A/B Testing: The Key to Unlocking Better Email Newsletter Performance

Are you completely satisfied with your newsletter's open rates, clickthroughs, and conversions? Of course not.

If you're like most marketers, you never stop trying to improve your numbers, even if you're beating the averages. One of the most powerful tools you can use to improve your performance is A/B testing.

A/B testing is an invaluable marketing technique that helps you optimize your email newsletters by comparing two versions of the same subject line or message to see which one performs better. With A/B testing, you can quickly identify what works and what needs improvement in order to effectively reach out to customers and increase engagement.

By leveraging this powerful strategy, you can ensure that your newsletters have the maximum impact and drive your desired outcomes. Let’s dive in and address some of the top questions about A/B testing.

How To Do AB Testing for Email Campaigns?

Running A/B tests on email campaigns is a fairly straightforward process. First, you create two versions of the same email newsletter with a slight variation — let's call them A and B. Version B is an exact duplicate of version A, but with a different subject line, call to action, graphic, or some other change you'd like to test.

Then you send version A to half of your audience and version B to the other half. Once you have enough data, you can compare their performance to determine which one is more successful using metrics like open rates or clickthrough.

How Is AB Testing Done in Digital Marketing?

Marketers use A/B testing to measure the impact of different marketing elements on their audiences. By comparing changes in response rates, it’s possible to determine which version of an email is more effective and optimize campaigns for better performance.

For example, A/B testing can be used to compare two versions of a landing page or digital ad to see which one results in more conversions. Using identical versions of the page or ad, with just one element changed, quickly shows marketers which headline, image, layout, or call-to-action is most compelling.

What Should Be on the AB Test Newsletter?

Here are a few of the most popular variables to test with A/B testing in email marketing:

1. Subject lines: You can test different combinations of words, phrases, punctuation, lengths, or even emojis in the subject line to see what resonates best with your readers.

2. Calls to Action: Test different calls to action or buttons on your emails to see which ones get the most clicks. Learn whether your readers are more likely to click on a button, a link in the body of your email, or an image.

3. Content: Compare longer copy versus shorter copy, one article vs. several, or compare two different messages with subtly different tones and voices.

4. Images: A/B test different images or visuals to see which ones capture the most customer attention. Test whether your readers prefer one large image or several photos in a gallery. Find out if they prefer photos with people's faces in them or photos without people.

5. Layout: The "above the fold" area — the top several inches of your content area — is the most important. Test different layouts and formatting to get your most compelling material in front of your readers as soon as they open your email.

6. Timing: Test different send times and days to determine when readers are most likely to open your emails.

Can Mailchimp Do AB testing?

Yes, Mailchimp offers A/B testing capabilities — but only to their paid users. If you use the free version of the platform, A/B testing is not available to you.

beehiiv, which is a newsletter platform explicitly built for growth and digital marketing, offers subject line A/B testing in its "Grow" plan and full A/B test customization in its "Scale" plan.

How Many Emails Can You Send to AB Test?

The number of emails you'll want to include in your test will depend on the size of your list and the goal of your test.

One popular testing approach is to test 20% of your audience before sending it to the other 80%. For example, if you have a mailing list of 1000 names, send Version A to 100 people and Version B to 100 people. Then, after reviewing the results, you’ll send the most effective version to the remaining 800 people on your list.

Some marketers don't want to send to a partial list and wait for results. Instead, they choose to send the A/B test to their entire list and use the results as a learning experience to improve their future marketing. (To do that in beehiiv, just set your sample size to 100%.)

How Long Should You Run an Email AB Test?

Three hours is enough time to get a strong sense of what your audience prefers.

However, it's always a good idea to give your A/B test enough time to collect meaningful data. Generally speaking, the longer you run an A/B test, the more accurate the results will be.

A Powerful Tool

A/B testing is one of the most powerful tools you can use to optimize your email campaigns. A/B testing lets you experiment with different elements, measure results, and track improvements to make sure your campaigns are as effective as possible.

By comparing your audience's response to different versions of your emails, you’ll be able to determine which version of an email is more effective and optimize campaigns for better performance. You'll also be honing your knowledge of what works best for your audience.

Try beehiiv today and start using A/B testing along with a full suite of tools designed to help you build and monetize your audience.