A/B testing is one of the simplest ways to optimize email marketing. The key to maximising your engagement and conversions is to know what content best resonates with your audience. But even if your emails are flawless after A/B testing, it won’t matter if they don’t reach your audience’s inbox.
So, apps to boost your email deliverability are a must. One such application is Warmy.io that ensures that your email lands where it belongs in the receiver inbox instead of the spam folder.
What Is A/B Testing in Email Marketing?
A/B Testing, also called split testing, gives you the opportunity to test and track the performance of one email versus another by essentially creating two different emails. Email version A is sent to 50% of your mailing list. A segmented portion gets version B, and by determining which email had a better open rate, click rate, or conversion, you’ll see which one won.
A/B Testing exists so that you can take what you’ve learned from your results and implement them into your future email marketing campaigns. Instead of making educated guesses based on email marketing best practices or endeavors that worked for you in the past and crossing your fingers that this time it works the same (or better), you’ll use hard data from successful A/B Testing to redesign subject lines, CTAs, and more.
Why A/B Testing Is Important
A/B testing is key to gain a deeper understanding of your audience and to make sure you’re spending your money wisely on email marketing. Not all audiences are the same; what delights one subset might disappoint another. Through A/B testing you get to learn what things subscribers opened and what they ignored, allowing marketers to build on this and create email upfronts that more accurately reflect a profile of that intended audience.
Moreover, A/B testing also helps make sure you’re getting the best response for your email marketing dollar. From the subject lines to where a CTA is located, even tiny differences define how much your audience of readers responds to your email marketing. Thus, ongoing A/B testing guarantees that every single email deployed across all campaigns is the most productive.
Variables to Test in Email Marketing
Subject Lines
One of the most important email pieces is the subject line, undoubtedly linked to the open rates. Try variations on length, tone, or format. Example: Contrast a clear subject line such as “50% Off This Weekend” with something more curiosity-based, like “Can You Resist These Deals?”
Email Content
Your email body is where you provide the value. Experiment with different messaging styles, content lengths, or personalization elements. For example, test whether a more formal tone is more effective than a casual one, or whether including the recipient’s name boosts engagement.
Images and Visuals
But what is especially true is the importance of visuals. Try using different image style, placements, or no images at all.
For instance, see if an image of the product itself gets more clicks than an image showing it in a lifestyle-setting.
Call-to-Action (CTA)
The CTA is the door to conversions, so it is a huge variable to test. Try various colors, texts, or placements for the button. For instance, measure “Shop Now” against “Claim Your Offer” to determine what gets more clicks.
The Role of Deliverability in A/B Testing Success
There’s no greater threat to the success of your A/B campaigns than bad deliverability. It doesn’t matter how many A/B tests you run or how finely tuned your segmentation is if you can’t get to the right audiences (or get in their inboxes), it’s all for nothing. Deliverability impacts the success of so many email campaigns and likely to a greater extent than any A/B campaign. If you’re sending to half the audience that goes to spam, what legitimate data findings can you possibly receive?
Using a warm-up service for your email, such as Warmy.io, ensures your emails are delivered. Warmy.io increases your sender reputation over time with phantom engagement, letting email providers know this email is coming from a legitimate, trustworthy source. As a result, it goes to the inbox and not the spam folder, to be viewed and engaged with instead. Thus, with Warmy.io in the mix, you have a constant that was not accounted for in your A/B testing since deliverability would not be an uncontrolled variable to worry about.
Combining A/B Testing with Email Warm-Up for Maximum Impact
Ultimately, email deliverability and A/B testing are two sides of the same coin when it comes to a successful email marketing campaign.
Where A/B testing ensures you have a proper option for your clients, an A/B warm-up tool like Warmy.io ensures that when you find the right option, it gets delivered. For example, let’s say a merchant A/B tests an email going with the subject lines “Exclusive Offer Just for You” and “Don’t Miss These Savings.”
In order to get an accurate gauge of which subject line performs better, all A/B variants must end up in the inbox. With Warmy.io, they will; and when the test is over, the email that performed better also goes to the inbox. Thus, the A/B test results actually mean something with future email deliverability. But once you add testing beyond deliverability optimization, it’s like there’s a one-stop email marketing solution that guarantees appropriate engagement, appropriate conversions, and appropriate customer satisfaction.
Conclusion
A/B Testing. This is how (some) companies find out what works and what doesn’t, from subject lines to body copy, images to CTA, to determine if they get more clicks, opens, and conversions based on statistically proven reality. They know for next time how to adjust things and strategies to better fit the expectations of the consumer. But A/B Testing can only succeed with the right metrics if the email is sent at all to the right people.
Services like Warmy.io provide you with the foundation for effective testing because they ensure your email hits the inbox. So, paired with A/B testing and an effective email warm-up service, your campaigns will be destined for success and provide ROI for your business. Email marketing isn’t a one-and-done pattern. It’s an ongoing effort where success comes from ongoing testing and improvements.
