The Magill Report – Five Email Testing Pitfalls to Avoid

By: Magill Report

With the holidays fast approaching, many email marketers are gearing up for the busiest time of year. Even though time and budget may be tight, email testing needs to be a part of your email marketing plans. Without testing, marketers can be leaving a great deal of money on the table. However, a poorly implemented testing program can actually be detrimental to your program. During the busy holiday season, watch out for these five testing pitfalls.

Timing

While potentially obvious, it is worth pointing out that email test cells need to be deployed at the same time (unless timing is the element that is being tested). If the test cells are sent at different times, you can’t be sure the element being tested was the reason for the difference between the cells.

Interpreting Results Too Soon

Email marketers are extremely busy (especially during the holiday season). This hurried environment can lead to interpreting results too soon in the effort to get the “winning” campaign out the door. If tests aren’t given enough time to run, you might deploy “the winner” which ends up actually being the loser. If possible, wait 48-72 hours before analyzing the results and deploying the winner.

Not Statistically Relevant

There’s nothing more frustrating than taking the time to deploy a test and not having the test cells be statistically relevant. If you don’t have statistically relevant cells, you can’t be confident your test is a likely indication of how your overall audience would behave. As a general rule, 2,000 to 3,000 individuals per test cell is a good guideline. Also, be sure your sample is randomized across your audience.

Profile:  Jeff Ginsberg has 17+ years’ experience and is an industry known authority on email marketing who gets in the trenches with clients and helps them fulfill their marketing objectives, increase revenue and brand engagement. Clients rely on him and his team at The eMail Company to provide them with expertise from strategy to technology and from campaign management to channel integration. Jeff has worked with clients across all spectrums in the financial, automotive, retail and consumer packaged goods space. His experience covers both B2B and B2C markets. He has a strong background in educating and training agencies and clients about email best practices and is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to marketing tools and vendor selection. While Jeff’s team may be small, they know how to solve BIG email marketing problems. Looking for help with your next campaign? Don’t be afraid to give him a call – Jeff and his team ready to help you today. Give me a call: Toll Free: 877-We-eMail (877-933-6245) Local: 416-225-7711 eMail: jeff@theemailcompany.com Website:  http://www.theemailguide.com Twitter:   http://www.twitter.com/theemailguide LinkedIn:   http://ca.linkedin.com/in/chiefemailofficer

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