The Research Partner for this test was the largest physician-only social network, which offers its knowledgebase to pharmaceutical companies.
Goal: Increase email clickthrough from a rented list to the landing page
Primary Research Question: Which email will generate the highest clickthrough rate?
Approach: Multifactor sequential (year-to-year) test
CONTROL EMAIL
(Creative samples have been anonymized.)
TREATMENT EMAIL
RESULTS
WHAT YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND
By changing the messaging of the email to reflect the Research Partner’s value proposition, the team was able to generate a 104% lift in clickthrough rate.
Let’s take a quick look at some problems the team identified with the control …
- The value is buried in the second paragraph (“25% of all online physicians have visited {Research Partner Name} in the past three months”) and at the top of the email, above the eye-path (“{Research Partner Name” is the largest online physician community with more than 115,000 members}”).
- The offer in the email is for a 30-minute demo.
- The call-to-action requires a relatively high commitment (“Get Started”).
In the treatment, the team attempted to optimize these areas …
- Value is clearly communicated in the headline (“{Research Partner Name} Gives You Immediate Access to Over 120,000 Doctors”) and in first paragraph (“{Research Partner Name} is the largest social network of verified US physicians…”).
- Less commitment required in the offer and call-to-action (“See How {Research Partner Name} Works”).
Jon Powell and I will go deeper into this case study in Thursday’s MarketingSherpa webinar – “Email Marketing: How Overcoming 3 Common Errors Increased Clickthrough Rate by 104%” – while we teach three common errors our research has identified as damaging to conversion.
Related Resources:
Email Marketing: How Overcoming 3 Common Errors Increased Clickthrough Rate by 104% — Free MarketingSherpa webinar on Thursday, September 27, 2012 at 1:00 p.m. ET
Email Optimization: How to prioritize your A/B testing
Email Marketing: Landing page testing less popular but more effective
Email Copy Tested: How adding urgency increased clickthrough by 15%