| Testing email messages is important and has the | | | | was. |
| ultimate power to take your online business to the | | | | Once you have identified the subject that is most |
| nest level. Before you blast your entire email list with | | | | effective and the best placement of images, you |
| the same email message you want to do some | | | | also want to test different version of the text and |
| testing. If you take the time to test different | | | | different incentives. Some of the incentives to |
| versions of the same email you can maximize the | | | | consider testing: |
| effectiveness of it. | | | | Free Shipping |
| 1) What do I test? | | | | Buy 1 Get 1 Free |
| You want to create multiple versions of the same | | | | % off (you determine the percentage discount) |
| basic email. When creating the versions you want to | | | | Free Gift with Purchase |
| make adjustments to the following things in each | | | | Over the course of running several email campaigns |
| email so you can test overall effectiveness: | | | | you will start to see which incentives result in your |
| The placement of images in the email | | | | highest conversion rates. |
| The images used | | | | 2) Do I Test Every Email Campaign? |
| The subject of the email | | | | At the very least you want to run these tests over |
| The highlighted text in the email | | | | a few campaigns to start to learn what your |
| The incentive/discount/announcement | | | | audience responds to. If the email blast is important |
| Colors and fonts | | | | enough you may want to run tests on that specific |
| For each email version you want to place images in a | | | | blast. |
| different place in the email and hyperlink the images | | | | Obviously, if you have a small email list it will be very |
| to a page on your site. You want to track which | | | | hard to run these tests. It is easier if you have a |
| emails get the most clicks from the images. | | | | large email list. As long as you have at least 100 |
| In addition to changing the image location on the | | | | people on your email list you should be able to start |
| email versions you also want to change the images. | | | | running these email tests. |
| So if you have 4 different placements for the | | | | It is important that you have accurate statistics from |
| images, and 3 different images, you will need 12 | | | | your campaign otherwise the test is not going to be |
| different versions of the email. | | | | helpful at all. Most of the better email marketing |
| You should also test the subject of the e-mail. You | | | | programs have very good analytics. |
| want to come up with 3 or 4 different versions and | | | | Taking the time to run these tests can result in |
| test them. The test is to see what percentage of | | | | significant improvement in your email marketing |
| the emails have been opened after 24 hours. The | | | | results. |
| higher the percentage the better the subject likely | | | | |