For a while, we here at TreeFrogClick have been choosing MailChimp for our marketing clients rather than Constant Contact, the granddaddy of email marketing. Not only is MailChimp free for the first two thousand emails per month, but they have several features that, the last time I checked, Constant Contact did not.
One of those features that I really like is the A/B test. With this kind of test, you can send out three different versions of your newsletter, and the software automatically finds out early in the campaign which one is pulling better. Then it sends it to the rest of the list using the variation that won. Smart, huh?
On one campaign for a client some time ago, we were able to get a two or three percent bump in one subject line compared to the other. If you have only five hundred addresses, that’s ten to fifteen more people who will read your newsletter. Not a bad improvement for almost no extra effort.
Newsletters, and a Mad Man
Subject lines for example, are important. The legendary advertising expert David Ogilvy says he wrote eighteen headlines for a single ad before settling on one. Just think if he could, back in the 1960s, test and deliver all in one campaign.
And now, MailChimp has just rolled out a new and improved A/B testing platform that lets you experiment with content in any campaign to discover the products or services your customers love. You can swap photos, trade text, and deliver multiple versions to learn more about what’s engaging to your subscribers—and see what gets the best results.
You can set it up for three different A/B versions instead of two. You can compare three subject lines, three “from” names, three send times, or three sets of content — all from a single campaign.
Throw a banana to MailChimp. Or contact us at the number at the top of this page to start your successful newsletter marketing campaign.
