Email Copy Refined: How a change in copy approach led to a 37% increase in clickthrough rate

Email Copy RefinedHow a change in copy approach led to a 37% relative increase in clickthrough rate

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• Target audiences• Implement real-time A/B testing• Open-time personalization

• Drag and drop clickzones• ContentBuilder for dynamic asset creation• Zero IT integration

• Analytics by audience• Point-and-click set up Web tracking events• Track behavior after clickthrough• Promote winning tests

1-877-MONETATEmonetate.com

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Ben FilipSenior Manager,Data SciencesMECLABS

Today’s speakers

Austin McCrawSenior Director, Editorial ContentMECLABS

Lauren PitchfordSenior Optimization ManagerMECLABS

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Experiment: Background

Background: A company selling audio equipment and accessories.

Goal: To increase clickthrough rate.

Research Question: Which email copy approach will generate the highest clickthrough rate?

Test Design: A/B/C variable cluster split test

Experiment ID: TP20173Record Location: MECLABS Research LibraryResearch Partner: (Protected)

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Experiment: Control

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Experiment: Treatment 1

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Experiment: Treatment 2

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Side-by-side comparison

Control Treatment 1 Treatment 2

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Experiment: Results

Relative increase in clickthrough rate37%Treatment 2 resulted in a 37.27% increase in clickthrough rate.

Design CTR Relative Diff.

Control 1.6% --

Treatment 1 2.2% 36.65%

Treatment 2 2.2% 37.27%

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Experiment: ResultsTreatment 1 Treatment 2

Why did these emails outperform the control?

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Today’s focus

Today, we are going to identify three key similarities between these two effective emails and the transferable

principles that you can apply to your own email campaigns.

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Optimizing your email campaigns

Key Observations

1. Both emails clearly and immediately connected the value proposition of the offer (product) to the recipient of the email.

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Treatments

Treatment 1 Treatment 2

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Control

• The control utilizes a headline, however, the headline is not immediately clear. It does not immediately state the value of the offer.

• “All your music, all at your fingertips.” attempts to be clever, but it takes another level of thought to translate that into any meaning.

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Control

• The control utilizes a headline, however the headline is not immediately clear. It does not immediately state the value of the offer.

• “All your music, all at your fingertips.” attempting to be clever but it takes another level of thought to translate that into any meaning.

The value proposition is the substance; email body copy is just the form. It should not be the

form (copy style) that persuades, but rather, the substance (value proposition essence).

Clarity trumps persuasion.

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Optimizing your email campaigns

Key Observations

1. Both emails clearly and immediately connected the value proposition of the offer (product) to the recipient of the email.

2. Both emails organized the copy into easily digestible bulleted lists.

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Treatments

Treatment 1 Treatment 2

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Control

• The control uses full paragraph form to communicate the value of the product.

• This is a simple change, and yet, it can significantly impact the degree of effort required to understand the offer.

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Control

• The control uses full paragraph form to communicate the value of the product.

• This is a simple change, and yet, it can significantly impact the degree of effort required to understand the offer.

Because of its “push” nature, there is already a significant degree of “friction” present when a recipient reads an email. Therefore, we must strive to make our emails as easy to digest as

possible in both length and format.

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Optimizing your email campaigns

Key Observations

1. Both emails clearly and immediately connected the value proposition of the offer (product) to the recipient of the email.

2. Both emails organized the copy into easily digestible bulleted lists.

3. Both emails utilized calls-to-action that are low commitment and focused on simply getting the prospect to the next step in the process.

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Treatments

Treatment 1 Treatment 2

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Control

• Notice the control uses the call-to-action “Shop Now,” which assumes recipients will be ready to shop after reading this email.

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Control

Often, we conflate the objective of an email with the objective of a landing page. The goal

of most emails is simply to get a “click.”

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But this

77%In clickthrough

Not this

Additional research examples

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But thisNot this

104%In clickthrough

Additional research examples

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But thisNot this

136%In subscriptions

Additional research examples

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Email copy checklist

Is your copy attempting to be clever or is it clearly stating the essence of the value proposition?

Do you have clear headlines and sub-headlines?

Is your copy easy to digest? Are you using long paragraphs or short bulleted lists?

Are you trying to get the click or trying to sell the product?

Is there any content in your email that is trying to do too much and/or not contributing to simply getting a click?

Is the wording of your calls-to-action asking for too much?

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Live optimization

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