• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, July 29, 2009

According to the eROI newest study on the Use of Analytics in Email Marketing Campaigns, of the 37% of marketers who don't test their email campaigns, 33% say it's because they do not know how, 27% say they don't have time and 13% say their platform doesn't have testing capabilities. For those that are testing, 85.2% test subject lines, 54.8% test calls to action, 50.9% test designs, 49.1% test copy, 41.7% test offers, 36% test timing of campaigns.

With 73% of marketers planning to increase email as a priority in their future marketing plans, eROI set out to discover why more than a third of marketers are not testing their campaigns, and for those that are testing, what is being tested and its perceived relative importance.   

The study notes that in a 2006 Marketing Sherpa article by Anne Holland survey results proved that  testing increases ROI. The responses show that "in every case more than 50% of  marketers improved ROI (even if only moderately) by testing." The current eROI study uncovered some of the main reasons for not testing.

Reasons Some Marketers Are Not Testing Email Campaigns
Reason	% of Respondents
Don'tknow How	32.84%
My Campaign Timeline Is Too Short	27.36%
Platform Doesn't Have Testing Capabilites	13.43%
Other	11.94%
I Don't See The Value In It	8.46%
Platform Doesn't Have Capabilities I Want	5.97%
Source: eROI Testing in Email Campaigns, July 2009

For those that are testing, they are testing a wide variety of elements including design, frequency, calls to action and day/time sent. The report shows this breakdown for email content testing:

• 85.2% test subject lines
• 54.8% test calls to action
• 50.9% test designs
• 49.1% test copy
• 41.7% test offers
• 36.8% test timing of campaigns

The survey unveiled the latest trends in testing time of day releases, with 49.4% currently find sending mid-day (10am-2pm) to be best, while start of the business day (6AM - 10AM) showed to be second best:

Time of Day For Testing (% of Respondents)
Day Part	% Preferred
Mid-Day	49.4%
Start Of Business Day	35.06%
Early Morning	9.09%
End Of Business Day	3.90%
Early Evening	2.60%
Source: eROI Testing in Email Campaigns, July 2009

34.91% of marketers that test timing are testing frequency. Of those, 33.3% send weekly, 28.21% send bi-monthly, 28.21% send as necessary (no set frequency) and the rest are  divided equally between sending quarterly, daily, more than once a week and monthly.

Frequency That Email Marketers Test Their Email Campaigns (% of Respondents Testing Frequency)
Frequency	% Testing
Weekly	33.33%
As necessary	28.21%
Bi-monthly	28.21%
Daily	2.56%
Monthly	2.56%
More than once a week	2.56%
Quarterly	2.56%
Source: eROI Testing in Email Campaigns, July 2009

As a check list and comparison to individual practice, the study includes an appendix that shows statistics on which variables are most often tested by marketers on each element of their emails. The report concludes that the reader might find a new testing opportunity for the next campaign.

Variables Tested By Marketers (% of Those Testing Each Element)
Element Tested	% Testing
Subject line
Tone/personality	40.81%
Length	33.55%
Personalization	20.09%
Other	5.56%
Body copy
Length	29.71%
Headlines	28.29%
Tone	20.00%
Personalization	19.14%
Other	2.86%
Offer variables
Limited (time or quantity)	28.69%
Percentage vs. Dollar	25.8%
Perceived value vs. Price	20.08%
Free vs. Reduced	14.75%
"Live" content	4.51%
Other	6.45%
Call to action
Type (links, buttons, banners, text only)	29.06%
Copy	26.85%
Placement	26.60%
Number ofplacements	16.26%
Other	1.23%
Design/image variables
Image placement	25.39%
Amount of imagery	17.15%
Complexity	16.93%
Background	11.58%
Accent color/shading	9.58%
Text only	9.58%
Dynamic Imagery	8.24%
Other	1.56%
Other elements
Text vs.html	22.58%
From name	15.75%
None	13.47%
Pre-headers	12.9%
From address	10.44%
Alt-tags	7.78%
Emailwidth	7.78%
Footers	7.59%
Other	1.56%
Source: eROI Testing in Email Campaigns, July 2009

Please go here to get PDF file of the complete survey.