By Téalin Robinson
Digital Marketing Coordinator, Lessiter Media
trobinson@lessitermedia.com
262-777-2430
Earlier this summer, I delved into A/B testing with the goal of giving marketers a better understanding of testing and why we do it.
I conducted an A/B test on HTML (visually captivating, showcasing various colors, styles, images, and even multimedia elements) vs. Text-Only (a basic, unadorned text-driven email without any additional graphics or multimedia elements and involves using simple fonts, devoid of extravagant designs or colors) styled emails.
I predicted that the HTML style email would result as the winner due to increased popularity of this modern style. Both emails were sent at the same time of day to a random 50/50 split audience. After one week, the text style email outperformed the HTML style email by a 66% higher click-through rate (CTR). A click-through rate is defined as the ratio of clicks on a specific link to the number of times an email is shown. This number is more effective at showing the success of an email vs. the open-rate due to the level of engagement a user has with the email.
Surprise, surprise, the text-only style email had a significant increase in opens. This differs from an A/B test email series of HTML vs. Text-Only we did last year in which the HTML click-through rate was higher.
See below for the pros and cons of HTML and Plain Text emails, according to Email on Acid.
| Source: Email on Acid |