Email Marketing: 5 test to improve your results.
According to a report from Forrester Research, 89% of marketers said email marketing was their primary channel for lead generation. A thoughtful piece from Carolyn Nye, posted on the practical ecommerce blog dissects email marketing, highlighting 5 areas of email marketing you can A/B test to improve your overall conversions from the campaign.
Email Marketing: 5 test to improve your results.
Subject Line Testing
The subject line has long been considered a way to get your email opened and nothing more. Recently, however, some industry tests and research has shown that your subject line can have an impact all the way through the channel – even affecting conversions. Use A/B testing to determine which subject line has the best results.
From Line Testing
The from line is generally the most emphasized line in an email interface, this is especially so on mobile platforms, so take advantage of the space with your name or company name or some combination of both. Avoid using the reply email address as that looks unpolished and impersonal. Again take advantage of A/B testing to determine which format produces the most conversions.
Offer Testing
This one is obvious: customize the offerings to fit specific fit customer segments. For example, a restaurant offering free kids meals to customer without kids is just a waste of time, use A/B testing for different offers, like dollar off vs. percent off, to find out which offers garner the most interest.
Landing Page Testing
Once your emails are opened there should be a strong “call-to-action’ in the body that leads customers to “click-thru” to the landing page for the offer, how you structure your landing page can make all the difference when it comes to conversions. Since there are so many variables present on your landing page lots of testing may be needed to really drill down to usable data, but remember to only change one variable per test so you know which specific elements add to conversions and which detract.
Testing for Deliverability
This is the forgotten test, many email marketers neglect to assess deliverability, probably because it’s more complicated than straight A/B splits – which is a mistake. If your emails aren’t getting to their intended targets you certainly won’t get any conversions from them. Test all the customer addresses in your company database, across the various email providers to ensure that your customers are hearing your message.
Remember, the goal here is conversions, don’t let ancillary data, like open or unsubscribe rates, distract you from that focus. A/B testing of your email marketing program will lead to more potent campaigns and ultimately higher conversion rates.
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