Split testing, also known as A/B testing, is where you test elements of your content piece and find out which variation was more effective.
In a split test, you set up two variations of your email campaign and send them to part of your list. In a case where you want to use 2 variations, half of the email list receives Version A, while the other half receives Version B. The results are based on which one performed better at getting the outcome you were going for.
Then you would drop the losing piece, continue to use the winner, and come up with another variation to put up against the current winner.
So, split testing is vital when experimenting with new techniques or formats for your email campaigns. Have I confused you so far? Fear not, because once you see it laid out, it will become crystal clear.
What Can You Test?
The first step in split testing is deciding what to test. To get useful results, you can only test one thing at a time. Don't try to test the headline and the call to action or and the subject line all at once.
Things to consider testing include:
- The subject line
- Content layout
- Personalization
- Your Headline
- What you include in the body of the message
- Images
- Using testimonials
- Placement of links
- Response to the offer in the message
- Closing text
It's up to you to decide what is most important for you to test. If you find that there are a lot of subscribers who don't bother to open your email, test the subject line. If you aren't getting clicks on your links, test the placement and anchor text.
Focus on this when deciding what to test. And, if few recipients are opening your emails, then start with your subject line. Test the most important parts first. Because your subject lines and call to actions have a great impact on conversion than the body text or images.
Which Segment Should You Test?
This depends on the size of your list, and whether or not you have multiple lists. If you have a modest sized list, and you usually send out a broadcast to the entire list, then split testing everyone makes sense.
However, there are a few instances where you’ll want to test just a part of your list:
- If you have a large email list, and the service you’re using to split test chargers per email address. In this scenario, test the largest sample you can afford and choose the names randomly for accurate results.
- If you’re running a limited offer, and you want to get as many conversions as possible. Here, run a small test batch first, and then send out the winner to your whole list.
Measuring Success
Before you create your content pieces, decide what you want to test. If you have been running campaigns in the past, use the results as a benchmark for this test. If not, pick the most important area to focus on and get started.
For instance, if your historic conversion rate is 15%, then you may want to increase it to 20%, to begin with.
And if your goal for split testing is to get more people to open your emails then, look at your historical open rate and decide how much improvement you want. However, if you don’t see any improvement with the first set of split testing, then run another test, with two different versions.
Tracking Opens, Clicks, Sales & Conversion
Once you have an email list and have been sending out offers and information to your subscribers for some time, you want to take a look at how your messages are performing. It's time to root out the losing parts and replace them with the components that make you money.
Tracking different things that lead to profits such as opens, clicks, sales, and conversion can make it clear what is working, and what needs improvement. Here are four areas that you concentrate on to get better results.
How Many Subscribers Open Your Message?
Your open rate will tell you what percentage of your list opened your message. This will give you an idea of how interested they are in your messages. If the results are less than you hoped for, the first thing to check is your subject line.
The subject line is what your subscribers see when they check their inbox. ( You knew that, didn't you? ). Try different subject lines to see if you can improve your results. Don't use misleading subject lines just to get the open. If you don't deliver on the subject line, your subscriber may never open another email again.
Your open rate is an indicator of how well your subject lines are performing. By monitoring the open rate trends for different campaigns, against your benchmark, you can test which subject lines are more compelling to your audience.
Click Through Rate
Your click through rate, or CTR, will show you what percentage of subscribers clicked on the link in your email. If the results are poor, edit the copy of the offer to make it more enticing and interesting so you can get more people to respond.
A good tip here is to only include one link in your email. You don't want to confuse your readers. What you can do is include the link more than once in your email. This makes it easier to get the click because if they decide they are interested, they don't have to scroll to get to the lone link in the email.
Tracking this will help you know the type of content that leads to clicks, and you can use this information to improve your future campaigns.
Subscriber Value
Knowing the average dollar value of each subscriber in a campaign is a very useful piece of information.
To calculate subscriber value, divide the total revenue generated by the number of emails sent out for each campaign or time period.
This data will allow you to study the better performing campaigns and see what you did that worked.
Conversion Rate
Conversion rate - CR - shows you how many clicks led to the result you were after.
For instance, if the goal of your email campaign is to persuade subscribers to complete an action—such as downloading an e-book or signing up to an online course—then anyone who completes this action is a conversion.
To calculate your conversion rate, divide the number of subscribers who complete the desired action by the total number of sent emails. Then, multiply your answer by 100.
Usually, conversion rates are smaller than CTR. But if you have a strong CTR with a weak conversion rate; this means your landing page or offer needs some TLC.
By split testing your email messages, over time you are going to get better results that lead to more profits for the same amount of work. Once you get used to split testing, it will become a habit that is easy to do. Give it a shot, and let us know how it worked out for you in the comments.
Go from zero content, zero ideas to being the hero of your family and friends by creating your own in-demand profitable info product ready to take orders in the next month! How is that even possible? Discover How Here...
