Download How strategic testing of your email campaigns can yield better results.

How strategic testing of your
email campaigns can yield
better results.
Wendy Griffin
Marketing Coordinator, Campaigner®
[email protected]
Agenda
Intro to Testing
Why is it important?
How to get started
Testing Strategies
What should you test?
Testing at work
Real World Examples
Why is testing important?
Email Marketers Who Test Email Campaigns
Email Marketers Who DO NOT Test Email
Campaigns




33%
27%
13%
8%
- I don’t know how
- I don’t have the time
- Platform doesn’t have testing capabilities
- I don’t see the value in it
Why is testing important?
 See what works, what does not
 Make educated decisions. Not ones based on “hunch”
Track and measure over time
 Learn more about your audience:
Their preferences
What encourages them to take action
What engages them
When they want to hear from you
 Increase conversions
Sales
Store Visits
Website
Visits
Downloads
Free Trials
???
Maximize your email
marketing ROI
How to get started
When should you start testing?
Get Started Now!
For those new to email marketing
Start with best practices
For email marketing experts
Lack of engagement
Decreased conversion rates
Increase in unsubscribes/spam complaints
Improve response rates
Get Started in 6 easy steps
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Set Objectives
Develop a Testing Plan
Test
Track and Analyze
Tweak for next send
Repeat
Step 1: Set Objectives
 What are you trying to accomplish through testing?
Sales
Store Visits
Website Traffic
Downloads
Free Trials
Engagement
Rates
???
*Record your benchmarks so you can later measure results against objectives
Step 2: Develop a Testing Plan
Step 3: Test
 Two Options
 A/B Split Testing
 Multivariate Testing
A/B Split Testing
 A control sample is compared to a variety of singlevariable test samples to improve email campaign
metrics
 Easy to set up
 Provides clear direction
A/B Split Testing – Option 1




Split your list in half randomly
Send control email to List A, test email to List B
Evaluate Results
For your next email, send the winning treatment
 Takes longer, but larger sample to validate results
A
50%
of list
Entire
Contact
List
B
50%
of list
A/B Split Testing – Option 2




Select 20% of your list randomly, divide into 2 groups
Send control email to List A, test email to List B
Evaluate Results
Send winning treatment to rest of list (80% remaining)
 Faster, but smaller sample to validate results
A
10%
Entire
Contact
List
B
10%
Which test wins?
A
25 Sales
B
42 Sales
 Is the result statistically significant?
 Total sales: 25+42 = 67
 Half the difference : (42-25)/2 = 8.5
 Square this: 8.5*8.5=72.25
 72.25 is greater than total number of sales (67)
 If it was less than 67 then it's inconclusive
 At 95% confidence level it's Significant
Step 4: Track and Analyze
 Include email metrics report – make in excel
Copyright: MarketingSherpa
Step 5: Tweak for next send
 Take what you've learned from the test
 Implement changes
 Send update email
OR:
 Set up and send new test
Step 6: REPEAT
Testing Strategies
What can you test?
Opens
ClickThrough
Conversion
Source: "The Practical Guide to E-mail Marketing" by Jordan Ayan
From and Subject Line
From line:
Choice of individual's name, company name or brand
as the sender
Subject line:
Length, branding, personalization, trigger words,
word order, approach, offer, deadline
Call-to-action
Button vs. text
Wording
Placement
Repetition
Size
Color
etc.
vs.
Sign-up Now
Buy Now vs. Sign-up Now
vs.
vs.
Landing Pages
 Offer
 Call-to-action
 Layout
 Color treatment
 Wording/Tone
Real-world Examples
Example 1 - Campaigner
Email Template Test
Email sent to all new sign ups
Test Objective: Increase Campaigner®
webinar attendance
Email Template Test 1
Email Template Test 2
Email Template Test - RESULTS
Lessons Learned:
 Results are so close that a secondary test might be worthwhile
 Don’t base decisions solely on open rates!
Example 2 – jBlast Email
Subject Line and Content Test
Cross sell email sent to all jBlast customers
Test Objective: Encourage jBlast customers
to sign up for Campaigner®
Subject Line Test 1
jBlast® offers you a Free Campaigner Email Marketing
account
Subject Line Test 2
jBlast recommends Campaigner® Email Marketing
Subject Line - RESULTS
Lesson Learned:
 Including “Offers” and “FREE” in the Subject Line was more
appealing to customers.
Testing – Closing Thoughts
 Just get started!
 Make a plan
 Measure against your original objectives
 Be creative, Be consistent
 Over time:
Learn more about your prospect/customer base
Increase engagement rates
Increase sales
Questions?
Thank You!
If you have comments or questions
about this session, feel free to email
us at [email protected]
Facebook.com/CampaignerEmail
Twitter.com/CampaignerEmail