A/B Testing for Email Marketing

A/B Testing Results Compilation

Test Name Version A Version B Result
Subjects Lines - Short vs Long
{{first_name}}, got 30 seconds?
{{first_name}}, share your Up to Us experience in 30 seconds
Shorter subject lines had higher open rates compared to longer subject lines. (30% vs 17%)
Subject Lines - Simple vs Complex
Up to Us Newsletter - November 2020
Up to Us Newsletter - November 2020: Commit to Democracy
Simpler and straightforward subject lines perform better (9% higher open rates) than longer and more complex subjects.
Graphics vs Images w/People
Image with Students/Participants Smiling
Graphic (Illustrator)
A newsletter that contained an image image of participants had a 30% read rate compared to a 21% read rate on the newsletter that contained a graphic.
High vs Low - Image to Text Ratio (Read Rates)
High Image to Text Ratio
Low Image to Text Ratio - 1 image, the rest is text
High image to text emails have higher read rates (37% read rate) compared to low Image to text ratio (28% read rate).
High vs Low - Image to Text Ratio (Clicks)
High Image to Text Ratio
Low Image to Text Ratio - 1 image, the rest is text
High image to text ratio have a lower number of clicks (0.84% CTOR) compared to low image to text ratio (1.35% CTOR).
Gifs vs No Gifs
Newsletter with Gifs
Newsletter without Gifs
Gifs increase the number of clicks and read rate of emails. (Read Rate: 32% vs 27%) (CTOR: 1.59% vs 0.98%)
Short Form vs Long Form Content
Short Copy (1-2 sentences)
Long Copy (1-2 paragraphs)
Short Form Content in newsletters have higher engagement rates. (CTR: 4.07% vs 3.07%)
Sender Name
Julia from Up to Us (first-name from brand)
Julia L. (first-name last-name)
The sender name with the brand name received ~3% more opens.
Sender Image vs No Image
Sender image in signature
No image in signature
Adding an image to your email can increase the read rate of your email. (56% vs 17%)
ICYMI (In Case You Missed It) Email
No Email
Sending an ICYMI Email. Re-sending an email to users that didn't open the first email
Sending an ICYMI email to users that didn't open the first email, gets more opens (about 14%-18% open rate)
Day of Week
Testing email sends on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
Tuesday has the highest email opens.
Time of the Day
Sending times 5am, 6am, 7am, 8am, 9am, 10am, 11am, 3pm
6am has the highest open rates.
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