomes. Decide whether to incorporate your winner email into your upcoming campaigns.
Keep in mind the objective of A/B testing is to obtain important insights to guide your next marketing strategies. This implies that confirming one hypothesis allows for more testing, fine-tuning, and adjusting strategies. In other words, it’s a constant thing that you need to do.
What Should I Test?
Subject lines
The subject line will surely be the first thing to optimize in your campaigns. That’s because they drive open rates. The subject line on many devices is displayed in darker, bolder text to distinguish it from the other email information.
Here are a few ideas for you. Test clear messages in your subject lines (“Our Cyber Day Offer with Special 30% Off”) or go with more indirect subject lines (“You Don’t Want to Miss This Great Offer”). Also, feel free to experiment with emojis and copy for your headlines.
Length
The number of characters visible in your subject lines that your recipients will see is determined by the following:
- The device your subscribers are using
- Web browser
- Email application
In general, it is advisable to keep your subject lines concise to suit various devices, browsers, and email clients.
Research indicates that the ideal subject line should fall within the 61-70 characters range.
This graph is great. However, it’s always better to collect your own data and do tests.
Word Order
The way you order words in subject lines is sure to have a great impact on how your subscribers will perceive your message and affect your open rates.
Here’s an example.
Upgrade by May 10th to Enjoy a 40% Discount.
Get a 40% Discount If You Decide to Upgrade by May 10th.
The messaging remains pretty much the same, just with words put differently.
In the second version, the subject line starts with the benefit. Since people in English-speaking countries read from left to right, this positions the main benefit at the forefront. The result? Open rates might go higher.
However, this is a hypothesis. Go ahead and A/B test this.
Content
If you have ever attempted to send a newsletter that promotes many products or pieces of content, you understand the real challenge of crafting a good subject line for such emails.
What is a short and attractive way to engage subscribers in just 6-10 words?
Split-test different variants to find out what works best for your audience.
Personalization
Many marketers agree that it’s better to include the recipient’s name in email subject lines. This has been proven to increase email opens, and yes, it helps to make communication with subscribers feel more personal.
According to Experian, personalized emails show a 29% increase in open rates.
However, how do your results stack up against this study? It’s time to check and test.
Visuals
The way you position images in your emails will impact clicks, conversions, and engagement because humans rely on visual communication.
Here are some ideas for you to do A/B tests.
- No images vs. images
- Still images vs. GIFs
- Original images vs. stock images
- Text on images vs. no text on images
Yes, you’ve guessed it right. Split-test everything to define what performs best for you.
Images or no images
Although images tend to have a positive effect, they may not have the same impact on your emails. This depends on your email design and the images you choose for your emails.
Here’s an example. SitePoint noticed a slight drop in conversions when they experimented with adding images to their newsletter, as they observed that the images were diverting readers’ attention from the main content.
AB Testing Email Marketing Idea Examples
- What weekdays get higher open rates?
- Do subject lines with teasers and incentives work well?
- Should you add your company name to your subject lines to increase engagement?
- Does the sending time affect our click rates?
- Which is preferable: using your name or your company’s name as the From name?
- Do subscribers click through more of a linked text or a linked image?
- Do subscribers like more static images or GIFs?
To Wrap It Up
And here you have it. Now you know what steps to take to get your A/B tests to perform properly. Set your clear goals. Form your hypothesis. Do your tests. Implement your findings.
Also, we’ve mentioned ab testing email marketing examples of what you need to test: subject lines, length of your emails, word order, content, visuals, and personalization.
