What Is Email Campaign A/B Testing?
A/B testing allows you to compare two versions of an email—such as different subject lines or content—to a subset of your audience. After the test period, the higher-performing version of the email will automatically be sent to the rest of your audience. This approach helps you optimize messaging and content for higher open rates, click rates, and engagement.
1. Start a new campaign
- Navigate to the Marketing tab within your Engage dashboard, and click “Campaigns”. Click Create Campaign to get started.
- Set up A/B tests using either the drag-and-drop editor or the HTML editor, or start from a saved template.
2. Enable A/B Testing
- On the campaign creation screen, you’ll see a A/B Test toggle in the toolbar. Click on this to open the A/B Test Settings drawer.
3. Configure Your Test
Inside the A/B Test Settings, choose what you want to test:
- Subject Line: Try out two different subject lines to see which one drives higher open rates.
- Content: Test two versions of the email content to see which performs better.
- The sample size is fixed at 20% of the audience—10% for each variant.
- Customize the test duration, from a minimum of 30 minutes up to a maximum of 8 hours
4. Set Campaign Details
- Name your campaign.
- Select the Sender Profile for your email
- Choose your target audience
- You can select from your pre-built Segments or Contact Lists
6. Schedule Your A/B Test
- On the scheduling screen, choose when your A/B test should begin. A tooltip will explain when the test concludes and when the winning version will be sent.
- For example: if your test starts at 11:00 AM and is set for 2 hours, the winning version will go out to the remainder of your audience at 1:00 PM.
7. Preview Your Variants
- Before launch, you’ll see the Preview Screen where you can check and compare both A and B versions. Take a moment to review everything to make sure your emails look just right.
8. Review results in Analytics
After your A/B test runs, head to the Analytics view, where you can view:
- Performance stats for each variant (opens, clicks, etc.)
- A clear declaration of the ‘winning’ version
Use these insights to refine your approach and run even stronger campaigns in the future