Testing Improves Direct Marketing via Email

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One-to-one communications is not only possible, it’s the kind of direct marketing that’s relatively easy with email. Traditionally thought of as including postcards and packages, direct marketing today encompasses a wide variety of communications channels. When email is a part of a company’s direct marketing program, the combination of testing, targeting and preference gathering that are best practices in email marketing benefits all aspects of the program.

Testing an email campaign is far less expensive that testing traditional direct marketing media. Yet surprisingly, few email marketers make it a regular part of their campaign execution. Testing is an integral part of designing an email campaign. You should routinely pull apart every element of your emails – the look and feel, offer, subject line, etc. – to find out what works and what doesn’t.

After each test, use the elements that earn the highest response as a foundation to design subsequent email messages as well as to tweak your overall program. Developing a test requires additional technical work, but once you have your test set up, you’ll quickly realize the benefits of increased response rates and improved customer loyalty.

Testing can drive the relevancy of not only your email campaigns but of your entire marketing program. Testing enables you to target your messages and select a subset of customers that are more closely aligned with the content you want to communicate.