Email A/B Testing Best Practices

Start improving your conversion rates today by implementing these underlying “Do’s and Don’ts” when carrying out split tests on your email campaigns.

        1. Set a Timeline

Construct a plan regarding how long you plan on conducting your split tests for before sending out the winning combination. Overall you should give your consumers enough time to interact with your test campaign. However, if you have a time sensitive offer make sure you factor this in and allow your consumers enough time to engage with your email.

        2. Send both split tests at the same time

To obtain a true comparison with the most reliable results you should send both your test emails at the same time of day, unless sending time is a variable you are testing. 

        3. Test as many variables as possible 

Our email marketing platform lets you test an abundance of variables, so don’t feel constricted to only testing one or two. As long as your target group is big enough to give you viable results, the more variables you test, the better you will be able to know what engages you’re demographic, allowing you to create customer personas. 

        4. Use a cross section of your database

You will need a significant sample size to send your split tests to. This is important as it is likely that a number of your recipients won’t open your email, making your data inconclusive. 

        5. Apply your discoveries to other campaigns 

Learn from insight previous campaigns have provided. You will have gained valuable research into what works for your target audience, chances are that strategy can be successfully repeated for another campaign. 

        6. Understand the variables you are testing

Be clear what metrics you want to assess and therefore what variables will need to be changed. After establishing this, it is also important to understand what criteria will be used to gauge the success of your campaign – aspects such as telephone responses/ sales will not be calculated through the split test but are both important factors to assess when choosing your winning combination.

        7. Test frequently 

Don’t assume your results are permanent. Your audience will constantly be evolving and your email tactics should keep track of this. A/B testing is valuable due to the changing landscape of email marketing. Email marketing is constantly innovating and your strategy needs to keep up with this. 

            Conclusion 

Split testing can be daunting, but it is a testing strategy that can be applied across a variety of marketing disciplines. Split testing develops you into a superstar marketer, by encouraging you to always look for ways to improve your strategy.

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