What is testing and optimizing for email marketing?
Testing and optimizing for email marketing refers to the iterative process of running consistent tests to determine what content, offers, subject lines, and other various factors best engage your subscribers.
A/B testing is perhaps the most common way to determine subscriber response to a given email marketing factor, since A/B tests randomize recipients. Additionally, usually only a single factor is tested at a time, which provides the most accurate results. Most high-quality ESPs will allow you to A/B test email campaigns right inside their software, making it easy and convenient to learn about how your audience interacts with different types of content.
Why is testing and optimizing important?
Testing and optimizing your email campaigns for your audience is important for a simple reason: the better you get at engaging with your audience, gaining their trust, and evoking specific emotions, the more successful you’ll be as an email marketer. Your list will grow faster, the people on your list will tell their friends about what you’re doing (creating word-of-mouth buzz), you’ll get more clicks, opens, and conversions, and your business will thrive.
If, on the other hand, you refuse to test and optimize your email campaigns, the opposite will be true: your success will depend on cold, hard luck. Your first idea for an email campaign or a CTA or a subject line might be great, but it might not. By not taking the time to test and optimize your email campaigns, you run the risk of not engaging your subscribers. The only way to consistently improve your campaigns and become a successful email marketer is to test, learn, iterate, and repeat.
The testing methodology
Now, this is important. Before running an A/B test on your email campaigns, you should document your goal for the test, your hypothesis of what you think will happen, and the question you’re trying to answer. By clarifying those inquiries before you run your test, you’ll set up a high-quality test and you’ll be better equipped to make accurate and helpful conclusions once the test is finished.