Testing your email marketing messages is key to having a strong program, but it can also be a very labor intensive process - you have to create the different versions of the emails, randomize your lists, pull your data and then analyze it to see if it’s even meaningful!  In an ideal world, we would test everything.  But we live in the real world, where we all have more work than is really realistic to expect someone to take on.  So prioritizing becomes important - you can’t dedicate the required time to testing every little thing.  Here are some guidelines to consider in driving your email testing: 

You have a question you want answered:  Using testing is often a great excuse to push through email strategies that you want through the political red tape.  ”Why don’t we just do a test?”  Who can argue with that without sounding unreasonable?  But if it gets to the point where you’re using this method on a regularly basis in an effort to push your strategies through, then it may be time to reconsider how you’re attempting to persuade the people you’re working with.  Testing should be reserved to answer specific questions about your execution of the tactic. Before you start the test, have a plan for what you’re looking to find out, and what sort of results will answer your question conclusively. 

The question addresses something on which the success of your future campaigns will depends: You don’t want to waste your time on things that don’t matter.  I’ll be the first to say that to have a successful email, it has to be the full package, but I’ll also admit that there are just some things in almost every message that do not have a strong impact on whether or not I meet my goal for the message.  Before executing a test, step back and really consider whether or not it’s going to be worth your time. 

You can replicate the test: I’m a huge fan of replication when it comes to e-mail testing.  First of all, if I’m not going to have any chance to replicate the test on a future campaign, then there is probably no point in doing it in the first place since I’m not doing enough campaigns of that type for it to be relevant!  More importantly, there are any number of outside factors that can affect your numbers that you may or may not be aware of.  Detecting a pattern over time makes a far more convincing case for the results than a one-time test.  There are exceptions to the rule - when you just have overwhelming data one way or the other - but they are rare.  

Want to learn more about email analytics? Join me for the Higher Ed Experts Analytics 360 Webinar Series! I will be presenting the third session on advanced email analytics. You’ll also hear from Shelby Thayer and Joshua Ellis of Penn State on beginning and advanced web analytics.

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Hire Karlyn: Karlyn is the President & Principal Consultant of DoJo Web Strategy, a consultancy dedicated to helping colleges and universities to utilize the web in their marketing efforts. Find out how she can help your institution by requesting a proposal today »