How to Use Split Testing to Boost Your Email Campaign Success

00:00

Hello again, and welcome back to another ActiveCampaign tutorial. I am Guillermo from the education team, and in today's video, I'm going to help you remove the guessing when creating your campaigns. Are you using split testing? Are you using split testing correctly? Did you know that by using split testing, it's the best way for you to understand what resonates better with your audience?

Is it more text? Is it more images? Is the call to action button actually more efficient than the hyperlink you wanted to use? That is a way for us to measure the success of all of it, and it's by using split testing campaigns. In this video, I'm going to show you how, and I'm also going to share some best practices. Now, do you feel ready? Open your account and let's get started.

00:48

Before we move forward into the platform itself, it's important to mention some best practices we recommend when using split testing campaigns.

The first one is to test one variable at a time. For example, using a subject line against a subject line with personalization tags. Or if you're testing content, create a version with more text and a second version with more images. By testing small changes in each variable, it will allow you to understand what was the winning factor and apply these learnings for future campaigns.

The second one is to have clear goals when you're creating the split testing campaigns. Are you trying to get more open rates? Are you trying to get more click-through rates? Are you trying to get more conversions? By having these goals set up prior to the creation of the split testing campaign, it will allow you to understand what is the variable that you need to test to be able to achieve those goals.

Last but not least, make sure that you are applying these learnings into future campaigns. For example, now that you know that using a subject line with personalization tags got you more open rates, that having a call to action button allowed you to get more conversions, and that having a campaign with more images allowed you to get more engagement, you know what to do next, right?

02:20

The first thing that we're going to do is going to the left-hand side menu and clicking into campaigns. Then we're going to go into create a campaign, and I'm going to name this campaign. For this one, I'm going to do "Split Test New Campaign." I'm going to select the Split Testing Format of campaigns, and in this part, I can select what variables I want to test. Do I want to just compare the subject lines or do I also want to test the content? For now, I'm just going to compare the subject lines and I'm going to hit the Next button.

For this part, it's like a normal campaign is being created, but the difference here is that I can create multiple variables here at the plus button. Remember, I'm testing the subject line. In this part, I can add a different subject line, for instance. Since I'm testing two different subject lines, I can select multiple ones in here. I have two created so far. For my first subject line is going to be, "Spectacular deals for your friend this Halloween." Then you can add the preheader text and the rest of the setup as you want to.

03:35

For my second subject line is going to be, "Trick or treat, spoil your pets with our new Halloween specials." Feel free to add the preheader as you wish. Remember, we are testing the subject lines.

The next step is going to be creating the campaign itself. I'm going to click into Create Campaign, and then I'm going to look for Halloween. With the keywords that I added here, it's going to show me the templates that are already created for you with the Halloween theme. I'm going to select one of them. Then in here, you can change anything you want to. Happy days in here. I'm just testing the subject line.

If you want to revisit the subject lines, you can see it here. For version one, I have my subject line saved in here, and for version two, I have my subject line saved in here. You can create up to five different variables, and then you hit the next button.

05:01

The next step in the creation of the split testing campaign is to determine the variable that's going to be the winner. We can either do not select the winner, so version one and version two is going to be sent to half and half of your list, or I can select determine the winner.

In this case, I will select what is going to be the percentage that's going to be sent to version one, what's going to be the percentage that's going to be sent to version two, and then the winning version is going to be sent to the rest of the list. Then I can define what's going to be the winning factor. For this instance, I'm going to select the best click rate.

In here, I can determine how long it's going to take to then quantify what was the best version that got the most clicks, version one or version two. In this case, I select after one day. I'm going to select the test one to be sent to 10% of my list, and then the test two to be sent to another 10%. After one day, the best click rate version between test one and test two is going to be sent to the remaining 80% of my list. They're going to receive the winning version. And you are done. If you're happy with it, you're just clicking to send now, and then you'll be able to start using split testing campaigns.

06:14

If you have any questions about this video, make sure to add them in the comment section below. Other than that, thank you for watching, and I'll see you next time.

06:20

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