#EmailChat Recap: Email Testing 101

“Test, test, test!” – Every email marketer ever

Split testing is one of the best ways to make improvements to your email campaigns… yet only a small percentage of email marketers are doing so consistently. What gives?

Testing doesn’t have to be complicated, costly or time-consuming. Just ask the AWeber community, who shared their tips for painless email testing in yesterday’s #emailchat.

Here are seven rules to keep in mind for running a successful split test of your own:

1. Looking to improve your campaigns? Testing is non-negotiable.

• You’ll discover if the type of content you’re sending is working, or if you need to switch gears – @KristenWritesIt

• With all the tools we have to create more relevant emails, testing informs us which combination of them works best – @stephanhov

• Testing is a low-risk way to determine if something is right for your email marketing strategy without the commitment. – @oliviadello

2. “If you’re not sure, test!”

• If I’m having trouble making a decision about a subject line, content length, etc., that usually inspires a new test! – @missmontesa

• Always testing new things! You never know what your subscribers like, until you test it. – @litmusapp

• You can test anything, as long as there’s a business decision behind it. I’d rather test things that grow engagement. – @stephanhov

3. But only test one thing at a time.

• You should test one thing at a time in your email—it will help you draw conclusive results. – @litmusapp

• Testing just 1 thing at a time will help you pinpoint exactly what worked & what didn’t. – @KristenWritesIt

• In most cases, you should only test one thing at a time. (That’s why it’s called an A/B test.) – @oliviadello

4. The longer the test, the more accurate the results.

• Definitely depends on the sample size. The longer you test the higher the confidence. – @tnrt

• The more time, the more data. – @oliviadello

• For subject line tests, I wait up to a week before declaring a winner. – @KristenWritesIt

5. Your results will reveal opportunities to test further.

• As @KristenWritesIt mentioned, there’s ALWAYS room for improvement. Use your results to determine your next test! –@oliviadello

• Sorry to link drop but I have a step-by-step testing process here http://bit.ly/1mAxk0C  – @stephanhov

6. Email copy is an easy thing to test.

• I love testing subject lines and seeing how little changes impact open rates! – @missmontesa

• Video vs. non-video, different images, CTA copy (action words vs. non-action) – @KristenWritesIt

• CTA above or below the product – @TheChuabacca

7. But don’t be afraid to think beyond the subject line.

• Think beyond the subject line! Test things like frequency, timing, text v. HTML, personalization, etc. – @oliviadello

• Split test today…are my sub’s more likely to click on a text link to my blog post, or a button? – @stephanhov

• Test your CTA copy – a few ideas in this post: http://bit.ly/22bgYeK – @KristenWritesIt

And that’s a wrap.

Join us next Thursday, February 4 for the next #emailchat. The topic? Email automation.

And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter (@AWeber) to stay up-to-date with the latest news, events and more.

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