5 Critical Elements to Testing E-mail Frequency
A/B testing is a great way to test graphic placement or call to action. 
But what if you want to test e-mail frequency and timing?
With segmented testing, you divide your list into separate segments. Everyone in a group will stay in that segment or treatment throughout the life of the test.
One of the best uses for segment testing is in the product or service renewal process. Will a customer renew if he or she is contacted two weeks before the service runs out? How about two weeks after? How many e-mails should you send before the actual expiration date?
Plan your test. Are you testing timing, frequency, or both? Decide if you’re testing the entire list or if it’s just going to be people who are expiring in the next 60 days.
Remove test subjects from your general list.
If you’re testing frequency, it’s very important that no one else in the company contacts anyone in a stream for the duration of your test cycle.
Reach out to salespeople, customer service teams and telemarketers to let them know they need to keep their hands off those in your test segments.
Make sure there’s enough differentiation in the segments. If you’re testing duration, it’s not enough of a statistical difference to send one stream e-mails that are two days apart and another segment e-mails that are three days apart.
You need to really vary the timing by at least every few days. Sometimes people don’t open e-mails right away, You need to account for that.
See the test through to the end
See the test through to the end. It might be tempting to stop a test after noticing that one segment is obviously doing better than the others, but don’t.
That’s not to say that on day 45 of a 60-day test you can’t scale the test to the rest of the list—the addresses that aren’t in any segments. They can start benefiting right away from what you’ve learned.
Examine your results.
Marketers looking for additional conversions will be checking sales metrics, of course, but it’s also worth looking at other e-mail criteria to see if your tests served other purposes as well.
Were people more likely to open messages that came more frequently? Did your spam complaints increase at any point?
When you’re testing e-mail frequency, you’re going to be carefully watching spam complaints and pulling the plug on any tests that are increasing both spam complains and opt-outs.
Until next time, here is to your continued success!
.
DYMO Label Writer Twin Turbo The perfect printer for any small business! See why people rave about this direct mail marketing printer and why you can’t survive without it!
About the Author:
Tim G. Little has a BS in Business Administration, and has worked in the magazine publication and circulation management for the past 20 years. As an Internet Publisher and Entrepreneur, he has developed a website to help small business entrepreneurs find the best mailing list and marketing programs ps: I would like to recommend a tool to you to help find Boost Sales… Gain Market Share.. . With Focused List Selection, Tips and Tools for Finding the Perfect List. Once you e-mail segments, track how they differently they react to messaging options.
National Direct Mail Boost
Direct mail volume increased 16% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2010 to 6.1 billion pieces.
The insurance and credit card industries were the strongest direct mail performers of this growth. The volume of credit card-related direct mail increased 36% year-over-year, reaching 1.2 billion pieces in the first quarter.
Insurance mail grew 8% from the prior year, reaching 2.6 billion pieces.
This is a pretty big comeback in comparison to last year.
The mix of consumer-facing direct mail has changed considerably from a year ago, with insurance-related mailings leading the pack with 43% of all volume.
Insurance is the biggest sector and outmails everything A year ago, credit cards were No. 1, then insurance, mortgages and loans.
For the rest of 2010, looks like a good year for a comeback for direct mail with credit card and mortgage companies leading the way.
The future looks bright for credit cards in particular, because there have been a few companies, Chase and Capital One, driving the growth.
Because of new credit card regulations bu the Obama administration some are still holding back.
Until next time, here is to your continued success!
.
DYMO Label Writer Twin Turbo The perfect printer for any small business! See why people rave about this direct mail marketing printer and why you can’t survive without it!
About the Author:
Tim G. Little has a BS in Business Administration, and has worked in the magazine publication and circulation management for the past 20 years. As an Internet Publisher and Entrepreneur, he has developed a website to help small business entrepreneurs find the best mailing list and marketing programs ps: I would like to recommend a tool to you to help find Boost Sales… Gain Market Share.. . With Focused List Selection, Tips and Tools for Finding the Perfect List.
USPS Summer Sale – Hurry!
Use the Summer Sale to reactivate customers or prospect for new
The USPS Summer Sale is scheduled for July 1 to September 30 for standard mailing customers.
This is how the sale works, for every piece a company mails in excess of 105% of what it mailed during the same time period in 2009, the USPS will provide a 30% postage rebate.
Specific requirements and rules of the Summer Sale are available from the USPS.
Your company can take full advantage of the Summer Sale and use it not only as a way to increase acquisition mailings, but to also achieve a reactivation strategy.
Direct marketing theory…
tells you that its costs significantly less to rebuild profitable relationships with former customers than it does to find new acquisition names, as former customers are already aware of your company and products.
This is what makes the USPS summer sale so attractive
By reducing postage costs by approximately one-third on the incremental mail volumes, it reduces the break-even point on these mailings.
Determining which former customers should be included in your reactivation efforts requires a close look at a couple factors.
The mailing list must be accurate, meaning potential delivery issues such as
non ZIP+4 coded, missing or invalid secondary number, vacant or seasonal should be identified and most likely dropped prior to mailing. Remember after one year 20% of the population moves so make sure you have the correct address,
Those planning on taking advantage of the USPS Summer Sale should consider expanding reactivation mailings.
To make these mailings even more effective and beneficial, do not mail records with deliverability issues and try to mail only those with name and address verified using a third party service providers’ data assets.
Until next time, here is to your continued success!
.
DYMO Label Writer Twin Turbo The perfect printer for any small business! See why people rave about this direct mail marketing printer and why you can’t survive without it!
About the Author:
Tim G. Little has a BS in Business Administration, and has worked in the magazine publication and circulation management for the past 20 years. As an Internet Publisher and Entrepreneur, he has developed a website to help small business entrepreneurs find the best mailing list and marketing programs ps: I would like to recommend a tool to you to help find Boost Sales… Gain Market Share.. . With Focused List Selection, Tips and Tools for Finding the Perfect List.
FREE eBook “Boost Sales With Lists”
