Testing Email Creative

The challenge with testing email creative is identifying what you are trying to accomplish. Ultimately it is about moving the needle and creating the best experience -- but testing creative is really about operational excellence. What is most visually appealing isn't always the best for the business, so if a piece that took 10% less time to develop performs at par with another, think about what that extra time could afford you. Maybe this will allow you more time to optimize a landing page?

Successful creative is about streamlining options. It takes time to create new imagery, think about new designs, and blend copy with flow -- and, if you are guessing each time, add 20% to your design costs.

So, what is the real art of testing creative? Here's a simple formula.

1. Draw a wireframes of several templates (they vary by purpose). These are simply boxes designed for the optimal width and length. Rule of thumb is, keep promotional messages and email that is designed for early lifecycle simple and straightforward and minimize the length. Newsletters and community publications can support longer-form wireframes.

2. Assign a description to each box and bullet the things that you can potentially test within those guides. For example, if your top box of 50x 700 is for "Click to add your email address to the address book," think about what else you could test in this area. (User Name, Promotional Message, site reminder message, or leave it out altogether). If it's a header image or text block, then think about testing typographic treatments, background colors, blending with imagery and replacing with imagery.

3. Sit down with your designer and walk her through the wireframes and what options she has for each section. Ask her, if she had two things to test in each box, what would she test -- and if you tested them and they worked, what would that do to help streamline creative next time?

4. Lastly, show her past results of emails that performed, which links performed best (in a visual format). Most email systems will give you a click map overlay report to show clicks by popularity and color code.

Do remember, you aren't limited to the email only. The email is designed to get the receiver from the email to the landing page, so test the exchange between the two. You may be surprised at what can be left out and provide better value at the point of conversion.

Knock 'em dead -- and if you have great creative or one you're struggling with, shoot it over and I'll give you my two cents. (dbaker@whitenoiseinc.com).