Though 73% of email marketers say they are planning to increase email’s priority in their future marketing plans, 37% say they are still not testing their email campaigns, according to a report from eROI.
The report, “Use of Testing in Email Marketing,” found that many marketers are not testing because they simply don’t know how. The top reason for not testing email campaigns is a lack of knowledge about how to do it. This is followed by no time to test, and the absence of testing capabilities on the email platform:
On the brighter side, the two-thirds of email marketers who are testing are measuring a wide variety of elements including design, frequency, calls to action and day/time sent.
The top types of email content testing:
Tuesday, Mid-Day Best Time for Email
The survey also found that 36% of marketers are testing the timing of their campaigns, which includes day of week, time of day, and frequency.
Although eROI noted that the most successful time and day for sending email have been shown to change over time, this latest survey found that 37.86% of marketers testing timing are testing time of day. Of those, 49.4%? find sending mid-day (10am-2pm) to be best, while 31.5% find start of the business day (6AM – 10AM) best.
Among best days of the week, Tuesday ranks as the most successful day, followed closely by Wednesday.
Frequency Trends
The study found that 34.91% of marketers who test timing are testing frequency. Of those, 33.3% send weekly, 28.21% send bi-monthly, 28.21% send as necessary (no set frequency). The rest are divided equally between sending quarterly, daily, more than once a week and monthly.
This research is consistent with a study from The Conference Board earlier this year that similarly found marketing execs struggling with ROI measurement.
About the study: The study was conducted among 623 email marketers to determine how they are currently using – or not using – testing to improve their email marketing efforts. In addition to providing more information about testing practices, the report provides details and advice about segmenting the audience for testing, multivariate testing and a more in-depth breakdown of which variables email marketers are currently measuring. The study is a follow-up to previous research from eROI that found email campaigns can be optimized by using consistent and careful testing.
