Best practices: How I approach conversion optimization for eCommerce emails
A/B testing and that orange button
Testing your campaign subject lines to 20% of a segment for 2 hours?
Changing your button colors to orange because the Internet told you so?
Let's have a chat, shall we?
Best practices best shmractices
Best practices: Do this, do that. They're proven to work!
And it's true, they do work—for the company that developed the "best practice."
Best practices are solutions to specific problems for specific companies. What works for one company doesn't always work for another, even if they're virtually the same businesses!
But that doesn't mean you shouldn't try them.
They're great starting points, especially if your business doesn't have prior testing data or if you're just getting started.
How I approach optimization starting with best practices
In a nutshell, I:
Take a list of my prioritized hypotheses and pick one.
Research reputable sources, and find common best practice recommendations.
Create test campaigns using recommendations (I start with just one).
Test and gather results.
Make new hypotheses based on my data.
Example
Hypothesis: Adding a nav to my emails will improve click rate
Best Practice: Emails with nav bars look great viewed on desktop
Campaign: A/B Desktop emails with Nav and No Nav bars
Results & Next Steps: Let's say I do get better click rates, I'll test some more, then I'll make new hypotheses like:
Adding a small nav bar on mobile will improve click rate
Removing or adding one nav item will improve click rates some more
😂 Or even ask a basic question like, "Sure my click rate increased, but did it make more money?" 😂
The answer to this will start a new thread of testing ideas... the point is, now I have testing ideas based on my own data, not best practices.
Pretty simple, eh? No need to complicate it. Happy testing and happy emailing!
There's no such thing as an absolute best practice for all businesses. Your best bet is to test what works for you.
