Did you know that the “failed email” newsletter that I sent last week was part of a test that saw a huge success?
The email that I sent talked about how a trucking industry’s email was sure to flop because they spent all their time talking about themselves rather than their prospects’ needs. That’s why I called it a “failed” email.
The reason why my email that talked about it was a success was because I was able to use a little trick to get a high open rate.
(OK, I’m taking some liberty in talking about two different emails when I mention “failure” and “success.”)
The trick was that I used was three different subject lines in the email. This is called an A/B test, and it is widely used in marketing. The result was that it boosted my open rate very high.
The subject lines were:
- The “perfect” email that’s sure to flop
- This man’s email needs “major surgery”
- Case study: An email written well, but doomed to fail
Can you guess which one won?
For the winner, take a look at the screenshot below.
The third subject line, as you can see above, won hands down.
You might be surprised, but it was the one mentioning the case study.
The clever thing about email software these days is that the A/B test uses a part of the mailing list to find out which of the versions will work the best. In my case, I sent it out to 30% of the list.
Then the software sends the email to the remaining 70% of the list using the winning subject line.
Very clever.
It’s helpful since even experienced copywriters have been shown to be unable to predict which headline is best in an ad. You don’t know until you try it.
In the email above, I predicted that the first one about the “perfect” email would be the best. I was wrong.
If I had used only the first subject line instead of three, I would have lost about 20% of my readership.
The A/B test is one of those little tricks that an experienced copywriter uses.
There are other tricks, too, that you can benefit from if you hire a copywriter who knows the most advanced email techniques to write and send your emails.
Do you use the A/B test technique with your emails? If not, you might be missing out on a lot of subscriber engagement and sales.
Why not use this marketing method to bring in more clients and customers? Get in touch with us at Savvy Senior Marketing by making an appointment for a free 20-minute phone consult, or by sending us an email.
