A/B testing allows you to test two variances to see which makes an impact. Whether it’s the time of day your message is sent or the subject line itself, there are a number of factors that can play into the effectiveness of your email campaign.
Here are some of the ways you can effectively A/B test your email communication to help narrow down the optimal effectiveness.
It All Starts with A Subject
I cannot stress enough how important your subject line is. You get one shot to convince your reader to open your email. This is essentially what they’ll base the decision whether or not to read on or hit trash. If you’ve got a worthy enough subject line, they’ll give you a chance and open the email. If not, you’ve lost them.
This should be one of the main focuses in your A/B testing, since it plays such a big factor in whether or not readers even continue on with your content or abandon you right then and there.
When it comes to creating an effective subject line, remember to keep it personalized, relevant, and to the point.
Could other mistakes be hurting your email marketing? Read these tips: 5+ Reasons Your Email Marketing Strategy isn’t Working.
Valuable Content
Even if readers do choose to go ahead and read your email, if they aren’t enticed by the content they’re seeing, they will abandon the message quickly. You’ve only got a few short seconds to grab and hold onto their attention, so ensure the message you’re putting in front of them is relevant and valuable information they won’t want to tune out.
“One of the most important factors in having an effective email campaign that converts is the content you’re providing. No matter how many clicks you get to open the emails you send out, if readers aren’t getting content that’s relevant to them, they’ll tune it out immediately,” states marketing strategist at Next CourseWork and Australia2Write, Matthew Bobo.
Testing your content for effectiveness can involve using the same subject line, then providing two different content options and seeing the conversion rates that result.
Getting Some Visuals
It’s much faster for the brain to process a visual message than text, so adding visuals into your email messages can be an effective way to get your message across. If you’re looking to test whether visuals are more helpful to your email campaign, a simple A/B test can help provide answers.
The same message that includes images and does not can be used to see if both messages are equally impactful. You can also test whether the same copy is received similarly when it’s paired with images or left as text only.
Does Length Matter?
No one seems to either want to read or have time to read these days. Everyone wants their information to be instantaneous and easy to understand. So, if you’re looking at creating email content that will be highly successful, you will want to test out the message length that’s optimal to your online success.
Offering less copy can be more impactful, if that minimal copy is still able to get the message across effectively. “Most of the time, less text is better, but there are times when it actually isn’t. Sometimes readers are looking for in-depth information are aren’t satisfied by short snippets. Test what works best for the audience you’re targeting,” suggests Phyllis Butler, email marketer at WriteMyX and Brit Student.
Of course, some A/B testing will show that the particular clientele prefers less images and more text, but that’s the entire purpose of the A/B testing, to see which option yields the best results.
Get Personal
Sending out mass emails to your entire database may seem convenient, but it isn’t necessarily the best, most effective way of converting your readers into customers. Dividing up your email database into a number of categories can help create more personalized messages that better target each group. Whether they are potential customers, first-time patrons, or long time, loyal clients, recognizing them is an important factor in them seeing where you’ve placed them in your spectrum. Repeat customers want to be recognized and rewarded as such.
Email personalization can make a huge difference in your lead gen programs. Read more about it here: How Email Personalization Helps Marketers Acquire and Nurture Leads.
Calling Readers To Action
It’s very unlikely that a reader will take action on their own unless they are called to that action. Always including a call to action in your messages means you’ve always got a way for your readers to take the action you’re requesting of them. Testing different calls to action will give you a better picture of those that are most effective.
Increase the effectiveness of your email marketing campaign by utilizing A/B testing to see exactly which pathways are the best route for you to follow.
As a lifestyle blogger for Academic Brits and writer at Origin Writings, Katrina Hatchett, finds herself consistently involved in many business projects, where she challenges herself with identifying the underlying problems with the project, finding solutions for these problems, all while working to improve the effectiveness of communication within these projects. She also writes for PhD Kingdom blog.
