You can set up an email split test in just 1 minute that could almost double your click-through rates and site visitors. Does that sound unbelievable? It’s not. This is what actually happened when Light Stalking, a photography sharing community, tested their subject lines. In this post, you’ll learn about the simple change that boosted their website traffic from an email by 83%.
The subject line split test
Every weekend, Light Stalking runs a photography challenge based on a specific theme. Participants can upload a photo that fits the theme and give feedback on others’ images. Rob Wood, the founder of Light Stalking, uses email to boost participation in these weekend challenges. That’s why Wood decided to conduct an email split test on the subject line of his latest weekly challenge email, which invited people to submit a silhouette photo. “I wanted to get more opens, more reads, and possibly more traffic,” he stated. For his split test, he created two emails in AWeber. Both emails contained the same content but featured different subject lines. Wood aimed to determine if a brief subject line that referred to the challenge’s topic would outperform a longer subject line that announced the upcoming weekly challenge. For email 1, Wood chose a clear and direct subject line: “Weekly Challenge is Live!” For email 2, he crafted a concise subject line that hinted at the challenge’s theme: “Silhouettes.” Wood designed his split test so that 5% of his email list received email 1, while another 5% got email 2. He waited a day to see which email did better before sending the winning email to the remaining 90% of his subscribers.
Wood hoped this would maximize his engagement. Pro tip: In AWeber, you can customize what percentage of your list receives each email in your split test. You can also test up to 3 emails at a time! (Want to try AWeber’s split test feature? Create a free trial account now.)
The split test results
The subject line “Silhouettes” won! It got 10% more opens than the email with the subject line “Weekly Challenge is Live!” It also earned an 83% higher click-through rate. This drove nearly double the number of website visitors compared to the email with a longer, more descriptive subject line. When Wood sent the winning email to the remaining 90% of his email list, he was able to get an above average click-through rate. This drove more people to the Light Stalking community and increased forum engagement. “This split testing feature is great. It will have a noticeable impact on traffic to my site from newsletters,” Wood said.
The takeaway?
Boosting your open rates by even a small amount can have a huge impact on your click-through rates and website traffic. To see how your own subscribers respond, try testing a short subject line that’s less descriptive against a longer, more descriptive subject line. Not sure how to set up your own email split test? Download our free guide to email split tests. You’ll learn everything you need to know to run successful split tests. 