By Peter Ansbacher, iContact Strategic Advisor
In a recent post, Harry talked about three kinds of Valuable Split Tests you can perform. If you get into a rut, it might be a good idea to think outside the box and put new ideas to the test. Today we look at how one customer changed up its normal split testing to great success.
Twiddy & Company is a high-end vacation home rental company in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It relies on its email marketing to market to both new and previous renters in hopes to get an increase in bookings. Shelley is in charge of email marketing and is consistently working with her Strategic Advisor at iContact to improve results. One extra booking can mean a lot to its bottom line.
Shelley has been split testing subject lines and call-to-action buttons to varying success. Recently, she was looking for a new way to see what might prompt openers to click. So she decided to find out what was more important to renters, the price or how big the house was?
“We had been testing subject lines and placement of calls to action but needed something more substantial to try,” said Shelley. “We analyzed the data and came up with bedroom vs. price.”
And she sent the promotion to contacts that normally booked in January but hadn’t yet.
Thinking outside the box yielded some impressive results that stood out over her normal tests. She sent each test to 12.5% of her audience, and the remaining 75% received the winning email. The one with the number of bedrooms had a full 2% higher click through than the one with the prices.
Twiddy uses split testing for not just a short-term but also a long-term solution. It likes to measure improvements in small percentages and let the market (its contacts) dictate what it should be focusing on through the use of split testing. Think about using something tangible and actionable as your next split test, and continue to tweak messages for long-term success.
Note: iContact’s split-testing feature is available to all Premier and Agency accounts. Self-service accounts can easily split test by segmenting and creating sub-lists. If you have a self-service account and are looking for split-testing solutions, contact (877) 968-3996. If you have a Premier or Agency account, please contact your Strategic Advisor for additional tips.
