THE MARKETING JUNGLE

“Tarzan doesn’t know where Tarzan go,” Jane’s mocking line from the Geico commercial comes to mind when discussing A/B testing for email subject lines. Without the test you can just be swinging your emails in the marketing jungle and not get where you need to go. Geico’s Tarzan had confidence, but no results.

A/B testing ups opens

Who would think that a pithy, on point four-word email subject line would produce fewer opens than a longer more detailed subject? Of course this can vary by topic and word choice, that’s the point of A/B testing. A/B testing gives you confidence and results.

Don’t hide the response mode

I’ve so often written (and reminded myself) about getting into the mind of our customers or prospects – and I will bring it here, too. When we understand our customers, we can anticipate their needs and questions, then we can help them and when we help them they buy or opt-in. Think of how this applies to CTA buttons in your emails and websites (CTA=call to action). What message is on your button? “Click here” or “Save $100 on My Order” – which do you think will work better? If you’ve brought your customer to the point of serving the next step, think about their immediate next step, use a button with copy that anticipates their next step. And what else can be done to bump-up click-throughs? Add an arrow that leads the eye to the button. Your page designer may not appreciate the request, but BounceExchange has hard data to support the outcome of “wrecking” the page design a bit. Remember you are the marketer, stick to your click-through guns.

Test, test, test

We conduct a lot of testing, research and interviews; this process leads us in the direction our customers’ and prospects’ thinking. BounceExchange published a summary of 10 points of inspiration (and blunders to avoid) to improve conversations with customers and prospects along the lines mentioned above. Again, it’s not an endorsement of their services, use the info for inspiration for your next email message or landing page.

Check out more ways to improve your digital game:

Opt-in testing, graphics vs. type
Opt-in, 1-step vs. 2-step
Opt-in distractions to avoid
Bounce rate reduction
A/B testing
Directional cues
CTA buttons
Consistent messaging across methods
Testimonials

Enjoy the entire BounceExchange report, download it here.