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	<title>MailChimp Email Marketing Blog &#187; a/b test email</title>
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		<title>Testing Tips from Conversion Rate Squirrel</title>
		<link>http://www.mailchimp.com/blog/testing-tips-from-conversion-rate-squirrel/</link>
		<comments>http://www.mailchimp.com/blog/testing-tips-from-conversion-rate-squirrel/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 26 Mar 2008 15:27:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ben</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Emarketing, Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tips, Tricks, Best Practices]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Using MailChimp]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[a/b test email]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[a/b testing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conversion rate squirrel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[google web optimizer]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.mailchimp.com/blog/testing-tips-from-conversion-rate-squirrel/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[So I&#8217;ve been toying with Google&#8217;s Web Optimizer tool lately, because I plan to do some A/B testing on the MailChimp website. I wish A/B testing websites was as easy as A/B testing email. Anyway, in my research, I stumbled upon the Conversion Rate Experts, who actually make A/B testing and conversion rates entertaining (okay, [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.mailchimp.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/squirrel.png" rel="facebox" title="squirrel.png"><img src="http://www.mailchimp.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/squirrel.png" alt="squirrel.png" align="right" border="0" /></a>So I&#8217;ve been toying with <a href="http://services.google.com/websiteoptimizer/" title="Google Web Optimizer" target="_blank">Google&#8217;s Web Optimizer</a> tool lately, because I plan to do some A/B testing on the MailChimp website. I wish A/B testing <em><strong>websites</strong></em> was as easy as <a href="http://www.mailchimp.com/ab/">A/B testing <em><strong>email</strong></em></a>. Anyway, in my research, I stumbled upon the <a href="http://www.conversion-rate-experts.com/" title="Conversion Rate Squirrel" target="_blank">Conversion Rate Experts, </a>who actually make A/B testing and conversion rates entertaining (okay, it&#8217;s because of their Conversion Rate Squirrel critter&#8212;I&#8217;m a sucker for cartoons).</p>
<p>If you haven&#8217;t already, I highly recommend you sign up for <a href="http://www.conversion-rate-experts.com/" title="Conversion Rate Squirrel Free Newsletter" target="_blank">Conversion Rate Squirrel&#8217;s FREE &#8220;Life-Changing SuperConverters Newslette</a>r&#8221;. Mainly because it&#8217;s full of useful tips that might help you with your own website. Also because it&#8217;s a fun, well-written newsletter that might give you ideas for your own email newsletter.</p>
<p>I asked the Conversion Rate Squirrel if he could offer up some tips to MailChimp customers for <a href="http://www.mailchimp.com/ab/">A/B testing their emails</a>&#8230;</p>
<p><span id="more-723"></span></p>
<p>Here&#8217;s what the squirrel told me&#8230;</p>
<ol>
<li>My top tip for any kind of split testing, is to make sure you have enough data to get a statistically significant result. Many of the multivariate &amp; a/b split testing packages for testing websites have these already built-in&#8230; but too many people jump to conclusions before gathering enough data, and end-up basing a whole marketing campaign on some invalid results (I think that&#8217;s Tip 24 of our squirrel article).</li>
<li>In terms of the email content&#8230; I&#8217;m sure you guys already have a great understanding of &#8216;what to test&#8217; (subjects, formatting, p.s&#8217;s etc&#8230;). Our approach is to spend loads of time learning about your websites visitors/customers &#8211; to understand their needs, and then make sure what you send them is what they want <img src='http://www.mailchimp.com/blog/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' />  The results from our &#8216;Survey With A Difference&#8217; email campaign, has steered our whole business and marketing plan</li>
<li>My final tip, we like to make sure what we send is entertaining &#8211; and always ask for feedback from our readers to make sure we&#8217;re not irritating anyone</li>
</ol>
<p>A couple things got my attention.</p>
<ul>
<li>Interesting how they conducted a customer survey that &#8220;steered their whole business and marketing plan.&#8221; If you want to put together a survey of your own, be sure to check out our friends over at <a href="http://www.surveymonkey.com" title="SurveyMonkey" target="_blank">SurveyMonkey</a>.</li>
<li>They test content of their emails, which is a no-brainer. But one thing I don&#8217;t think I would have thought to test would be my &#8220;p.s&#8217;s&#8221; at the end of my messages. Interesting thought. I don&#8217;t even think I&#8217;ve ever written a P.S. in my newsletters, but if Conversion Rate Experts are doing it, I&#8217;m gonna try them too.</li>
</ul>
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