Email marketing can be really hard, we know! Sometimes, what we think is a carefully curated email with stunning visuals just isn't performing as well as we hoped, and you don't know why. That is where A/B email testing comes in to highlight aspects of emails, whether they be copy or subject lines, that your subscribers like to interact with more. So what is A/B testing, and how does it work? A/B testing, also referred to as split testing, is a method used to compare the performance of two different versions of something in order to determine which one is more effective. A/B testing can be used in marketing in many different ways, not just in emails but in web designs, print marketing, and more! So, we have incorporated this tool into Nucleus to take your email marketing to the next level!

Why use A/B testing: 

When using testing for an email, the purpose to to find the most successful email combination for a specific message or campaign. For example, if you are trying to test an email with the goal of getting subscribers to click a link to get an ice cream coupon. Our platform, allows you to then create 2 different variations of the email and then see what email gets more traffic.

Here are some tips & tricks:

- Test on emails that are not urgent or need to be delivered in a tight time frame (testing takes a little while to gather the performance of the test and pick the winning one to send out the rest of)

- Keep notes of what you are trying to test so you can track performance with the stats you receive back

- Try to test the campaign frequently to get the most accurate 

- Intentionally target out elements to test, such as subject line, sender, CTA, etc.

- Think of even testing different variations against different audiences.

Benefits of using:

• Open and Response Rates: Identify factors that contribute to higher open rates by testing different subject lines, preheader text, and send times.
• Content Engagement: Test various versions of your email content to determine which version receives more clicks and prompts readers to take action.
• Cost-Effective: Utilize A/B testing as an affordable method to make data-driven decisions and gain insights from your campaigns.
• Ease of Analysis: Analyze test results using straightforward metrics to easily identify the better option.
• Increased Sales: Implement optimized changes to boost sales, enhance user experiences, build brand trust, and foster customer loyalty.
• Enhance Deliverability: Ensure your emails are sent correctly from your application and are received by users.
• Spam Testing: Identify characteristics that might make an email appear untrustworthy.

 By Julia, Deliverability Expert

Just kidding… but if you aren’t annoyed by those graphics & sentences, I can 100% ensure that your recipients and the servers are!

Let’s review what went wrong here…

1. Lots of strange fonts
2. Overuse of font colors, bolding, underlining, & italics
3. Over-promising
4. Too many graphics
5. TYPOS

Email servers respond incredibly poorly to the majority of marketing techniques used in the example above.

When it comes to our marketing emails, we really want to avoid being overly obnoxious. This can be done when we:

• Attach too many files or pictures to an email
• Use illegible fonts & text colors
• Have ANY typos
• Make promises we cannot keep (i.e: “100% guarantee,” “never again,” etc.)

At Nucleus, we understand that we want to catch our viewers’ attention with our emails…

we just have to make sure we make it into the inbox first!

If you walked up to a stranger on the street and asked them for $20, odds are they’re going to look at you like you're crazy and walk away. I cannot blame them; I’d do the same. Now… what if, instead, you engaged them in conversation, swapped contact information, developed a friendship over the course of many weeks, and THEN asked for $20? You might have a better shot.

Well, in some ways, email marketing is a lot similar. People are much more likely to support a cause that they are familiar with and trust. So, with that in mind, it might be time to consider how we can be building trust with our subscribers so that we see the most possible success with our emails.

This means that we need to provide content that makes the recipient feel valued as opposed to just another donor. Before we ask for money and support, we need to show the subscriber how much they matter to us; that we do not just care about their wallets.

So what kind of content can we send out that would align with this goal of building trust? I have a few ideas…

Newsletters and informational content

• These emails can be used to inform your recipients on your mission and the news you find most important. Subscribers will be able to see how their values align with your own and, in turn, may acquire more support for your cause.

Feedback

• Do not be afraid to ask your subscribers about their opinions. Whether you need advice on how to go about things or you’d like to know what you can do better in the future, your recipients should be the first people you ask. Their opinions matter most!

Prospecting

• Sometimes the easiest way we can appeal to our subscribers is to ask them what they care to hear about. Our Nucleus CRM allows us to quickly tag our recipients so we can be ensuring we are reaching out to them with their interests in mind.

These are just a few types of emails we can be sending to our subscribers to ensure that we are building trust before forcing asks down their throat. I think you’ll all find that embedding a little love and care into all of our emails will always pay off in the long run.

For more information regarding how to send less aggressive copy while yielding higher return, contact our team for training or insight and visit your Nucleus Resource Library!

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By Julia, Deliverability Expert

Have you ever seen this feature & wondered what it is?