Yeah, you read that right: We’re talking about testing. Again. Because testing is the best way you can send relevant emails that are going to get all the clicks, buddy. All of them.
So many clicks.
But while previously we’ve harped on subject line testing, today we want to focus on the other parts of message you can and should test that we’ve neglected. Please forgive us, other parts of a message you can and should test. We’ll right our wrongs immediately.
3. Time
OK, so we didn’t really neglect this part — but a refresher is always nice, right? Right.
Carl, just say “Right.”
Anyway, it’s an important refresher. Finding out when each segment of your subscriber list (you should have numerous segments, by the way) is most active with their email will be a huge, quick way to boost your engagement with your list. Make sure to pay extra attention to which days you see activity on as well. Mish-mashed with the times you know your subscribers are checking their emails, and you’ve got one part of your strategy all set up with sending your higher priority emails during these little windows of opportunity.
So the timing is squared away, that means it’s time to pay attention to what you’re actually putting into your emails.
Click where? C’mon, man, help me out here!
2. Images
Image selection can be a tricky beast to master. Since typically these are the first things subscriber eyes are drawn to, the pictures you put in your messages can be deal breakers. But fortunately for you, the Internet is a big place with lots of images to pull from, so when testing them out, your arsenal is limitless. What does this mean? This means that the test you run can be pretty thorough. Think cute animals will do the trick? Give it a whirl.
Who’s the cutest little bovine?
Think animals advertising your goods sends the wrong message? Try humans.
Who’s the cutest little hammer tosser?
Maybe you think static pics are an issue. No biggie, toss a GIF in your email.
Who’s the cutest little Paul Rudd?
Or, hey, maybe images aren’t your thing. The might not be your subscribers’ thing either. Plenty of folks send out emails that contain no images at all, and it doesn’t take anything away from the content — theSkimm is a great example of this.
Point being is that you can test for all of this, and at once if you want to. Which leaves …
1. Content
Of course testing for content is something absolutely everyone should be doing. If you’re finding that a lot of people are opening your emails, but no one is giving you the clickies, it might be a content issue.
“Half off coffins? What are they trying to say?”
And content spans the spectrum here. It’s everything from what you’re trying to sell, what kind of offers you’re putting on the table, and how you present it to your subscribers. And be particularly diligent when testing here. Mix and match your copy presentation (i.e. the voice — humorous, serious, informational, etc.) with the offerings and mind-blowing deals you’re throwing down.
Literally everything is testable. Good marketers will test everything and adjust accordingly. Great marketers, quite frankly, just never stop testing.
Also check out Testing Design Principles In Email and Subject Line Testing: 5 Things To Keep In Mind.