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As entrepreneurs, it’s easy to get wrapped up in our own business and assume that what we find interesting is something that everybody will find interesting. Part of why testing is so important is because it will help you make choices based on what your audience wants and needs versus what you *think* they need (or—even worse—what the gurus are telling you that you “should be doing”).
While there are a myriad of tests that you can run in any area of your business, in this episode we’re focusing on tests that will optimize your emails. Listen in to learn about five different email tests that will boost engagement and improve conversions.
Looking for closed captioning or a transcript? Watch the episode on YouTube!
A Sneak Peek at the Episode
[2:17] When you are live launching, you always have to wait for your next launch to test something out, which makes it a lot harder. If you are testing as you go and selling every single day, you can also get data every single day that helps you improve your numbers.
[4:36] An A/B test (or split test) is where you test one variable against another to see which one performs better e.g. changing just the subject line of an email. Although you have to move a bit slower, it is a much more deliberate way to test and allows you to have much better results.
[7:16] There are many different things that you can test within the subject lines. For example, you might test a benefit-oriented subject line versus a subject line that piques curiosity.
[9:01] Never underestimate the importance of subject lines. If your subject line doesn’t get someone to open your email, then the rest of your email doesn’t matter at all.
[10:04] The metric you want to look at when testing your subject line is the open rate as that’s really the only thing that the subject line is impacting.
[10:23] Just because someone has opened your email doesn’t mean that you’re going to keep their interest. The next most important piece of copy to test is the first line of your email (specifically in your automated emails).
[11:45] As business owners, sometimes we get so wrapped up in our own business that we assume what we find interesting is something that everybody finds interesting. Give yourself some distance from your writing and then come back and look at your copy objectively.
[13:08] Make sure that you have enough results to measure whether the test is effective–ideally you’d have at least 100 people opening the email (your email software should be able to tell you when you get to statistical significance).
[14:19] When writing call-to-action (CTA) phrases, simple is usually better. Typically, you want to start with a verb, aka the action you want them to take (learn, get, save etc.) and then follow that with more copy to explain what it is.
[15:58] There are two metrics that you need to look at when testing call-to-action phrases: click through rate and bounce rate.
[17:29] You can also test the placement of your CTA (typically you want to have just one in an email). Often people tend to wait until the end until they ask someone to take the next step but there may be opportunities to put that link further up.
[19:13] Part of why testing is so important is because it will help you make choices based on what your audience wants and needs versus what the gurus are telling you that you “need to be doing”.
[21:08] Testing testimonials within your emails can be very impactful. Be intentional with the way you’re testing the design aspects versus the messaging of a specific testimonial.
Related Links
- 3 Must-Monitor Metrics to Increase Sales on Autopilot
- Why Tactics That Work for Digital Marketing Masters Won’t Work for You
- The Secret to Sales Pages That Convert
- 1 Must-Do Before Running Meta/Facebook Ads
Must-Hear Takeaways
As with every episode, we highly encourage you to listen to the entire conversation! But, here are a few of the highlights:
“That’s part of why testing is so important, because it’s going to help you make choices based on what your audience wants and what your audience needs and will respond to.” – Nicki
“The irony is that so many people leave the subject line to the end, right? They write the email first, they put in some effort and they go, ‘oh, I just have to put together the subject line’ and they just kind of make it a throwaway thing. But the subject line is crucial because if your subject line doesn’t get someone to open your email then all of the rest of your email doesn’t matter at all.” – Nicki
“You’d be really surprised at what people don’t retain. And so we can’t assume that people are going in and know everything that we know or that they know what’s coming next and what’s on that next page. We have the omnipotence as the business owners of knowing that whole flow of, okay, they went from here and now they’re here and now they’re here. That person might not remember all of that. In fact, they’re not going to remember it like we do. And so really simplify it for them and start your call to action typically with an action of what it is that you want them to do.” – Kate
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About the Energize Your Online Business Podcast
Are you sick of the stress, chaos, and risk of trying to keep up with the next big thing in digital marketing? And what about the confusion of trying to scale, build a team, and still try to make sure your business is worth the effort it takes to run it? You are not alone.
Join Nicki Krawczyk, a 20-year marketing veteran and owner of a multi-seven-figure-per-year digital training company and her co-host Kate Sitarz as they bust through the online business industry echo chamber to talk about how to make consistent, predictable sales and how to scale your business with simple and stress-free systems.
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