Tests We're Running This Month!
It's the longest short month of the year! One extra day means extra time for testing. No? Just me? Okay, I'll give you what you came here for, another round of tests :)
Google Ad Copy
What we did: Over the past few months, we've been upping our paid search strategy for some of our premium assets. Naturally, we turned to best practices to see if we could increase our click-through-rates even if they made use feel icky inside. We ran one such test for our most recent drop, our 2020 Marketing Trends Report. We decided this was a good opportunity to test title case in our ads.
Version A: Sentence Case
Version B: Title Case
Why we did it: We wanted to see if slight variations such as the case of the copy would perform better so we could put more money behind the keywords that produced the best results.
Results: The CTR on sentence case was still a very healthy 7.3% but the CTR on title case was 9.30%. The thought of using title case all over the ad's description made our entire content team squeamish, but in the end, it produced the best results so bring on the title case. You get capitalized. And you get capitalized! (I thought of capitalizing the two sentences prior for a joke but still couldn't bring myself to do it).
Learnings: Despite how a strategy makes you feel, it's always good to test. Best practices are best practices for a reason—they work.
Email Subject Lines
What we did: We're heading back out on the road this spring for our Conex Workshops and so we're in full promotional mode. To optimize our email promotions, we've been testing subject lines (no surprise there!)
Version A: It's official, Conex is back & coming to your city soon!
Version B: Don't miss out on Conex Workshops 2020—coming to a city near you soon!
Why we did it: Fans or FOMO? The first version would play better with people who knew of Conex or were fans of Uberflip and our educational events. But the second version played on a very popular concept, the reader's Fear Of Missing Out.
Results: FOMO for the win! It was a targeted email send to only specific titles in specific cities but the "Don't miss out" subject line was the clear-cut winner in this case.
Learnings: Leading with emotion in email marketing can provide dividends. But as always, if you're uncertain, test!