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.
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