How To Run an Email A/B Test

We all know that email marketing is an important strategy to include in your marketing plans. And because emails are such an asset to your business, it's important to understand the best ways to get your customers to open and read your emails. That's where A/B testing comes into play.

What Is A/B Testing in Email Marketing, Anyway?

A/B testing in email marketing is a tactic you can use to measure different versions of the same email to different samples of your subscribers. After you create the first version, or the A version, of your email, you can create the second version, or the B version. Once you send both A and B emails out, you can analyze how many audience members opened or clicked the links in the email. From there, you choose the winning email that received the most opens and clicks from your subscribers.

One way you can do this is by changing the subject lines of the email in each group. The number of clicks can help you determine which email subject line you should ultimately use for your campaign. 

So, Why Should I Be Using This Strategy?

There are plenty of reasons you should use this email marketing strategy. However, the ultimate reason is that it can help increase your conversions or sales. As you continue to test which emails are most effective and most likely to inspire customers to engage, you can narrow down the emails to send out consistently. This can help you increase your sales because there's an increasing number of consumers opening your emails and possibly clicking the links that take them to your site.

Tips for Setting up a Test

Of course, we're going to give you some tips that you can use to set up a test to help benefit your email marketing strategies, including how you write an email to your customers.

Create a Hypothesis for Your Emails

It's vital to create a hypothesis for your emails because it allows you to have a strategy behind each version. Write a simple statement to give your strategy some guidance to help you measure if it worked or not. Do you want to increase the number of consumers opening the email to accomplish a goal? What action do you want them to take, such as making a purchase or downloading a freebie?

Prioritize Creating and Sending A/B Tests

There are several variables to consider when creating the tests.  Prioritize the ICE score, which is an acronym for impact, confidence, and ease, when you're creating the tests because it can help you to create emails that users will respond to and act upon.  Keep your call to action clear and simple in all variations of your email. Know how you will measure success ahead of time.

Apply What You've Learned to Each Testing Round

Not every test will provide positive results at first. So, it's important to note what works and what doesn't work in the emails. This can help you build better campaigns in the future. 

If you're interested in learning more about A/B testing or HubSpot, please contact us and we'll help you to determine the best marketing strategies for your business and goals.