subject: Email Marketing - What Should You Test? [print this page] Email marketing as an advertising medium will become one of the dominant resources for the click and mortar companies of the new millennium. And due to its relatively low cost, personalization, and tracking capabilities, it will be the choice of direct marketers across all vertical markets.
But sometimes the email marketing campaign isnt successful. Why? Lets say that you have fresh email addresses list. Lets review another reasons.
What Should You Test?
We always need to test to ensure that our email gets delivered. Beyond that, there are three major areas to consider:
1. Do subscribers open the email or not?
2. Do subscribers click through?
3. Do subscribers actually do what we want them to do? (Completing a purchase, completing a survey, calling a specified phone number, etc.)
Notice that each element is usually dependant on the preceeding step. For example, if your emails have a low open rate, then the click-through rate will likely suffer as a result. When focusing on getting the email opened, from lines and subject lines are critical.
The from line is generally something you test once and stick with your winner. Subject lines should be tested as often as possible. Do recipients respond to a catchy subject line, or are they more responsive to a simple promotion?
Do You Think Frequency Is Worth Testing?
Absolutely. Frequency is an important test thats often overlooked. If you email too often, your audience may start to ignore your message. If you email too infrequently, youll miss opportunities to get your message out. Thats why its important for each organization to run its own test to find the frequency balance that maximizes sustainable return on investment (ROI).
What Other Tests Should Both Testing Pros and Beginners Consider?
The email offers and call to action should be tested regularly. But it doesnt stop there. Heres a list of additional items to consider testing:
Which segments respond to your emails?
Which offer drives the greatest conversions?
What is the right balance of graphics and text?
Are you better served sending content with a lot of links or a single focus?
The list can go on to cover elements such as:
Personalization
Landing pages
Day/time sent
Length of copy
Intro text content
Intro text style
Body text content
Body text style
Closing text content
Closing text style
Bullets or numbering
View above the fold
Images
Pricing
Unsubscribe wording
Taglines
Response buttons/links
Colors
What Is the Most Important Thing to Keep in Mind When Testing?
Just keep testing. It is a discipline you must commit to if you want to see your emails success soar. You cant rest on the results from a test a year or two ago, because the rules are always changing. Anything can be improved and everything is up for grabs. If someone has an idea on how to improve the program, try it. If the idea fails to improve the program, scrap it and move on. No big deal. The organizations that embrace testing as an integral part of their programs simply outperform those that dont.
Now we understand what elements we can test. For those who have not tested before, I want to add some urgency here. You must start with something. It doesnt have to be complex. It can be the subject line test at the beginning of the chapter if you want to help me sell my book.
Again, we all agree that relevance drives success, so look for areas to test around the theme of relevance.
If youre selling something, youll probably want to do a simple variable test to ensure that your offer is the best offer possible (e.g., do people react better to dollars off or a percentage off ?). As a reminder, you should keep all other variables consistent when engaging in A/B testing. Unlike multivariate testing, all other things must be equal for the email results to tell you a winner. Timing is a variable just like any other. If you do want to test the best day to send, you should be sending the exact same email with the same subject line, just at different times.
