Are you an email marketer? Chances are that you are if you’re reading this post. But… are you an email marketer that split tests? Chances are that you are not… this according to a new study by the folks at Phrasee. They conducted an awesome survey that asked 304 email marketers about their email sending practices, with a focus on split-testing – and the results were fascinating.
Marketers were first asked what they thought were the most important of an email are. In other words, “How much do the following elements (see chart below) affect the response rate of an email campaign?”Judging on a scale from 1 to 4, “Quality of Data” was considered most important with an overall score of 3.5, and second was split between “Segment Selection” and “Subject Line.” We’ve always stressed the importance of good data, so it’s no surprise that emailers have rated it so highly.
Phrasee found that despite the fact that segmentation and subject line were both rated 3.5 out of 4, the email marketers in their study didn’t value split testing – which can ultimately offer some awesome data to enhance segmentation! When asked about their split testing habits over the last month, 22% declared that they didn’t at all and 49% of them shared that they split tested only a few. On the flip side, 21% of marketers shared that they split tested most of their email campaigns, and 7% that they split-test all of them.
The split testing that most of the email marketers focus on is the “CTA,” “Length of Subject Line” and “Different Adjectives.” This makes sense considering that most marketers measure success by their ability to provoke recipients to action through their emails.
That said, most of the marketers shared that they measure their success by “Open Rate.” This could be due to the fact that businesses have different goals with each email that they send. “Click to Open rate” was in second place, followed by “Click Rate” and “Conversion Rate.”
In conclusion, the email marketers shared that they split test less than 50% of the time. Furthermore, when they do split test, it’s only A/B testing and only 5% of the marketers in the study use the statistical models from split testing to improve upon their email marketing campaign results.This is something that needs to be worked on, because this data can give you a better idea of who your recipients are, what they respond to, and ultimately build up brand loyalty – so get moving! … or alternatively: Get Split testing!!!
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