What’s an A/B test you’ve performed that surprised you and why?

[chrlee]

Tell us about an A/B test you've conducted in email marketing. Give us some context about your company and industry, then tell us about the parameters of your experiment. What were the results and why did they surprise you?

[Srush]

One A/B test in email marketing involved changing the subject line format from question-based to benefit-driven. Surprisingly, the benefit-driven subject line increased open rates by 20%. It was unexpected because we assumed the question format would evoke curiosity, but the benefit-driven approach resonated better with our audience's needs.

[CMorris602]

I've run A/B tests on preview/prehader text. The overall goal is to increase clicks through to the blog articles featured in the email, and by describing the blog content in the preview text (we had a static subject lin) we were able to increase clicks to the blogs themselves. I used to be surprised when a plain language description of the blog article and the benefit it held for the reader won out over a 'clever' turn of phrase. With years of experience, and the information in this course about copywriting, I now understand why plain, benefit rich language works better than something that was 'fun' to write. 

[AAli71]

Subject Line A/B Test:

- Variant A: "Exclusive Offer Inside!"

- Variant B: "Your Exclusive Offer Awaits"

Result: Variant B surprisingly outperformed Variant A by 15% in open rates, despite being less promotional. This showed that our audience responded better to a more personalized and subtle approach, rather than a loud and explicit one. This insight has since influenced our email marketing strategy.

[Roshankoshy007]

In a surprising A/B test, a subject line emphasizing exclusivity ("Unlock Exclusive Access") outperformed one directly mentioning the product ("Introducing Our Latest Innovation"). It showed the importance of tapping into emotions and creating a sense of urgency, leading to improved email engagement and conversion rates.

[bbonn]

better performance from a plane text

[Jna37]

We've conducted an email with no picture, just plain text and the other email contains a picture. It is in the e-commerce industry and we're launching a new kind of product of footwear. The email with the picture has higher click-through rates.

[MVayani]

I did an A/B testing for subject lines and to my surprise the subject line cotaining 2 words and an emoji worked better than a longer subject line with no emoji

[JanelleK]

I would love to do some A/B testing for a client to see if we can improve attendance at a future events. We also have multiple clients internationally and I would like to do some testing around send times and see if we have the correct data to segment that part of our audience properly.

[BHall63]

I tested the CtA by hyperlinking to a form, or no link but asking the reader to reply instead.
I only got clicks on the hyperlinked version. 

[ClaroIII]

We did A/B testing for subject lines to find out if there's a better line that what we are currently using. Basically our go to subject line versus new ideas, this way we can find new subject lines instead of using the same winnings lines over and over because it can be go now but after a few months or years it will decline for sure.

[PMorel8]

Hi! 

I haven't performed an A/B test, but I am looking forward to it. I would try it just to see how helpful it can be.

[Saqui]

Tested two sets of different content types in social media: one is purely for our brand's content and the other set contains conversations that jump on what's new and hot in social media (aka trending topics).

We went on purely Australian real estate for one week and then the following week, on top of the said content, we also joined the hashtag campaigns like #throwbackthursday etc.

Surprisingly, the real estate content performed way better than the hashtag campaigns. This means that while we are still in the process of increasing our market reach, whatever subscribers we have are quality.

[JE3]

I conducted a A/B test that changed one word on a CTA button between first person and second person, and was surprised that first person performed better.

[BAworinde]

Well, I haven't done an Email A/B test.

However, I have performed it twice on my social media posts on LinkedIn and X.

In the first post, I changed the headline. And it saw a 50% increase. I got an extra 50 likes and generated leads.

In the second post, I changed the content length. I made it short and more engaging. It also performed well. 

I remain a big supporter of A/B testing both for emails and even other social media platforms. 

[NMeskel]

Hello, I have used A/B testing in my social media class where we tested certain ad campaigns. 

[DNanda]

Hi Everyone,

Daisy this side,ya I have learned and performed A/B testing during my inbound classes.

It works great for analyzing the context in email and gives a better understanding where our email exists. 

[Irtazat]

Currently, working as a freelance resume writer, promoting my service through social media, and hoping to progress more.

Although haven't performed, but subject lines and content length intrigue me to try.

[JeannetteG]

I have not performed an A/B test yet. 

[Moyemi]

i havent

[MGowen]

I haven't preformed A/B testing yet. 

[mshank28]

I have not tried it yet either