Everything can be split tested! How to know what’s working and what isn’t.
Everyone reacts differently to email marketing. Some people love receiving it and can’t wait to see what your brand will show them next. These customers will open your emails no matter what you throw at them. Others are more avoidant and need to be convinced to open and click your emails. These customers are the ones that require time, testing and patience. But how do you learn what makes them open and engage with your emails effectively?
The answer is in the split test. And fortunately, everything can be split tested!
First and foremost. What is a split test?
A split test is as simple as it sounds. It’s sending multiple versions of an email and analysing which one performs better. It’s a great tool to understand which elements of your emails are most and least effective. Split tests are commonly conducted on a 50/50 basis, meaning that you will send the same email to 50% of your database and a slightly modified one to the other 50%. But, you can also narrow these down extremely well, even sending over ten variations of the same email to see what really makes your audience purchase.
Here are just some of our favourites to try.
The Subject Line Split Test
The subject line of your email is the first thing your customers see. So, testing your subjects should be at the top of your priority list. In the example of a 50% off sale, a few you can sample include:
- The personalised subject line - Our storewide sale has begun, {{ first_name }} 😍
- The excited subject line - Yippee! It’s on sale 🎉
- The mysterious subject line - Pssst… A surprise is inside 😱
- The loud subject line - 50% OFF EVERYTHING! 🚨
- Time pressure subject line - 48 Hours Only: Storewide Sale ⏰
Playing around with these is a great way to learn which communication strategies and tone your audience reacts to, allowing you to replicate this in future email campaigns.
The Hero Banner Split Test
Hero banners act like a secondary subject line. They’re the first thing customers read when they open your email, and commonly, they’re part of your email with the highest click rates. If you’re looking to up the clicks of your email campaigns, modifying the hero banner is a fantastic starting point.
Some ways to split-test your hero banners include:
- Trying different colour backgrounds to see how colour theory influences purchases. Certain colours are easier to read than others which improves click rates.
- Having some hero banners with buttons in them and some without.
- Testing different-sized hero banners - some thick and some narrow.
- Playing with different lengths of copy in your hero banners.
The Copy Split Test
Some audiences love a long and detailed copy. They will absorb every word and hang off everything you tell them. And some audiences will skip right over your copy every time they open your emails. Split testing copy, for this reason, can help you understand if your audiences are more interested in the written or visual elements of your emails. Some ways you can test copy include:
- Testing short-form and long-form emails to see if there is a major difference in click rates.
- Testing different tones and attitudes in your copy.
- Testing different sentence lengths and paragraph lengths.
- Writing in the third person and first person to see where you get a better reception.
You can also test the placement of your copy to see if moving it amongst your email blocks, rather than all at the top, helps customers take more desirable actions.
The Design Split Test
Like copy, some customers will reach better to heavily designed emails and some more plain-style emails. While keeping it on-brand, try to produce some maximalist and clean designs to see what is catching your customer’s eye the best. Some other strategies you can test in the design phase include:
- Different colour email backgrounds.
- Different size blocks.
- Mobile variations of your email blocks.
- Supporting your images with copy, or going rogue.
Connect with Email By Design
At Email By Design, we have been completing split tests for years. We know what makes customers make favourable decisions and how to get quick results out of split tests. Ready to get started? Connect with us today to find out what we can do to grow your email marketing strategy.
