The Importance of A/B Testing in Email Marketing: How to Optimize your Campaigns
Email marketing is a strategy marketers have used to reach potential consumers since the dawn of the Internet. Everyone has an email inbox in today’s digital media age, and figuring out approaches to utilize this form of marketing properly can often be difficult for digital marketers, especially for financial brands. Every word and image matters in one’s marketing message and different styles of voice or wording can affect the duration of time a customer spends reading the contents of the email, the action they take, or even opening it in the first place. This is why marketers have taken it upon themselves to test every aspect of their email in phases to determine the most optimal messaging and elements to send to potential and existing customers. This type of testing is called A/B testingRandomized experimentation process in which two or more versions of a variable (web page, email, page element, etc.) are shown to different people at the same time to determine which version has the maximum impact and drives business metrics. Also known as “split testing.” and is one of the keys to success for email marketing. While one may be tempted to trust one’s gut or personal preferences for email messaging, the best approach to ensure optimal messaging is to engage in ongoing email testing to understand what is working and what is not in order to improve email campaign performance.
This especially rings true for fintech marketing as content can often be complicated and dry for potential users to understand unless the marketing message they are receiving is appealing for them to read. There are times when customers on the email list react more positively to various forms of messaging, and it is important, and the job of the digital marketer, to figure out exactly what that missing ingredient is. This can include subject lines, overall email design, call-to-action, or any other form of wording. It is difficult, or even impossible, to figure out exactly what that facto is unless the emails are tested properly with multiple formats to determine which email sticks and which does not with the audience.
What is A/B Testing for Email Marketing?
A/B testing, also known as split testing, is where a marketer sends out different variants of the same email with small differences to test which email performs better for the email list. The difference between variants can be a small change in design or a more substantial change, such as a different email layout or wording. Good A/B testing always tests one element at a time in order for the marketing team to understand which elements perform better and which do not. This can only be done if the marketer understands with confidence which aspect affected the success rate of the email and why the performance was affected based on that element.
Using this type of empirical evidence in one’s marketing strategy is important in order to avoid relying on gut feelings or personal preferences. That is why it is important to regularly run A/B testing to have data-backed evidence to prove which email campaigns are successful and which are not and how to improve them. The good news is that running A/B testing can be relatively easy with the following three strategies to improve marketing campaigns with empirical evidence.
Isolate Testing Variables
When completing a successful A/B test, it is important to only test one variable at a time. Doing so will help the marketer determine which piece of the puzzle is truly affected and change the results of the email campaign in a positive or negative way. Let’s say a fintech marketer is looking to increase the click rate of the email campaign to the subscriber list. In a single A/B test, the marketer can test a few different call-to-action button designs and different images in the body of the email. If that email were to succeed, how would the fintech marketer know that the email was successful due to the new button design or the images? The short answer is that there is no way to tell which aspect of the email was the most beneficial to its success unless each variable is isolated and tested separately to locate which variables deliver heightened results for the email campaign.
Test Against a Control Version
A “control” or default version of an email is the original email that has no differing variables that are being tested. This provides a good foundation and reliable baseline to compare the results of the A/B test. It is important to have a control version of the email in order to revert back to if the A/B test fails. If a marketer were to keep making changes to the same email, by the time the third or fourth change is input, the changes have compounded to turn the email into an entirely different one from the control.
By testing with a control version, a marketing team can cut down as many compounding variables as possible in order to produce more accurate results about which factor is making the most impact on the email. Without a baseline to measure against, it is difficult for a marketing team to properly analyze all of the variables that can affect the success rate of an email campaign.
Continuously Challenge New Tests
Every aspect, from the body of the email to the subject line and images, can be tested and optimized. It is important for the marketer to not fall into a box by staying creative with the aspects and variables tested. Nobody knows which aspect or element can truly elevate one’s fintech email campaign unless all variables are tested in creative, out-of-the-box ways. Take the subject line of an email as a good example. Several variables can be tested with that single aspect of the email, including length, urgency, wording, and more. Trends and consumer behavior are constantly changing, so it is important for marketers to continuously analyze and adjust strategies in order to succeed.
