This was an A/B test I conducted for the e-commerce course, whereby I analyzed the performance of the email subject line. The purpose was to collect 200 emails and split it into two groups of 100 recipients. The goal was to compare CTR to the blog post I was encouraging recipients to read in the email by using strong CTAs.

1. Email Marketing A/B Strategy
Laura Hernandez
Cohort 3

2. EMAIL TEXT
How Can You Prevent Your Brand’s Extinction During COVID-19?
Hello [FirstName] 👋😀
I hope this email finds you well, and you are safe during these trying times.
Whether we are already acquainted, old friends who haven’t caught up in a while (thanks COVID 😒), or just new friends waiting to be introduced,
please know this is a one time email, so no need to unsubscribe.
In such troubling times, it can benefit us, entrepreneurs, to read and find insightful and meaningful content that could help our business during this current
economic state.
In search of some good advice on how to prevent a brand extinction, I reached out to 5 marketing experts and found there are 3 fundamental keys to
prevent a brand’s extinction:
During difficult times what separates your brand from the rest is how you show up and what image you leave behind. Now is a great time to evaluate our
brand’s values and explore how we can make the most of our marketing opportunities. Click the link above to learn more about how you can become a
part of something bigger and preserve your brand in times of coronavirus.
Thanks for reading! I wish you all the best.
Be safe,
Laura.
Laura Hernandez – Brand Strategist
Laura Hernandez is a Marketer specializing in brand development, with experience
in in both large and small brands, specializing in fashion and entertainment.
(LinkedIn Icon)
Read More

3. HUBSPOT CONTACT

4. VersionA
Title
Appeal
Intro (including personalized greeting)
Hero Image
CTA/ Link to Post
Professional Background
Closing
Links to Social
Additional Links

5. VersionB
EMAIL A
Subject: Hi [FirstName]. You might find my last article interesting.
EMAIL B
Subject: 💡 Learn how to keep your brand alive during COVID-19
The test variable for my A/B test was the email subject line. The other components of both
emails were kept identical to focus on subject line performance. I have always been curious
about the use of emojis on subject lines and whether or not these have higher open rates like
experts say.
Email A was direct and to the point to invoke opening rates as recipients might be interested
in reading my last article, which they "might find interesting." I decided to word it like that to
leave it to recipients' discretion, whether they chose to open it or not. This is why I used the
subject "Hi [FirstName]. You might find my last article interesting." I added personification in
the subject line to make them feel welcome and make it more personal to them, like "Hey
Humphrey. You might find my last article interesting". It does feel more intimate.
Email B was focused on the use of emoji and its effect in opening rates. Moreover, I wanted to
see if emojis were more effective than personification. I also decided to make it seem
educational hence the reason why I chose to use the word "learn" in my subject line, and since
we are living in times of COVID-19, it also makes it relevant.
Methodology

6. 1
2
3
4
WHAT WAS VARIED AND WHY
WHAT WAS YOUR CALL TO ACTION?
My call to action was a blue, green button to match my blog’s
color theme and brand. The call to action said “Read More” to
entice my reader to read the article, although I later realized that I
should have worded it differently, perhaps “Read Article.”
HOW DID YOU INTRODUCE YOURSELF
AND YOUR CONTENT?
I introduced myself in a friendly and formal manner by
contextualizing these times (pandemic) and using playfulness
when I said: “thank you, COVID 😒.” I related to the reader
through our mutual situation and seriousness about COVID-19
affecting us in both a personal and economical way.
WHICH VERSION DO YOU THINK
WOULD PERFORM BETTER AND WHY?
I think version B because it has the lightbulb emoji, and it is
inviting readers to learn how to prevent their brand’s extinction
during COVID-19.
I conducted an A/B test in subject lines between emails because I
wanted to know whether or not emojis were more effective than
a personalized subject line to get higher opening rates.

7. 5
6
SUMMARY OF EMAIL DISTRIBUTION
RESULTS BY EMAIL
I sent 204 emails in total for this campaign. I had four extra
contacts and didn’t realize until I had imported them to HubSpot.
I split my list of 204 emails into two lists of 102 emails. This way, I
could send each list one version of the email to get the best result
out of my A/B test.
Email A Email B
Sent 102 102
Open Rate 31.2% 22.1%
Click Rate 1.1% 2.1%
CTR 3.4% 9.5%
Delivered
Rate
94.9% 95%
Hard
Bounce
Rate
5.1% 5%
Unsubscri
be Rate
2.15% 2.11%
Spam
Report
Rate
0% 0%
Version A
Version B

8. 7
A/B TEST RESULTS
OPEN RATE
-EMAIL A: 31.2%
-EMAIL B: 22.1%
CLICK-THROUGH RATE
-EMAIL A: 1.1%
-EMAIL B: 2.1%
The chi-square statistic is 0.7338. The p-value is
.39167. Not significant at p < .05.
The chi-square statistic with Yates correction is 0.066. The p-
value is .797196. Not significant at p < .05.
CHI-SQUARE TEST
Differences in click-through rates were statistically
insignificant

9. 8
9
WHAT WAS YOUR END GOAL? DID
YOU ACHIEVE IT? WHY OR WHY NOT
WHO IS YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE?
My target audience was Marketers and Entrepreneurs. I intended
to contact existing professionals I had accumulated through
LinkedIn to introduce them to my content. Furthermore, I am
part of a Social Media Facebook group where only entrepreneurs
interact, and I got some contact lists from there. I managed to
gather 204 emails.
My end goal was to successfully drive traffic to my website and
have an open rate of 40%. Unfortunately, I did not achieve my
goal. Moreover, my goal was also to test my hypothesis and
understand what subject line would increase open rates. To my
surprise, Email A had the highest open rate of 31.2% compared to
Email B 22.1%. However, even though Email B had a higher CTR
(9.5%) than Email A 3.4%, I found there was no statistically
significant CTR difference.

10. 10
11
WHAT MAKES A COMPELLING EMAIL
FROM A DIGITAL MARKETER
As a marketer, for experience and for what I have learned
throughout this course, a competing email is a combination of
elements that combined and done well, is the gate for high ROI.
There is the subject line; it must be engaging and straight to the
point. You should tell instead of a sale. There is the element of
layout and following the power of three rule - header, body,
CTA. And of course, there is the personalization. We all want to
feel someone has taken the time to talk to us directly. drive your
WHAT WAS YOUR UNIQUE SELLING
PROPOSITION TO YOUR TARGET
AUDIENCE?
I used the subject line, header, and title to attract the reader and
keep them on the email. I separated my sentences and created
small groups of paragraphs to make them easier to read. I also
positioned the CTA in the middle of the page as the eye-catching
element, especially the color it has compared to the white space
of the entire email. I was friendly and professional and addressed
to them in a personal and sincere way.

11. EMAIL REFLECTION
In a few sentences, what do email marketers
do well?
There are many ways marketers conduct good email
marketing campaigns, including catchy subject lines,
engaging images, personalized emails, unique content,
and more! UberEats has done a great job of
introducing its new collaboration with Shake Shack. It is
straight to the point, a great hero image (makes me
hungry) and the direct CTA - to calm my visual hunger
but for real.
What do they do poorly?
There are, of course, those emails that fail to
personalize your email correctly, even though they do
have your contact name. And the ones who use images
that are too large that you cannot see any text and just
don’t read it at all. As you can see, I am a subscriber to
Bossgram Academy, and the first greeting did not find
my name on the system and look as “Hey, first name.”
The second example is from Snow Teeth Whitening;
they had a header image so large and squared that I
could not read the content and just lost interest and
didn’t continue reading.

12. EMAIL REFLECTION
If you were in charge of an email marketing program, what would be your
strategy for segmentation, personalization (offers, messages, etc.)?
Segmentation: I would segment by past purchases and email engagement to create efficient
campaigns that deliver information to the right consumers.
Personalization: I would also use CRM systems like Salesforce or Active Campaign, to
establish clear segmentation and personalization by capturing demographic and socioeconomic
data. Furthermore, I would capture interactions and purchases via email, ads, and even use
survey data to add to psychographic data.
Offers: With the right segmentation, personalization and data collected through CRM
systems, I can start sending offers relevant to the person.
Message: As recommended by HubSpot, I would focus on behavioral emails. This way, I can
send emails to my audience in real-time and make their experience ultimate. For example, send
abandoned cart emails when someone leaves a purchase or testimonial emails related to a
purchase related to self-help, etc.