Kath Pay

How to unleash the testing power of your emails March 2014 Presentation

@ThueLMadsen #KISSwebinar

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Kath Pay – cloud.IQ - @kathpay Kath lives and breathes marketing, she is not only a world renown speaker and trainer but practices her art in the senior management team and as the Marketing Director of e-commerce conversion experts - cloud.IQ. She is recognised as the UK’s leading Email Marketing trainer and heads up training on Email Marketing & Personalization for Econsultancy & Emarkeeters

Thue Madsen - KISSmetrics - @ThueLMadsen Thue is the KISSmetrics Webinar Wizard and Marketing Ops Specialist. Before joining forces with KISSmetrics, he was a Ly" driver in SF, which is also how he ended up as a KISSmetrics marketer. Whenever Thue is not trying to automate everything around him, you can find him fishing and hiking in the Sierras.

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1 The Current State of Play of Testing

2 Building the Business Case for Testing in Email

3 Testing Essentials

Today we’ll be looking at….

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The goal of a test is not just to get a li", but to get a

learning as well…

1 What do we want to know about our database?

2 What’s the best way to discover the answers?

3 What’s a way that provides an immediate upli" but also delivers longitudinal results?

This then raises a few questions……

Unleash the testing powers of email

The Current State of Play

Of Testing

1

Econsultancy Conversion Rate Optimization Report 2013

85% of companies are defining their goals and objectives for their tests

Econsultancy Conversion Rate Optimization Report 2013

Only 50% of companies are testing images and promotions & offers.

Econsultancy Conversion Rate Optimization Report 2013

On average 31% of companies are performing test on their websites 1 x per week

Econsultancy Conversion Rate Optimization Report 2013

Although email is the easiest channel to test only 63% are testing it

Econsultancy Email Marketing Census 2014

Even though Email Marketing delivers the highest ROI

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Building the Case for Testing in Email

2

Testing a Landing Page vs Testing in E-mail

Landing Page Email

1

2

3

1

2

3

Create test based upon hypothesis

Create test based upon hypothesis

Send campaign

Determine winner within 24 hours

Spend $$ driving traffic

Wait for days/weeks/ months

4 Determine winner

Who makes up your email database?

Your Target Market!

Every email should contain a test…

Think of every email as a survey of your target market

However – tests are be!er than surveys….

Actions Speak

Louder Than

Words

Strategically Plant Information….

And see what resonates with your audience

1 Strategically test our target market to gain valuable insights

2 Statistically confident results immediately

3 Use the Aggregation of Marginal Gain to be continually optimising and discovering further insights

The benefits are many…..

1 How can I get more traffic for less money?

2 What will drive up average order values?

3 How can I get more �successful outcomes�?

Testing is a Strategic Issue…

Create a Methodology

….Testing different motivational factors….via subject lines

1.  [Optimization Summit] 3 Days to a Be!er Website ($300 Off Coupon Inside!) – (Value Exchange, Incentive)

2.  Learn 3 tips that made 10,000 landing pages extremely successful – (Value Exchange, No Incentive)

3.  Optimization Summit 2012 – Speakers List Now Up! + Save $300 Today – (Newsworthy, Incentive)

4.  Quarterbacks aren’t the only changes being tested in Denver. – (Curiosity)

5.  A scientific way to increase your conversions – (Benefits)

6.  Do your landing pages pass this test? – (Fear)

“Fear” was the Winner – 125% more unique CTR’s

Source: Marketing Experiments

Different wording test – PPC ad, Titles, Sub-headings, Banner Ads….

B had 88% higher open rate

With a 95% confidence level

A [First Name] Test, track, increase your profit – start today!

B [First Name] Start tracking and optimizing your business today!

Test which image achieves the best conversion – product display or model wearing garment?

Source: Movable Ink

Apply it to your homepage, product pages, banner ads…..

Multi-variate test which combination provides the best result

•  16 unique combinations

(8 headers + 2 grtz)

•  66,712 opens

•  A"er 10,279 opens, best combination was found, remaining 56,433 ! optimized version

•  increase of conversion rate: 830%

blank

Source: 8 Seconds

Apply it to your landing pages, product pages, direct mail…..

Test which Subject Line - Descriptive vs Benefit – is best for your product page

Winner: Version A increased leads by 62%

A Increase Customer Retention by 8% in a Single Month

B SaaS Billing Is a Marketing Asset

Apply it to your homepage, product pages, banner ads, PPC ads…..

A B

+72%

Ask your customers which they prefer!

Apply it everywhere!…..

Not everything tested in email can be applied to other channels…..

Email is a Push

channel

Web, Social, PPC, Search

are Pull channels

Hypothesis To be used elsewhere?

Emotional question in Subject Line will generate more sales than a directive statement Yes

Emotional CTA will generate more sales than a pragmatic CTA Yes

Double Loyalty points will generate more sales than 15% loyalty points Yes 5 items showing in the "You may also like" dynamic pod will generate more sales than 3 items Yes

CTA in the preheader will generate more sales than a statement No

Emotive image of person smiling & wearing outfit will generate more sales than image displaying outfit laid out. Yes Image 2 (looking at CTA) will generate more sales than Image 1 (looking at copy) Yes

Let’s look at some hypothesis’ used in email

Testing Essentials How to successfully test in

Email

3

Have a desire to learn about your audience

1

Identify what question are you trying to answer?

2

Create a Hypothesis 3

A Hypothesis can be proved or disproved

A hypothesis pre!y much says, “I think by

making this change, it will cause this effect.” So, based on your results, you should be able

to say “this is true” or “this is false.”

“It means taking the 1% from everything you do; finding a 1% margin for improvement in everything you do.”

h!p://www.teamsky.com/article/0,27290,17547_5792058,00.html

The GB cycling team's winning philosophy is "aggregation of marginal gains”: get a lot of small things right, put them all together, and they add up to a

significant gain.

h!p://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/aug/14/olympics2008.olympicscycling1

!

Aggregation of Marginal Gains

Create building blocks

Hypothesis

Test in email

Learn

Apply to appropriate

channels

It’s a cycle of continuous learning

1 Don’t test for the sake of testing

2 Don’t just focus on one-off results – but focus on longitudinal gains, that can rolled out everywhere

3 Be sure the measure the correct metric

Some rules…

Be sure to measure the correct metric

Subject Line Opened Clicked Converted

Win the pampering prize of a lifetime worth $10,000

38.19% 9.35% 6.74%

Win spa breaks, a personal shopper and more worth

$10,000

35.76% 11.03% 9.19%

Win a pampered new you worth $10,000

38.01% 15.45% 10.67%

Win a trip to Champneys and more worth $10,000

with Veet

33.23% 16.76% 11.01%

Oh! And one last thing!

Be warned – testing is addictive!

2015 KISSmetrics Guide KISSmetrics Demo

h!p://kiss.ly/growth h!p://kiss.ly/demo

Questions?

Kath Pay Marketing Director

Cloud.IQ @kathpay

Kath.pay@cloud-iq.com

Thue Madsen Marketing Operations Specialist

KISSmetrics @ThueLMadsen

tmadsen@kissmetrics.com

THANK YOU

Kath Pay @kathpay