As I reported in a recent column, Revealed: Which E-mail Tests Work Best, MarketingSherpa research into 3,637 real-life marketers' tests showed landing-page copy tests were the big ROI winner.
On the one hand, this didn’t surprise us, because landing-page tests have ranked as the highest-impact tests in other online media for years. In fact, a December 2006 MarketingSherpa study of the world's heaviest online advertisers revealed that 56% had budgeted significantly for landing-page A/B tests in 2007.
But let's face it: When you think about e-mail tests, traditionally you think about stuff like subject lines, copy, offers, and text vs. HTML.
It's not that the old tests don't work — 60% or more of marketers say these classic tests are still worth the effort. It's just that landing-page copy tests have higher impact. And if you're hoping to increase your e-mail marketing results (much less impress upper management in order to grow your budget for next quarter), why not focus on the e-mail test that will give the biggest bang for your buck?
But what specific elements should you test for landing pages and e-mail? My top two suggestions:
1) Headline copy. And once you have picked the perfect wording for your offer or newsletter lead article headline, don't get creative with it. Keep the exact words in your subject line, e-mail headline, and landing page. By this, I don’t mean words that mean the same thing, but the exact same words. That way the recipient's flicking, restless eye will immediately see clear visual cues that he is in the right place.
This may not be easy because you have a different amount of space in each — especially short subject lines vs. possibly longer landing page headlines. But if you use the exact same words as the foundation of each, you'll probably get better results than if you had not.
2) Remove distractions. Pare your landing page to as few visually distracting items as possible so that each person who clicks through will focus on the path you want him to take. This may mean eliminating extra columns, sacrificing spare navigational bars or buttons, and cutting unrelated graphics. The fewer distractions, the more chance visitors will spend more time on the page.
If you have a hotlink on a landing page, an ad, or anything else that's not what the visitor clicked through to see, then it should be there for a specific reason. And if it's there for a specific reason you should be measuring its value. Does your organization make more money in the long run if that extra element is there?
A practical suggestion for running tests if your Web department can't help you:
Now all of this can be tough because your e-mail landing pages may be using Web page templates dictated by your main site design. You may not have the power to change your Web templates on the fly for particular e-mails. In fact, if you're like most marketers, you'll have to get in a long line at the IT or Web department and wait. When you're running an e-mail program, you need more flexibility and speed than your site's content management system can most likely deal with.
My suggestion: Try a few campaigns using supercheap, alternative Web page applications. What are these? You can find blogging software, online survey form software, and landing-page testing software from a variety of providers online that cost less than $50 a month. With a little ingenuity, all of these can be set up to look very much like a page on your own Website as you might want it to appear for e-mail clickthroughs.
If you want to collect registrations or opt-ins, then use surveying software. Instead of “survey” questions, ask for contact info. If you want to post an article, then use blogging software. If you want to make an e-commerce offer, then use landing-page on-the-fly software with a graphic for your "add to cart" button that ties into your main shopping cart. (Note: You may need a little help from the IT department with this last suggestion.)
First, create a "template" that matches your brand on the new page:
* Stick your logo in the upper left corner.
* Pick a font and colors that match those of your site.
* Pop in your copyright and contact information in fine print near the bottom of the page.
* Include hotlinks to key elements such as your privacy policy and customer service.
Then use the rest of the page for your content and hotlinks.
Once you have tested tweaking your copy and design on these low-budget landing pages, you can use the results to convince management to give your Web design requests higher priority. The goal is to ultimately get the budget and the IT time to integrate your landing pages back into the main site content management system.
Why? Well, because it's easier for the marketing team to run a single system than multiple siloed systems. Plus your analytics will be better if they are unified.
One final note: Yes, my suggestions are completely based on real life. Many marketers I've met (including ones from far bigger brand-name companies than you might expect) have conducted guerrilla-style landing-page builds and tests on their own when the Web department didn't have any extra resources or time. And I’ve done the same as well.
Anne Holland is president of MarketingSherpa, a research firm publishing buyer's guides and benchmark data for its 237,000 marketing executive subscribers. For a copy of MarketingSherpa's new Email Marketing Benchmark Guide for 2007, which includes more results from the Omniture opt-in form study, go to: www.sherpastore.com/email-benchmark.html?8966.
© MarketingSherpa, Inc. 2007
Other articles by Anne Holland:
How to Grow Your Opt-In List More Quickly and Easily
New Eye-Tracking Test Results: E-mail Campaign Click Patterns Surprise
TV Blitz Helps Ask.com Grow Market Share
New Data on Search Marketing Click Fraud: Three Action Items
Newest Eye-Tracking Study Results for Google
Absolutely Pitiful E-Commerce Shopping Cart Abandonment Stats…and Four Ways to Improve Yours
Study Data: Reasons to Get Evangelical About Evangelism Marketing
The Year’s Best and Worst Lead-Generation Offers
The Two Easiest (and Most Overlooked) Ways to Improve E-mail Response
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