Email A-B Split Testing–If you are going to win, you have to play the game

I was invited down to Nashville, Tennessee last Sunday to watch my Colts play the Titans.  The Colts were a perfect 4-0 going into this game and the Titans were off to a horrible start at 0-4.   As we tailgated before the game, it was interesting to hear some of the comments from the local Titan fans.  Most comments revolved around the concept of the Colts were going to win big, it was just a matter of how big.  My response to them (in an effort to keep the peace…aka so they would continue to feed me) was, “That’s why we play the game, cause you never know how it will play out.”

How many times are business decisions made in a vacuum?  One or two people making final decisions based solely on what THEY think their message should look or sound like.  If you ask me, that seems like lots of hard work and added pressure.   A/B Split testing allows you to “play the game” and see what happens.

It gives you the ability to fine-tune your message over a period of time. Read this great piece from Marketing Experiments.  It discusses split testing for both e-mail and website conversion.  Just get started, don’t overcomplicate it!

Start with a 10/10/80 approach. Send e-mail A to 10% of your list and send e-mail B to a different 10% of your list.  Based on what metrics are most important to you, send whichever e-mail performed the best to the remaining 80%.  If you don’t like 10%, then simply pick test size …1000/1000/everyone else.

Learn one lesson at a time! You can’t test multiple elements at the same time.  Some potential elements to test could be;

• Subject line
• Graphic links vs. text links
• Video vs. photos
• Day of the week
• From line
• Call to action

Build upon your lessons-learned and fine tune your approach over the next 3-6 months.

Present your results/improvements gained through A/B split testing to your management team…I bet they get excited.

BTW – The Colts won 31 to 9.

Scott Cramer | Business Development & Sales