Using A/B Testing To Refine Your Email Marketing

When it comes to digital marketing, the options are almost endless. There are various forms of digital marketing, including things like search engine marketing (SEM), social media marketing and email marketing. However, most forms of marketing are quite expensive, and unless done right, offer little return on investment.

Email marketing is one of the better choices for established small businesses. It requires little financial outlay (except for the time required to design and write an email), and can be sent out to everyone on your mailing list. However, it can be difficult to create the perfect marketing email, especially if you don’t really know what you’re doing. This is where A/B testing can be useful.

What is A/B testing?

A/B testing is a very common method used by digital marketing professionals throughout the world to monitor and tweak the effectiveness of their marketing efforts. Basically, it involves taking two things – in this case, emails – which are almost identical except for one major difference. They are both sent out to two different subsets of your mailing list, and you can monitor the results to determine which one is the most effective. This allows you to tweak your marketing emails to make sure that you are getting the most out of them.

What are the benefits of A/B testing for email marketing?

A/B testing is used by email marketing professionals throughout the world for a reason. It is one of the most effective ways to monitor and tweak your emails, and some of the benefits of using it include:

• It costs next to nothing. Changing a small part of your email doesn’t cost anything, and the only reals costs come from the time you spend developing two different variations of your email.
• It works. Marketing experts simply wouldn’t use A/B testing if it didn’t work. It is one of the most effective ways to make sure that you are getting the most out of your marketing emails.
• It is easy. A/B testing has no major time commitments, requires little technical knowledge and really isn’t that hard to implement.

What parts of my emails can I tweak with A/B testing?

You can basically tweak any part of your email with A/B testing. Usually, the aim is to increase your email opening rate by tweaking your email subject lines and titles, however you can also change your:

• Call-to-action to increase conversion rates.
• Content, to encourage people to read your emails.
• Personalisation, to make sure that your emails are tailored to your target audience.
• Mailing time, to get the most out of your emails.

Why wouldn’t you use it?

A/B testing is simple, easy to implement and requires little technical knowledge. In all honesty, you would be stupid not to use it to improve your email conversion rates. If you aren’t really sure about the best way to get started with A/B testing, speak to a digital marketing professional.