“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it…” 5 Top Email Test and Learn Tips
by Amy Honigfeld, Email Institute
Repost

The recent online backlash and regarding the Gap logo change represents the common marketing error of trying to alter ones stripes or literally colors without ensuring customers are ready for this evolution. Growing up in the house of a graphic artist, the power of a strong logo has always fascinated me. My current favorites include FedEx, McDonalds and Apple. Quite an assortment, but I enjoy seeing McDonald’s unique architecture throughout the different countries I’ve traveled, China, Austria, and Morocco. Even more interesting are the business cases where redesigns go wrong.

Current culprits in addition to Gap include the London 2012 Olympics and many cited in the following adweek blog .

What are your favorite and least favorite logos? My suspicion is we all have diverse tastes which lead me to main point of this post. To truly know your audience, you should develop and implement a Test and Learn Strategy.

Below are some Top Tips instrumental to an Email Test and Learn Strategy. Do you have any additional Top Email Test Tips?

1. Document your results and learning – Documentation will ensure future tests don’t repeat prior ones esp. if you work in a company where job rotation is common.

2. Start with the basics – Subject lines typically yield the most influential test results. Therefore, when conducting A/B tests, begin with Subject Line tests before moving onto other variables including, creative (look, tone, and message length), frequency, day of week, time of day and personalization.

3. Give your test at least 24 hours to complete – Many marketers make the mistake of choosing a winner based on Open and Click Rates after only a few hours; however, the same message can yield different figures once all recipients have responded.

4. Look beyond Click and Open Rates: Remember to leverage tracking data if available in order to look at the ROI for each test segment.

5. Segmentation – Don’t forget to look at results across each list segment; for instance new customers might find one subject line more compelling than a recipient with one year of purchase history.

Additional Tip: Remember Multivariate Testing – Taking the time to conduct a multivariate test can quickly determine the optimal email.
Do you have any additional Top Email Test Tips?

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