Findings & Insights

Part 3: Language Tests

Do audiences prefer a conversational or more professional tone?

The test:

In B2B especially, we err on the side of using professional language. At Act-On, we really like using more conversational language, so this test was particularly interesting to us.

The hypothesis:

We’re all human! We want to have a conversation, not open an email full of jargon and industry-insider terms.

Do B2B audiences prefer a casual or more professional tone?

Business
Casual

The results:

Our reaction:

We’re spiking the football over here! This one is a big win for more approachable B2B marketing.

Our more conversational email led to a 44% higher CTR and a 47% higher CTOR.

What’s better, longer email copy or shorter messages?

The test:

Do recipients prefer short, to-the-point copy or longer, detailed email messages?

The hypothesis:

Our inboxes are bombarded with emails daily. We need to get in and out in a matter of seconds. Shorter is better.

In the test of short vs. long messaging, who measures up?

Long
Short

The results:

Longer messaging resulted in a 26% CTR increase and a 29% CTOR lift.

When Kelsey, our demand generation manager, saw this result, she got a far away look in her eyes and stared out the window for hours.

"Everything I know is a lie," she mumbled to herself as one single solitary tear rolled down her cheek.

Personalization Test

The test:

You could almost do an entire e-book and webinar just on subject lines. But for now, we will just share our findings on personalization in the subject line. We tested first name vs. company personalization vs. no personalization.

The hypothesis:

We expected wins for personalization based on company to preform the best.

From highest open rate to lowest, how do the following personalizations stack up?

#1 Company, #2 First Name, #3 No Personalization
#1 First Name, #2 Company, #3 No Personalization
#1 Company, #2 No personalization, #3 First Name

The results:The clear winner was using personalization in the subject line. As for emoji and fun/creative subject lines, we didn’t have conclusive results. The real surprise was how much click-thrus improved when we personalized the subject lines. We saw an average improvement of 83% in click-to-open rate by including personalization compared to messages without personalization.Our reaction:Emoji didn’t seem to move the needle, which didn’t surprise us. We did hope to see a clearer result for the fun vs. straightforward subject lines. We’ll definitely be running more tests in that area soon.