MailChimp Email Marketing Blog » a/b email testing http://www.mailchimp.com/blog MailChimp, email marketing, and monkeys! Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:09:20 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 Should Retail Email Sell Or Inform? http://www.mailchimp.com/blog/should-retail-email-sell-or-inform/ http://www.mailchimp.com/blog/should-retail-email-sell-or-inform/#comments Wed, 10 Dec 2008 11:58:25 +0000 Ben http://www.mailchimp.com/blog/?p=1805 A Makaque monkey over on Twitter told me about a great article at Get Elastic on how a retailer tested two versions of their email to see what worked better:

Which version do you think got more clicks and 15% more sales?

Want to run tests with your own emails? It’s free in MailChimp, and it’s unbelievably easy and automatic.  Even a little fun. And people who use it get better results than people who don’t. It’s called A/B testing, and here’s how it works.

]]> http://www.mailchimp.com/blog/should-retail-email-sell-or-inform/feed/ 0 Does “FREE” Make People Open Your Emails? http://www.mailchimp.com/blog/does-free-make-people-open-your-emails/ http://www.mailchimp.com/blog/does-free-make-people-open-your-emails/#comments Tue, 04 Mar 2008 22:30:29 +0000 Ben http://www.mailchimp.com/blog/does-free-make-people-open-your-emails/ I recently blogged about some interesting A/B Split data that I’ve been sifting through for a report we’re working on.

Thought I’d post another interesting observation from a handful of campaigns that ran A/B Split Tests on their subject lines (company names disguised as “Acme”). The first 4 are from the same company, sending emails for 4 different web properties that they run…

Winning Subject Line (by open rate) Losing Subject Line
Acme News Update Free Shipping Until Valentine’s Day
Acme Store News Free Shipping Until Valentine’s Day
Acme Store News Free Shipping Until Valentine’s Day
Acme: Store Update Free Shipping Until Valentine’s Day
20% OFF book bundles, FREE book raffle, NEW books NEW books, FREE book raffle, 20% OFF book bundles
Free Dinner! Save Time and Money!
ACME January “100 Dairy Free” Book Give Away Acme January Newsletter
Hurry! Shipping is free through Wednesday Free Shipping Through Wednesday
The Perfect Valentine’s Day from James Free! Valentine’s Dilemma? We’ve Got Great Gift Ideas!
Take the Girlfriends on vacation! Free Food! Free Assembly!
Acme Brain Push Up Free Acme Ending
Acme trial expiring: Keep your brain sharp Free Acme Ending
Free Acme Ending Play Great Brain Games

In almost all the examples above, the subject line with “free” had a lower open rate. So should you avoid the word “FREE” in your subject line? In my opinion, don’t use “free” if it detracts from relevance. If you replace your company name with “free” or if you remove the urgency with “free,” your open rate is going to suffer.

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