I can hear some of you groaning now. Testing, you say? Please, don’t talk to me about testing. I know. The very thought of testing is enough to send some of you into hibernation for the winter. But before you settle down for a long winter’s nap, let’s take a look at how testing can benefit your business.

• Testing for Increased Sales

Testing your email campaigns can increase your sales by as much as 25%, according to www.whichtestwon.com. Especially during the holiday season, 25% is nothing to be sneezed at. And with the natural surge of email in the weeks leading up to Christmas, it’s the perfect time to start implementing a testing program as part of your email marketing strategy.

• Testing Pinpoints Successes and Failures

Okay, you say. Testing can increase sales. How? By pinpointing the specific elements of any given email that cause measurable changes in user behavior, testing can help you design messages that encourage subscriber response. For instance, does Subject Line A or Subject Line B result in more opens? Only testing will tell. Does blue or red work best for the call to action button? Should you use a button at all? Maybe linked text will work better. There’s no way to know apart from testing. A rigorous program of testing enables you to discard what doesn’t work, showcase what does, and build a customized email strategy that best appeals to your target audience.

• Testing the Right Things

Yes, you can test the font of the link to your privacy policy at the bottom of the email, but it probably won’t result in measurable changes. What, then, should be your focus as you seek to build a successful email campaign? Let’s take a look at five elements you can use to kickstart your testing program:

1. Subject Line—Test various wordings and appeals to make your subject line stand out from the crowd.
2. Call to Action—Wording, font, button color, placement, size—the possibilities are endless when it comes to designing the perfect call to action.
3. Offer—Which offers will most appeal to your target audience?
4. Graphics—Size, subject matter, and placement of graphics can all influence subscriber response. Find out what works best by testing your options.
5. Copy—Test wording, format, appeals, and style in order to choose the copy most likely to persuade.

eConnect Email can help you design reliable split tests to determine which elements appeal most to your target audience. Take advantage of our customizable templates, design integration, and image management as you design each test, and make your holiday up to 25% merrier this year.

Your click-through rates depend heavily on how well your copywriting engages subscribers. If they find your content boring or otherwise not worth their time, they may even decide to stop opening your emails or unsubscribe from your list. The good news is that you can polish your copywriting by making sure each email demonstrates these characteristics.

Be Personal

Email is inherently more personal than social media or blogging. People tend to guard their email addresses jealously, so when they sign up for your email list they’re displaying a certain level of trust and interest in what you have to say. Take that trust seriously and treat them as the valued customers they are. Send birthday emails, thank you emails, special offers, and whatever else you can think of to let your subscribers know you view them as individuals.

Remember, Your Subject Line is Copy Too

It’s easy to tack the subject line on at the last minute without giving it much thought. But doing so could be detrimental to your email campaign by sabotaging your open rates. Pay attention to things like simple, concise action wording, being straightforward, and not looking like spam.

Be Conversational

Don’t sound overly formal or salesy when you’re writing email copy. Let your subscribers know that you’re a person too, and include details that highlight a personality rather than merely a corporation. Talk about your latest blog post, your daughter’s birthday, or a special person who inspired you—anything to create a connection between you and the reader.

Provide Content That Benefits the Reader

Benefit doesn’t always have to be monetary. Give the reader something to make him laugh, pique his interest, tell him something he didn’t know, or tell him a story that means something to you. These types of emails capture interest and as an added bonus, they often inspire the subscriber to forward your email to friends and family who might become subscribers themselves. Of course, you can also provide benefit by offering discounts, freebies, or sneak previews of sale events.

Always Include a Call to Action

No matter how great your email is, the subscriber is unlikely to click through to your website if you don’t give him a reason for doing so. Ask the reader to take action in every email you send using compelling wording and a great incentive.

eConnect Email can help with you with every stage of the email creation process. Upload and manage images, implement customizable templates, preview how content will look in the inbox, personalize your messages, and insert content snippets into emails all from one centralized location.

Your call to action is arguably the most important element of your email marketing messages. Because it provides the link between passive reading and active clicking, it supersedes even the supremacy of the subject line. But many businesses fail to treat it with the respect it deserves. Subject lines tend to get all the attention because they provide the first point of contact and the incentive to open. And while that is undoubtedly a vital role, the call to action requires the subscriber to take decisive action towards your conversion goal.  That’s why it’s essential that you put some serious thought into creating a single call to action that will funnel your subscribers toward the decision you ultimately want them to make.

Why a Single Call to Action?

Simply put, too many calls to action paralyze the decision process. For instance, one email I received offered me the opportunity to donate, review new merchandise, visit the store website, and make a purchase, all in the same email. Just reading it burned through my allotted attention span for this email campaign; forget about actually deciding which call to action was most enticing. Studies show that you’ll make more sales by offering fewer choices than you will by offering a smorgasbord of options. Why? Ever try to choose between twenty-four different flavors of barbecue sauce? After a while they all start to taste the same.

Continue…