By David C Aaronson
We ended our last column with the following:
Testing, Testing, Testing:
This is a separate subject but here is a teaser for what we will cover next week.
Have you tested your: Call to action:
From Email Experience Council:
“Two-Click Survey Results: Buttons Vs. Links-The Call-to-Action Hero Is…
Buttons, according to 72% of respondents to the Two-Click Survey on the EEC homepage. Only 28% thought that links performed better as primary calls-to-action. If you’re using links as your primary call-to-action, this bit of community wisdom should spur you to do some testing. “
Survey results being what they are, many blogs on this subject have stated: “that buttons perform better for purchase decisions but that links perform better when the call-to-action is to view an article or request more information.” Testing is the answer.
The basics of testing. Always at the very least split your list randomly creating an “A” and a “B” group. For every email choose at least one element you will be testing. Each audience is different, so for many of these elements there are no answers, but they can be from the results of testing. Once you have successfully tested and found a significant difference you can move on another aspect of your email campaign.
1) Why waste the time testing anyone?
We have know: Time is Money! So is it really worth it to test? What is the gain for the pain? How will it effect my bottom line? One first has to answer the following question? What is this email campaign all about? Will it increase people buying from me? (How much is purchase worth to me?) Will it increase referrals to me? (How much is each referral worth to me?) Will it keep clients from leaving? (What is the cost of a client leaving?) There are so many more reason for a campaign and they should all have a plus or minus value. Measure the value and decide whether the time spent warrants the return expected.
2) Testing Elements of the email.
You never can really know what might affect the effectiveness of your email. Something as simple as the how a link is formatted could increase clicks by many percentage points. The example above used the element “call to action”: Button vs. Text links. Others might be: location of the call to action; if buttons are best, test different buttons; test salutations; signatures – graphic vs. regular text. Do not test more than one element at a time unless you can isolate the elements within each text group.
3) Sampling: A simple technique for sample testing your list
Create nth groups. For every nth create a separate group. Using the numbers 0-9, you can create a group for every nth which will yield 10 random groups. Send your test to any of the two groups and when you discover the better group, use that group’s email to the other 8 groups. Skipping a detailed description of statistics, the larger the groups the better and more reliable the results.
4) When to send
This is always a difficult question to answer. The statistics say that Monday night and Tuesday are the best days based on emails that are opened. However, any individual email may perform differently based on the time or day it is sent. Testing your target community is the answer and your email may defy the normal rules.
5) Descriptive Subject vs. Outright Offer
Subject line testing is perhaps the most common of email tests. Many believe that this is the number one factor in whether an email will be opened. Better open rates lead to better conversion rates and that is where the money is. The most common test is a descriptive vs. and outright offer in the subject. Again only testing of your email audience can tell you which Is the best.
David C Aaronson runs a Marketing business with an emphasis on using the Internet to improve profitability. He is also the local Assistant Director of BNI for West Hollywood and can be reached at: david.aaronson@bni4success.com
Tags: email, email marketing, Marketing, results
