Get more opens and clicks with these email A/B testing best practices

You wouldn’t buy a new car without first test driving it, and that same logic can be applied to email marketing. As a demand gen marketer, it’s important to know what resonates with your audience, and one way to determine this is through A/B testing.

What is email A/B testing?

A/B testing, also known as split testing, compares two variables (such as layout, headlines, subject lines, call-to-action buttons or images) or versions of an email to determine which one performs better. In this method, a random sample of recipients is shown one version (A) while another random sample is shown the other version (B). Both versions are then compared to determine which one performed better. There are lots of key performance indicators (KPIs) you can use for evaluation, with the most common being email click throughs and form submissions.

Why is email A/B testing important?

A/B testing provides insights into how users interact with your emails, and what you can change to improve them. By comparing different versions of an email, you can determine which resonates better with your audience, and make data-driven decisions about how to increase conversion rates and improve the user experience.

How to conduct an email A/B test

Most marketing automation platforms have some sort of A/B testing software. These platforms will measure the success of both emails and automatically pull in the winner. To start, perform the test on 20% or less of the target audience. Email A gets 10% and Email B gets 10%. Upon conclusion of the test, the platform will divert the remaining 80% of your audience to the better performing content. 

Not all marketing automation platforms have A/B testing capabilities. In these cases, it has to be done manually. To do this, follow the 80/20 rule mentioned above. Once the test has concluded and it’s apparent which content performed better, send the remaining audience that email. Keep in mind that it’s important to put in stops or pauses after the A/B test. This will give you time to implement the winner and avoid any errors. It’s also important to remember that A/B testing should only be utilized for larger audiences. Performing a test on an audience of ten people won’t provide much insight to how your content is performing.

Follow these steps to implement an effective email A/B test:

1. Define your goals. Before starting an A/B test, it’s important to know your goal. What do you want to achieve with this test? Increase email open rate or event registrations? Once your goals have been defined, create a hypothesis about what changes will help achieve those goals.
2. Identify what to test.  Determine what to test by identifying areas that could be used for improvement. For example, you might notice that an email has a low open rate or that users are dropping off before completing a form.
3. Create two or more versions. Once you have a hypothesis, create two versions (or more) of the email: the control group (Version A) and the variation (Version B). When creating the variation, it’s important to make only one change at a time. This enables you to determine which change is responsible for any differences in performance. If multiple changes are made, it becomes more difficult to identify which change is responsible for the observed difference.
4. Randomly assign recipients. To ensure accurate results, randomly assign recipients to either Version A or Version B. It’s important to ensure that each version has roughly an equal number of recipients. If one version gets significantly more sends than the other, it will skew the results.
5. Implement the winner. Once the better performing version has been identified, implement the change. This will allow you to reap the benefits of the test. It’s important to remember that A/B testing is an ongoing process. Continue to test different elements to improve performance.
   
   
6. Document and share results, and repeat on a set cadence. It’s important to track all test results in a central spreadsheet or document to help identify trends over time. Sharing these trends with your broader team can have a great impact on the overall success of your organization’s email marketing campaigns. Also, keep in mind that things can change over time. If you repeat a test from two years ago today, there’s a chance it will yield a different result.

Explore more email best practices to optimize your campaigns and engage your target audiences more effectively in these articles: 

The three types of Marketo email templates.

Three effective email nurtures you should steal today.

The Iron Horse insight

A/B testing is a powerful tool, and an important step towards creating optimized email content. It’s critical, however, to share the test results with your broader team. If your entire organization is aligned around your email marketing content, A/B testing can be a major contributor to your businesses success. By testing different elements of your emails, business units can better determine how to engage with their audience, increase conversions, and increase marketing ROI.