Email A/B testing
Optimize your email campaigns for maximum engagement and conversions
What is email A/B testing?
Email A/B testing, also known as split testing, involves creating two or more variations of an email and sending each version to a different subset of your subscribers to observe which one wins based on a chosen metric.
One version might have a different subject line, layout, image, call to action, or send time than the other. After the test emails go out, marketers look at results, like open rate, click rate, or conversion rate, to identify which email outperformed the other. The winning version can then be sent to the remaining audience or used in future campaigns, continually optimizing your overall email marketing.
Why does email A/B testing matter?
A/B testing emails is critical for discovering what truly resonates with your audience rather than guessing.
For example, an online boutique might test two subject lines for a flash sale (one emphasizing “20% off” vs. another saying “Exclusive deal for you”) to see which drives more email opens, clicks, and conversions. A hospitality brand like a hotel chain could experiment with different email content for a loyalty program announcement—perhaps one version featuring a heartfelt story from a returning guest, and another highlighting a limited-time offer.
In each case, A/B testing takes the subjectivity out of email marketing and replaces it with data-backed insights. Brands can pinpoint the messages and offers that most effectively inspire their customers to act, leading to higher engagement and revenue.
Email A/B testing isn’t just about improving a single campaign or automated flow—it’s about continuous learning. Each test produces insights about your customers’ preferences. Over time, these insights compound, allowing marketers to refine segmentation and personalization.
As your program grows more advanced, you can leverage more customer data (past purchases, channel affinity, website behavior, etc.) to segment your tests and messaging. A/B testing helps brands send smarter emails: ones that are tailored by data, proven by results, and aligned with what customers want.
Why choose Klaviyo for email A/B testing?
Not all A/B testing tools are created equal. Klaviyo is built for B2C success, combining ease of use with powerful capabilities—without the need to juggle multiple systems or add-ons.
1. Seamless integration with email campaigns and flows
Because Klaviyo is a unified platform (spanning email, SMS, and more), A/B testing isn’t siloed—it’s part of an omnichannel strategy for engaging customers at the right moment with the right message. This seamless integration means you don’t need separate tools or complex workarounds to experiment; testing is a built-in part of campaign planning.
Here are two primary features of Klaviyo’s email A/B testing:
– Campaign testing: Easily set up A/B tests for your email campaigns to compare different subject lines, content, or send times.
– Flow email testing: Implement A/B tests within automated flows to optimize ongoing email sequences.
2. User-friendly set-up with flexible options
Klaviyo makes email A/B testing incredibly user-friendly. No coding or advanced statistical knowledge is required. Klaviyo handles the heavy lifting so you can focus on strategy.
Want to test multiple variations at once? Klaviyo lets you easily test multiple variations in a single test, so you can see what really works—think 4 different subject lines instead of just 2.
Here are two crucial features of a user-friendly email A/B testing environment:
– Intuitive set-up: Create and manage A/B tests effortlessly with Klaviyo’s straightforward interface.
– Customizable variations: Test multiple elements, including subject lines, content, images, and calls to action, to identify what resonates best with your audience.
3. AI-powered optimization and automation
A hallmark of Klaviyo’s platform is its built-in intelligence. When it comes to A/B testing, that means you can rely on both automation and artificial intelligence to maximize your results. No more babysitting your email A/B testing. Klaviyo will pick the winner and get it out to the right person at the right time.
Here are two important features of AI-powered optimization in Klaviyo’s email A/B testing:
– Automatic winner criteria: Automatically send the winning variant to your remaining subscribers in any campaign or flow to capitalize on your best-performing messages immediately.
– Smart A/B testing: This always-on optimization means every customer gets a winning experience tailored to them. Klaviyo picks up on behavioral customer patterns over time through testing and serves each subscriber the message variant that suits them best.
4. Advanced analytics and reporting
Testing is only as valuable as the insights you gain from it, and Klaviyo excels in giving marketers a clear view of results.
Real-time A/B testing data, for example, is not just exciting—it’s actionable. If you see a huge gap early on, you might already learn something about your audience’s preferences (for instance, “Customers are really responding to the subject line with an emoji!”).
You might uncover trends, like the fact that across multiple campaigns, emails featuring customer testimonials consistently beat those with just product images. Or that in Q4, subject lines with gift emojis performed best for your retail brand. Such insights help inform your future email strategy and even other channels.
And because Klaviyo unifies customer data across channels, you can correlate email test outcomes with behaviors in other areas (like website activity or SMS responses) to get a 360-degree understanding of your audience.
Here are two important features of Klaviyo’s email A/B testing reporting:
– Real-time performance tracking: Monitor key metrics in real time on Klaviyo’s dashboard. Open rates, click rates, conversion rates—all update live as data comes in, so you can watch the race between Version A and Version B as it unfolds.
– Statistical significance analysis: Know when a result is confidence-worthy. Instead of eyeballing the numbers, you can trust Klaviyo’s analytics to tell you when one version truly outperformed the other and it’s not just due to chance.
Key features of Klaviyo’s email A/B testing
|
Feature |
Description |
Available on Klaviyo |
|---|---|---|
|
Comprehensive test configuration |
Flexible variation management: Easily create, clone, and edit multiple email variations within a single test. Adjustable recipient allocation: Define the percentage of your audience that receives each variation to control test distribution. | |
|
Automated winner selection |
Predefined criteria: Set specific performance metrics, such as highest open rate or click rate, to automatically determine the winning variation. Manual override option: Retain control to manually select a winner based on your analysis and business objectives. | |
|
Detailed result analysis |
Performance comparison: Access side-by-side comparisons of each variation’s performance metrics to gain actionable insights. Historical data access: Review past A/B test results to inform future testing strategies and continuous improvement. | |
How to get started with Klaviyo’s email A/B testing
1. Select the email to test. Choose an email within your campaign or flow that you want to optimize.
2. Create variations. Develop different versions of the email by modifying elements like subject lines, content, or images.
3. Configure test settings. Determine the distribution percentages for each variation and set criteria for selecting a winner.
4. Launch the test. Activate the A/B test and monitor performance metrics as data comes in.
5. Analyze results. Review the performance of each variation to identify the most effective email version.
6. Implement winning strategies. Apply the insights gained to enhance your overall email marketing efforts.
You can’t afford to send “gut feeling” emails and hope for the best. Email A/B testing provides a data-driven path to understanding your customers and improving your marketing with each send.
With Klaviyo, the barriers to A/B testing are lower than ever: it’s easy to use, deeply integrated with your customer data, and augmented by AI and automation to amplify your results.
Watch this tutorial for a visual guide to setting up A/B tests in Klaviyo.