Marketing Cloud A/B testing lets you send two different versions of an email component to your target audience so that you can learn which version (A or B) may be more effective. Testing these variables allows you to optimize your email campaigns and deliver more targeted and relevant messages to your subscribers.
You can test the following elements in Marketing Cloud:
| Test Type | Description | Recommended metric for declaring a winner |
|---|---|---|
| Subject Line | Compare two different subject lines in the same email | Open rate |
| Compare two different emails | Open rate or click through rate | |
| Content Area | Compare two different versions of a content block in the same email | Click through rate |
| From Name | Compare two different from names with the same email | Open rate |
| Send Time | Compare two different send times/dates with the same email | Open rate; click through rate |
| Preheaders | Compare two different preheaders in the same email | Open rate |
Let’s say you want to see which of two subject lines is more effective at getting your audience to open an email. Here’s an example of how that test could be set up:
Note: If you need your email to go out to everyone at the same time, you can split your test so half get A and half get B at the same time. Then, you can see which performs better and apply what you’ve learned to future sends.
During setup, you’ll choose if you want the winner to be determined by whichever version has the higher open rate or click through rate. Depending on your email and what you’re testing, one measure may be more helpful for determining a winner than the other.
In addition to looking at the winner, it’s important to look at the actual numbers behind the outcomes for each version of the test for a couple reasons:
Note: We recommend doing multiple tests before drawing conclusions. A/B testing should be approached as an ongoing way to measure effectiveness, not as a “one and done” test.
