Email A/B Test

Email A/B Test

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  Email Marketing Campaign A/BTest miami people
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  • an emailblast for driving article views • a/b test component analyzing subject line effectiveness • results of email blast • reflection on what makes an effective email marketing campaign executivesummary miami people 2
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  email text & imagery TheThree Keys to Effective Leadership Hello (personalization token)! I hope this email finds you and your family well and safe during these trying times. Whether we're already best friends, old friends who haven't caught up in a while, or new friends waiting to be made, I want you to know this is simply a one-time email, so no need to unsubscribe! In search of some good advice, I recently turned to some expert friends and found there are 3 foundational keys to being a strong leader. (Read More Here button) Strong leadership begins by taking a human approach to management. Click the link above to learn more about how you can begin creating something bigger than the sum of its parts. Thanks for reading! I wish you all the best as we work together to overcome these difficult times. All the best, Guillermo Guillermo Page is a Marketer specializing in brand & product development, with experience in both large & small brands, specializing in sports & entertainment. 3
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  email Title Intro (including personalized greeting) Appeal ProfessionalBackground CTA/Link to Post Links to Social Hero Image Closing Additional Links 4
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  a/btestcomponent email a Subject: Here'sHow We Can Become Great Leaders email b Subject: Trust the Experts, Here are the Basics for Becoming a Great Leader! methodology The test variable for this A/B test was the email subject line. Every other component of the emails was kept identical to isolate the difference in subject line performance. Email A used a longer subject line which invoked the authority of the experts quoted within the article and was slightly more expressive in terms of the contents of the email. Conversely, Email B used a shorter, more direct subject line intended to quickly communicated the general topic of the email. The purpose of this test was to determine if future emails should use longer and more descriptive subject lines as opposed to shorter and more direct subject lines. 5
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  1 2 3 4 WHAT WAS VARIEDAND WHY WHAT WAS YOUR CALL TO ACTION? My call to action was to “read more here,” inviting my recipients to click on the button to take them to my blog where they could read my article. My CTA was preceded by a short description of my article which offered three key traits of great marketing leaders. HOW DID YOU INTRODUCE YOURSELF AND YOUR CONTENT? My introduction used a conversational and familiar tone in order to sound more human, reflecting that this email would be coming from an actual individual as opposed to a brand or some other distant entity. My content introduction relied the authority of my experts and the value my content offers. My continued introduction, after my CTA, presented my core thesis in order to give my recipients an idea of what they could expect from my article WHICH VERSION DO YOU THINK WOULD PERFORM BETTER AND WHY? I expected my second subject line to perform more effectively because: • It is concise • Describes what can be found within the email • Creates a sense of importance The email subject lines were varied from Email A to Email B. The goal was to determine what kind of subject line yields greater open rates 6
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  5 6 SUMMARY OF EMAILDISTRIBUTION KPI RESULTS BY EMAIL VERSION (A & B) • 200 Emails total were sent. • Email A was sent to 100 recipients. • Email B was sent to 100 recipients. • Email addresses were sorted into alphabetical order before database was split in half. Email A Email B Sent 100 100 Open Rate 46.5% 40.4% Click Rate 11.1% 7.4% CTR 23.91% 18.42% Delivered Rate 99% 94% Hard Bounce Rate 1% 4% Unsubscribe Rate 1% 6% Spam Report Rate 0% 0% 7
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  7 A/B TESTRESULTS OPEN RATES - EMAIL A: 46.5% - EMAIL B: 404.4% CLICK-THROUGH RATES - EMAIL A: 23.9% - EMAIL B: 18.4% CHI-SQUARE TEST - Differences in click-through rates were statistically insignificant 23.90% 76.10% Email A CTR Clicks No Clicks 18.40% 81.60% Email B CTR Clicks No Clicks 8
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  8 9 WHAT WAS YOUREND GOAL? DID YOU ACHIEVE IT? WHY OR WHY NOT WHO IS YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE? My original intention with my contact list was to target existing professional contacts that I had accumulated throughout my career in order to introduce them to my writing. I then planned to supplement these contacts with new contacts of individuals who I have either already connected with because of their roles and experience or that I would like to connect with because of their roles and experience. For these supplemental contacts, I targeted sports marketing professionals or agency professionals. However, I was ultimately unable to accumulate 200 emails with this strategy and had to resort to alternative strategies. The end goal was to connect or reconnect with contacts and introduce them to my writing and expertise. With a 43.52% open rate and 21.43% click-through rate across both emails, I successfully engaged with my contacts and drove traffic to my website. My website saw increased traffic rates as demonstrated by the charts to the left. Emails were sent April 21 9
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  10 WHAT MAKES ACOMPELLING EMAIL FROM A DIGITAL MARKETER The subject line is the first barrier of entry to consider when creating email marketing campaigns. Hubspot recommends several different pointers to keep in mind, including writing concise subject lines that include a hook, personalization, or promotion when appropriate. Likewise, Marketo research found that seven words is the optimal length for a marketing email subject line. These recommendations can be applied beyond subject line writing to include email copywriting in general. Emails should be short and snappy. With the amount of emails sent every day (Statista forecasts over 306B per day in 2020), it has become increasingly difficult to capture consumer attention. Therefore, emails should be short, easy to read, and frontloaded with information or promotions to increase the likelihood of conversions. WHAT WAS YOUR UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION TO YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE? My intro statement and content introduction were written using conversational language to give the email a human feel, setting it apart from other marketing emails the recipients may receive. In addition, the article introduction before the call-to-action was meant to communicate the value that the article content could deliver to readers. Marketo Subject Line Optimization Research 11 Statista 10
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  email reflection In afew sentences, what do email marketers do well? Email marketers succeed when they can quickly and effectively communicate value. Consumers simply will not take the time to open emails that do not guarantee them some kind of value, much less actually engage with the emails. We need to consider every email we send out as a transaction with the consumer where we are exchanging something of value for their attention, and the consumer must always feel as if they are coming out ahead in this transaction. The best email marketers create this effect with their email campaigns. A good example of this is adidas, which typically leads off their emails with promotion details which give consumers a reason to open and explore. What do they do poorly? Email marketers that do this poorly are often a reflection of their brand. A good example of this is Everlane. While the brand makes quality clothes, they are usually relatively high in price and the brand has only ever run a sale on their site once. Therefore, the overwhelming majority of their emails relate to information that generally does not provide any actual value to the recipients. Furthermore, they also have a history of poor timing with their emails. A recent email (below) was sent attempting to communicate a sense of togetherness and unity with customers. Typically this is difficult to achieve as a clothing brand, especially as a young clothing brand. But, in this case, their timing made their email completely ineffective because it was sent shortly after new broke of labor issues between the clothing brand and their employees who are in the process of unionizing. 11
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  If you werein charge of an email marketing program, what would be your strategy for segmentation, personalization (offers, messages, etc.)? Segmentation: Email marketing campaigns need to provide relevant and valuable content to consumers. If I were running email marketing campaigns for consumers, for example, I would segment by past purchases and email engagement in order to create efficient campaigns that deliver relevant information to the right consumers (source). Personalization: Emails that include personalization tokens are far more likely to generate higher open and click rates, according to Single Grain. However, personalization must go beyond simply including a consumer’s first name. Using the same example from above, my campaigns would leverage past purchase behavior to display the absolute most relevant content to consumers. Offers: Generic offers must demonstrate a substantial value to the consumer in order to warrant use in an email campaign. Otherwise, promotions and offers should be personalized to a consumer’s preferences and purchase history. In addition, some effective brands, like adidas, send special promotions to high-value customers. email reflection Messaging: As much as email marketers will always want the freedom to craft their own town and messaging for their campaigns, the truth is that campaigns need to keep the brand’s overall voice and tone. That being said, in general, messaging should maintain a human tone (personalization helps with this) in order to seem at least somewhat organic. 12