Email A/B testing

Email A/B testing lets you try different versions of a campaign on part of your audience, then send the best performer to everyone else. You can test either subject lines or email content, but not both in the same test.

For a local service business, this is a simple way to learn whether a subject line about a spring AC tune-up special gets more opens than one about booking before summer. You can also see whether a version with a photo gets more clicks than one without.

Each version goes to an equal share of a test group. When the test period ends, the version with the best unique open rate or unique click rate wins and is sent to everyone who wasn't in the test. If no version records a result on the chosen metric, the first version wins.

To set up a test:

• Go to Marketing, then Email, then Campaigns, and open your campaign.
• In the email builder, open the A/B testing tab and turn on Enable A/B testing.
• Choose Email Subject (different subject lines, same content) or Email Content (same subject line, a different body for each version).
• Set a test duration between 30 minutes and 24 hours, and choose up to six versions.
• Use the test size slider to set how much of your audience is in the test.
• Pick the winning metric, click Save, then click Send and Schedule.

The campaign needs at least 40 contacts. A/B tests work when you send now or schedule a single send, but not with batch or RSS schedules.