A/B Testing
50 A/B Test Ideas to Jumpstart Your Email KPIs
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Personalization: Test using the recipient's name, company, industry, or job function in the subject line.
Curiosity gap: Pose a question or use open-ended statements to pique interest. “Imagine if…”
Length: Compare short and long subject lines (generally, shorter performs better).
Urgency: Test using words like "limited time" or "starting soon" to create a sense of urgency.
Emojis: Test using relevant emojis to stand out and inject personality.
Numbers & lists: Incorporate numbers or list formats to entice readers.
Sender name: Compare company name vs. individual name vs. personalized name.
Tone of voice: Test a more playful, witty, or punny subject line vs. a straight forward tone.
Brackets and capitalization: Test the use of brackets or capitalization around the first word or phrase to see if that contributes to higher open rates, like "REMINDER:" or “[New]”.
Interjections: Try terms like, “Oh no, you're about to miss the webinar”, “Yikes, 5 mistakes marketers make in email” etc.
Seasonality: Test using seasonally relevant terms like, “New Year, New Goals” “Spring Cleaning starts now - Audit your programs” etc. to see if it matters to your audience.
Sentences: Test a full sentence vs. a title like, “Email Tips: 50 things to try” vs “50 email tips to try”.
Negative vs. Positive: Test language that focuses on FOMO against positive language.
14. Personalization: Include recipient's name, past purchase history, or website behavior in the body copy.
15. Image placement: Test placing images at the top, bottom, or interspersed within the text.
16. Design vs. plain text: Compare a designed message with images and layout elements vs. a plain text email that looks like it's from a person (rather than a company).
17. Interactive elements: Test adding polls, quizzes, or other interactive elements. (Fun fact: Act-On has these features native in the email builder!)
18. Storytelling: Utilize storytelling techniques to connect with readers emotionally vs. straightforward tone of voice. 19. Question inclusion: Ask questions throughout the email to encourage engagement. This is another form of personalization test - see what pain points or questions resonate better.
20. Bullet points vs. paragraphs: Compare readability and scannability with different formatting.
21. Highlighting important information: Test bolding, italics, or contrasting colors. We did a test on colors and the results were a complete SHOCK!
22. Call to action (CTA): Test different CTAs (text, button, placement, color).
23. Number of CTAs: Experiment with using one or multiple CTAs per email.
24. Urgency in the body: Use different wording or countdown timers to create a sense of urgency.
25. Single vs. multi-column layout: Test which layout provides better readability.
26. Font style and size: Compare different font styles, sizes, and bolding to see if emphasizing different phrases increases conversion.
27. Line spacing and paragraph length: Test if formatting for ease of reading increases engagement.
28. Color scheme: Test different color combinations for brand consistency and visual appeal.
29. Background image or color: Experiment with using a background element or color blocking to create more interest and engagement.
30. Links vs. Buttons: See if the use of links over buttons performs better; the results may surprise you!
31. Header CTA: Test whether or not a CTA in the header will get more clicks.
32. Image vs. GIF: Compare using a static image to an animated GIF.
33. PS: Include a PS to see if a secondary offer gets better engagement.
34. Email length: Test short vs. longer emails
35. Day of the week: Test sending on weekdays vs. weekends, and individual weekdays against each other to find your audience's peak engagement days.
36. Time of day: Experiment with sending emails in the morning, afternoon, or evening to see when your audience is most likely to open and click.
37. Time-zone vs. scheduled sends: Compare sending based on individual recipient time zones vs. a pre-set schedule to optimize for individual engagement.
38. Consistent Timing: Test sending emails at the same time and day ( e.g.: every Tuesday at 8am) to see if engagement increases over the course of 4-6 weeks.
39. Sending off the hour: Test scheduling sends at off-hour times (e.g., 7:45am vs. 7am). The thinking here is that sending on the hour is more common; thus, by sending outside of the norm, your message will be breaking through the noise.
40. Resending emails: Test resending big messages like newsletters or webinar invites with a different subject line to see if you can get more engagement.
41. Dynamic send time based on user behavior: Test sending emails based on individual user activity, such as when they last opened an email or visited your website, for highly personalized timing.
42. Frequency: Not everyone reads every email, so sometimes you have to send more. Test the number of emails sent in a given time period to see if more or fewer emails increase conversion.
43. Nurture length and content: Test your experiences with different approaches like, cadence, number of emails, or resources to see what creates better adoption. NOTE: It could take 6 months or longer to get stat significant data.
44. Segmentation: Compare segmented lists based on demographics, interests, or behavior.
45. Re-engagement series content and triggers: Test different strategies and offers to win back inactive subscribers.
46. Test dynamic content based on user behavior or persona: Deliver tailored content based on past interactions.
47. Webinar promotion: Test the number of emails being sent and how far in advance you start promoting to determine the sweet spot for attendance and registration.
48. Multi-variant tests: Test within your test to get deeper results. For example test personalization and various times of day.
49. Retest winners against different audiences: See if the same results hold true for different industries or engaged audiences.
50. AI vs human language: Test an email written by generative AI, vs one created by you!
Our top tips to remember when testing.
Keep track of results. Having a tracker to review results will help guide your future tests and set you up for long term success.
Set time frames and hypotheses for each test. Before each test, know what metrics you will use to determine a winner.
Repeat tests across different types of messages before declaring a winner to make sure it wasn't a fluke.
Iterate, iterate, iterate. Once you can definitively say something works with your audience, tack on another test.
Don't forget to implement the winners! This is HUGE. Update your send times, subject lines, and layouts to match what drives success.
