Testing Email Subject Lines

As we discussed in the previous post, spending the time to carefully craft your subject lines can mean the difference in successful email campaigns.

Further to personalizing email messages and creating a sense of urgency within the subject line, there is another step to better campaign results that really goes hand in hand.

If you’re not already doing a lot of A/B testing, read on!

Test, Measure…and Test Again

The value of testing cannot be overstated. As with many other marketing tactics, one of the best ways to improve email marketing results is by continuously performing A/B testing.

The idea is to keep your creative and copy the same, but switch out the subject line. Essentially, you are setting one email subject line (A) against another (B) in order to see which drives better results.

Once you have selected your subject lines, choose a portion of your list (say 15-25% to get a decent sample size) and send half of them the email with subject line A, and the other half the same email using subject line B.

Then, look at your metrics. Which campaign earned a higher number of opens? Percentage of click-throughs? Activity on your site?

One subject line should stand out and become the “winner.” Use this version when you send the email to rest of your list. Or, if neither subject line really lived up to your expectations, perform another A/B test to a different portion of your database. It is all about testing to find the best fit!

By personalizing email messages and continuously testing subject lines, you're likely to increase your open and click-through rates in an extremely cost- and time-effective way.