A/B Testing Email Marketing Strategies – A Quick Guide

This is a guest post by Ruben Corbo. I tossed in an affiliate link to Aweber, which has split testing capability.

With email marketing becoming one of the leading forces of modern business these days, ensuring that everything functions at peak performance guarantees a constant influx of profit while ensuring repeat business and customer loyalty.

Keeping your customers well informed and constantly updated with fresh and reliable content is key, however, there are always some factors that cannot be so readily gauged or forseen – that’s where A/B testing comes in. Whether you’re after increasing you newsletter subscription count or if you’re simply after more traffic, A B testing will help pinpoint the areas that you’ll need to work on to perfect your email marketing strategy.

(Courtesy of mil8)

What’s the hubbub about testing?

A/B testing is one of the most methodical and sure-fire methods that allows you to gauge the viability of your marketing strategy. If something isn’t going as it should, then your methods may have some kind of catch to them that has to be adjusted or ‘recalibrated’ in order for the whole of your email marketing strategy to run smoothly.

Aside from checking for potential snags in the working system, testing also allows you to rethink your strategies by incorporating newer methods that you haven’t thought of before. If you think its time for a revamp, testing can help you pick which new ‘look’ or method is the most ‘salable’ so you can:

• Increase the overall performance of a campaign with the integration of new methods
• Increase the overall conversion rate and sales
• Increase overall customer satisfaction.

 Knowing What to Test

Knowing how to conduct precise test runs is only as important as knowing what aspects of your email marketing strategy you should test. Knowing what to test guarantees results in a shorter amount of time, when compared to random testing. Here are some of the more common elements that you can test to increase the overall viability of your email campaign:

Subject Line – If you feel that your marketing strategy is too formal, try personalizing it by changing the subject line. A/B testing the subject line to include or not include the company’s name to gauge which among the two garner better responses is a great way to change an element to attain the most clicks.

From line – Whether you specify where the message is from (personalized, or the company’s name in general) might or might not garner better responses. Test it out to see which works best for you.

Time of Delivery – Sending emails is part discretion and part good luck, and you’d be lucky enough to send an email during an optimal time when potential clients are most likely willing to respond. Changing the time of delivery may help in increasing overall sales, and with varying time zones, optimizing the hour of delivery can be both helpful and detrimental to potential profits, so it is best to test this out.

Call to action – Because a call to action elicits users to click on ads or site links, try out varying colors, sizes of links, or different tag lines to find out which gets the most clicks.

Layout, Format, Color-scheme – This is integral to any kind of email marketing. Try out varying themes and color schemes to find out which is most pleasing for the client. Because the color scheme usually leaves a first impression that lasts, opting for the wow factor is essential in nabbing the client’s attention.

Email length – A/B testing the optimal length of an email to find out which attains the most readership is also essential in any email marketing strategy. Try it out both ways, with long and short emails that give varying amounts of detail to potential clients and see which gets the most response.

Discounts and Offers – This is a very common marketing ploy and should be used with caution. Try out realistic and fantastic discounts and see which gets the most responses, but consider what is the most optimal for the improvement of your business.

Perfecting email marketing to get more clients to subscribe to your products or services need not be difficult, and with A/B testing, you get a methodical and reliable approach to creating strategies that work!

More information is found on the Maxymiser guide to AB testing.

Ruben Corbo is a freelance writer specializing in different topics including technology, music, online marketing with AB test and product recommendation engines and more. When Ruben is not writing he is producing and composing music for short films and other forms of  visual arts.