To Test or Not to Test, That is the Question...
The Role of Split Testing in Your Email Marketing campaigns
With a specific focus on B2B email marketing, CommuniGator would like to cut to the chase and talk about the quick wins of A/B (Split) Testing in your email marketing campaigns. We would go so far as to say that an email marketing campaign should not go out the door without at least having a split test conducted on the subject line. If not, how can you be sure the one you are using is the best?
In its simplest format your split should be run as a 10% test of each subject line, with the remaining 80% of your audience receiving the better performing copy (see diagram below). The split test should ideally be left to run for 72hrs (yeah right, in the real world you will probably know after 4 hours so the email can go same day!) before the highest performing Subject line is then sent to the remaining 80% of the campaign audience. N.B. If you are using CommuniGator’s GatorMail platform it will perform the split test for you, automatically sending the most successful subject line to the remainder after a specified time period - Nice!!!
So, now we have explained the principle let’s talk subject lines. When we write subject lines we foolishly believe that all of what we write will be both delivered (different size subject lines in different email clients – be careful), and then read in its entirety. Eye tracking studies often show that having read just the first 2 words the conscious mind has engaged or disengaged. Only if it is engaged will the whole subject line be read. But don’t take our word for it, TEST IT!!! | | |
 | | Ideas of strong opening words for subject lines; - Hints & Tips on
- Tactics for
- Customers Say
- Quick Guide to
- Learn more about
- Seminar
- Invitation to
Poor/lazy opening statements for subject lines; - Monthly Newsletter
- Update on
- Discount Price
- What are your plans
- Important information (unless it is)
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Other key areas to test to get a feel for your audience would be;
Test: Personalisation Vs No Personalisation
A lot of email marketers hesitate to use personalisation in subject lines for fear of data inaccuracy, or looking ‘Spammy’. That is a legitimate concern, but according a lot of varying research personalisation can dramatically increase opening rates. Remember, it does not have to be first name, often, products purchased, events visited, topics read about or previous information requests are sufficient to grab attention, which is, after all, the roll of the subject line.
To wet your whistle, our benchmarking shows that general subject lines will yield a Unique Click Through Rate (UCTR - The number of unique (individual people) that click in a campaign) of 3.2% where personalised subject lines raise this on average to 5%.
Test: Shorter Subject Lines Vs Longer Ones
The typical length of an inbox subject line (visible) is 45 characters. But even that is too long for your average inbox warrior. We can easily justify an average increase of 1.5% UCTR with shorter ‘to the point’ subject lines.
So, test short against long. It’s hard to write short subject lines, for help engage an average 11 year old and ask them to SMS your subject line to you, they will smash 75% of the characters out of it and still make the point - Gr8!!
Test: Company name in the subject line
Ok, we need to be careful here as it is very dependent on what your sending address is - we don’t want to be over the top. But, recent Jupiter research claims that opening rates can shoot up by up to 32% by using company name in the subject line.
Again test it to see if it works in your mailings
Test : The bottom line here is test and see what works for you
Having run split tests for a number years you can be pretty much guaranteed that one subject line will outperform the other, it’s just which one and by how much. 35 characters or less makes this more of an art form than a science but there is always a better subject line out there. You just have to test for it.
Conclusion
Test some of the above against each other and see what works for your audiences. Remember, we are dealing with the masses here, so there are no rights and wrongs, just 2% – 5% increase with one rather than the other. We’re looking for quick wins and improvements. But don’t sit on your laurels, what’s good for one send is not necessarily good for the next, so test every time. | |
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