Email Marketing A/B Testing for More Inbox Success
Improve the performance of your newsletter and gain valuable insights into your recipients' behavior with regular A/B tests.
We can all relate to the feeling of putting a lot of effort into creating the perfect subject line for a newsletter. You send out the newsletter, and then you’re met with the harsh reality: it’s hardly ever opened. Why is that? Was it the wrong time to send it, the length of the newsletter, or the subject line?
A/B Testing helps you find the answers to all these questions. The right subject line, the ideal sending time or the perfect content design can make the difference between a full shopping cart and an unopened newsletter.
What Is A/B Testing and Why Is It Important?
A/B testing is a method of comparing two versions of an email or other marketing tool to see which works better.
In email marketing, this means you’ve got two versions of your newsletter. You’re sending version A to one test group and version B to another.
You can then use KPIs like open rate, click rate, or conversion rate to see which version was more successful. Then, you just send the winning version to the rest of your recipients.
The goal of A/B testing is to use data to make informed decisions and keep making your newsletter campaigns more effective. Instead of just guessing what your target group will like, you can test specific versions of your email campaign directly with your recipients.
A/B Testing Has Clear Benefits:
- Improved Performance:
By testing your subject lines, CTAs, or wording, you can significantly increase your open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates. - Understand Customers Better:
Gain insight into the preferences and behaviors of your target audience. - Continuous Improvement:
Each test allows you to learn and improve as you go.
How to Run an A/B Test in Email Marketing
A/B testing for newsletters is pretty straightforward. You just create two versions of your email—with different subject lines, for example—and send them to two test groups within your recipient list. Then, you compare the results and send the more successful variant to the rest of your contacts.
Example: A/B Test for a Subject Line
As you know: The subject line is the door opener to your newsletter. So, you want to figure out which subject line gets the best results with your target group. For that purpose, the recipients of an email campaign are randomly divided into two groups, for example 20% of your recipients in each group. One group gets version A, the other gets version B. Once you get the open rate results, you can send the more successful version to the remaining 60% of your subscribers.
You’ll quickly see that the new knowledge will give you more confidence when creating your newsletter. With each test, you can optimize your newsletter and look forward to more newsletter opens, click-throughs, and success down the road.
15 Things You Can Test With a Newsletter A/B Test
1. Subject line
Subject lines affect whether emails are opened. Which version is more intriguing? Which is better: short or long? With or without a personal greeting?
2. Preheader Text
The preheader is the short text that you see right below the subject line in your inbox. It should go well with the subject line in terms of content and give people an idea of what’s in the newsletter. Try out different lengths or formulations to get more people to open your newsletter.
3. Sender
It’s a good idea to try out different senders for your newsletters. Do your emails get better results when they’re sent by a specific person (like someone from the marketing team) or by the company itself? Maybe different senders are best for different topics?
4. Personal Approach
Try different personalized greetings: first name or last name? What form of address suits you and your audience? A casual “Hey” or a formal “Hello”?
5. Length of Your Newsletter
The best length for a newsletter depends on the topic, industry, and target group. Try out different lengths for the same content—one short and sweet and one more detailed, with inspiring examples.
6. Call-To-Action-Button (CTA)
CTA buttons are crucial for your newsletter. They prompt subscribers to take action. Experiment with placement, number, colors, text, and size of the call-to-action buttons.
7. Writing Style
Play around with different formulations and tonalities. You can even test whether a more humorous writing style goes down better with your subscribers. Send out a slightly more serious and a slightly more humorous version. Which is more convincing?
8. Newsletter Structure
In email marketing, it’s best practice to put the call to action button “above the fold.” This means the button should be in the top visible area of the newsletter. What about the rest of the newsletter, though? Try mixing up the structure and arrangement of your content to find what works best for you.
9. Content
What content do your customers need, and when? You can test different content, especially in automated emails like a welcome email. Do new customers want to know about your brand or do they need help using your product?
10. Limited Offers
Test which offer gets more sales: with or without a time limit? Also test which form of scarcity is better: a short period or a few days?
11. Social Media Icons
You can reach your target group in many ways. Try different social icon arrangements in your newsletter to attract followers.
13. Images
Images in newsletters are often the first thing people notice. Try out different visual languages or graphics, or experiment with the placement or number of images. You can try a lot, especially at the top of the newsletter. Does a large, inspiring image work better as a hook, or is a small image next to the textual message better?
14. Color and Design
The way your newsletter looks is really important for how people see it. It should obviously fit in with your company, but feel free to play around with different colors for certain parts of your newsletter.
15. Sending Time
Try out different days of the week and times to see which mailing time works best for your target group.
Multivariate Tests
While A/B testing tests two variations (A and B) of a specific change, multivariate testing aims to test multiple elements within an email simultaneously. For example, instead of changing just one variable such as the subject line, you can optimize the combination of subject line, call-to-action (CTA), and image design at the same time.
The difference is in the complexity: multivariate testing shows not only which variant works better overall, but also which combination of changes has the greatest impact on success.
Examples for Multivariate Tests for Your Newsletter
Let’s say you want to find out how you can improve your click-through rate. You’re testing:
1. CTA Button Position:
- Version A: Top after heading
- Version B: After the introduction
2. CTA Button Color:
- Version 1: Your primary color
- Version 2: Your secondary color
3. CTA Button Content:
- Version X: „Oder now“
- Version Y: „Fulfill a wish“
The different combinations (in total, 2 x 2 x 2 = 8, e.g. A1X, B2Y, A2Y, etc.) help you figure out which combination of position, color, and content on the call-to-action button gets the best click-through rate.
Benefits of Multivariate Tests
Multivariate tests are great for getting a better understanding of what’s going on because they show how different elements affect each other. The downside is that you need a larger group of people to get meaningful results, because you have to test each combination thoroughly.
5 Tips We Recommend for Successful A/B Tests
- 1. Define a clear goal.
When you know what you’re trying to achieve, you can run your A/B tests in a more focused way. So, are you looking to boost your sales, improve your open rate, or up your click-through rate? - 2. Don’t test too much at once.
Just tweak one thing in a test. If you try to change too many things at once, you won’t know which change led to success. - 3. Test on a regular basis.
It’s a good idea to run A/B tests on your newsletters from time to time, just in case your subscribers’ preferences change. - 4. Make your test group big enough.
Your A/B test needs a big enough test group to be meaningful. Your recipients should be randomly divided into groups A and B to avoid distorting the results. - 5. Send both versions at the same time.
If there’s too much time between sending the different versions, it can mess up the results. It’s best to send them at the same time if you can, unless you want to test the time of sending.
The CleverReach Solution for Newsletter A/B Testing
1. Easy Setup
CleverReach makes it easy to create A/B tests for subject lines right in the campaign settings. Just assign two variants for your subject line and set how long you want the test to run.
2. Automated Evaluation
CleverReach automatically checks the test results for your subject lines and shows you which one works better. Then, the best version is automatically sent to the other recipients, no extra effort required.
3. Test Design Flexibility with Automation
Try out different variables to make your emails work better for the people you’re sending them to. With CleverReach automation, you can test anything and everything, from content to sending times to layouts. You can even run A/B tests or multivariate tests.
Summary: Success Through Data-Based Email Marketing
A/B testing is a great way to make email campaigns more efficient and reach your target group better. CleverReach makes the whole process a breeze. It’s got great usability, automation, and flexible testing options, so you can easily achieve your marketing goals.
Make the most of A/B testing and get started with CleverReach today!
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