Ability to A/B Test with Sequences

[JaclynSchmitz]

It would be great to have the ability to easily a/b test with email sequences. Certain emails within the sequence may perform better with variable wording, but there is no easily way to test this. 

[JaclynSchmitz]

A/B Testing Sequences is now live! 

A/B testing is a great way to figure out what resonates best with your prospects and optimize your content for outcomes. Navigate to Automation > Sequences to create a new sequence or start testing an existing one. Within any email step, you'll see the option to add an A/B test. Sends will split automatically and you'll be able to monitor results for each version.

For more details on testing and best practices check out this knowledgebase article.  

Best,
Ana

[JaclynSchmitz]

@KhalidK Great question. 

Given this example sequence: 

Email 1 (A/B) -> Email 2 (A) -> Email 3 (A/B)

1. Email 1 will be split with 50 contacts receiving A and 50 receiving B. All 100 contacts would receive Email 2 (A). Email 3 will also be split with 50 contacts receiving A and 50 receiving B. 

2. Randomization is per step in the sequence. If a contact receives version A of Email 1, they still have a 50/50 chance of receiving A or B for Email 3. 

I hope this helps clarify! Please let me know if you have any additional questions. I'm also happy to connect on a feedback call if you'd like to discuss in more depth.  

[JaclynSchmitz]

Hi Community, 

Thank you so much for the feedback and perspectives on this post. We understand how critical this feature is to experiment and improve your sequence performance and I am excited to say the ability to A/B test emails in a sequence is currently in progress! 

I'll be in touch with more updates when we're further along and ready for beta testers. Please feel free to reach out with any questions or feedback. 

Best, 

Ana

[CKing1]

upvoting, this would be great to match outreach/salesloft

[JMoran5]

+1 - this is crucial to test out new messaging on prospects

[NicoleSengers]

Other tools that are far less advanced offer this functionality - making it necessary to use these and plugin to HubSpot rather than letting users stay within HubSpot. getting A/B testing in sales emails allows better conversion rates on these emails which will help customers get better results on sales campaigns.

[CWilson86]

This is absolutely needed.

If HubSpot want to be taken seriously as a Sales CRM (not just Marketing), then there is a lot of functionality required in sequences; AB testing being one.

[Mike_Donnelly]

If you are a HubSpot Marketing Enterprise customer and enroll contacts into sequences via the marketing workflows tool, you can do this with a free tool we developed at Seventh Sense called split test automation.  It allows you to create two, three or five cohorts to test really anything to see what performs best (content, number of emails in a sequence, subject lines, etc.).  While the primary use case is for marketing flows / emails, you can create two, three or five sequences and use the to see how they perform.  This is a link to check it out in the HubSpot App Marketplace and I've included an example screenshot below.  If you're looking for some other ideas on what you can test, this is a link to a recent article we published.  https://www.theseventhsense.com/blog/split-test-automation-use-cases

[Johannes2]

100%, it would make Hubspot way more data-driven and also more competitive towards other tools. 

[eneo_ywh]

It's 2022 and A/B testing in email sequence is still not possible in Hubspot? 🤦🏻‍♀️ 

WHy...

[NicoleSengers]

@Mike_Donnelly That's a really great tool and a great suggestion for marketing enterprise users. Can the reports be embedded on a HubSpot dashboard so it's easier to manage in one place?

[Mike_Donnelly]

Thanks @NicoleSengers.. The reports available would be the what's in the sequence reporting tool which I know HubSpot has been adding more and more functionality to.  Everything split test automation is doing is native to the tool and the easiest way to think about it is as an automated cohort creator.  So if you create 3 variations of a sequence, you can then report on each one to determine which one (if any) is driving more success.   Additionally, one thing a lot of HubSpot customers are asking about is the ability to throttle enrollments which this also can empower you to do this at a bit of a macro-scale.  Our normal product allows you to do microthrottling, but not going to give a pitch on that.  😀

[VBorrowdale]

FYI @hubspot  - we and others are going to other platforms to do this and hubspot is losing business.

[AStrong6]

We're moving out sequencing to HubSpot and this is definitely a disadvantage.  A/B testing in sequences is a definite need. 

[annieg241]

Agreed!

[TracyG]

ALL competing products like Mailshake, Apollo, Outreach etc. have A/B testing of subject lines, the message and more. When we ask people to pay significantly MORE for Hubspot sales it needs to deliver key features like this.

[ThibaudMC]

Yes ! 

[LClose]

Yes we need this for sure, please. Thank you.  

[alexcomments]

Astonishing this doesn't exist yet. We need it

[mikeraia]

We use this in Outreach all the time. It would be a great addition.

[TPang]

I would really like to have this feature. Similar to the if/then branches in workflows, it would be great if we could create A/B test branches for sequence enrollment.

[jacob-downey]

Yes, this is needed 100%, it's a basic function in any sales outreach tool!

[MegWilliamson]

Please add this! Would provide great insight for sales!