Hi, {{first_name|friend}}. 👋
Welcome to Issue #228 of All About Email!
Last week was about messaging (content) and how the wrong message can cause unnecessary headaches for your audience and even do some reputational damage.
This week, it’s about experimentation. 🧪
Let’s go! 👇
Email Deliverability Masterclasses with Beth
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Experimental Emails
You might not know this, but my newsletters are a constant experiment.
🤔 The question is, should your newsletters and email campaigns be too?
Sometimes I’m testing one thing in my emails, sometimes it’s more. Sometimes it’s hidden in the code or hidden in plain sight.
We all want our emails to perform better, subscriber habits change, and inboxes are changing faster than you can say 88mph 🏎️ 🔥 🕰️.
Our emails can’t stay static, and if you aren’t regularly testing and iterating, you are missing out on the best version of your email and doing a disservice to your subscribers.
Subscriber loyalty is so important; if your emails stagnate, don’t expect your audience to stick around.
Healthy Tension
💡 Email Experiments should “live in tension” between the needs of the email’s author(s) and the expectations/relationship with their audience.
Experiments need to be intentional, not random.
Experiments need to be measurable in some form.
Different brands, organisations, and people will have different goals for their email campaigns or newsletters (whatever we call them, though semantics matter 😉), but ultimately, experiments in your email marketing should improve your ROI or meet set goals (e.g., engagement, sales, conversions) without negatively impacting the relationship you have with your subscribers.
That’s why we have A/B testing, Multivariate testing, or just plain old singular experimentation and data analysis over time. 👇
An Example of a Singular Experiment
❓I started “Curiosity Corner” just over 5 months ago with the following purposes:
Engagement - Clicks (good for deliverability and other such things).
Understanding - Learning more about my audience.
Better Content/Value - Creating content based on audience answers.
All of my subscribers see Curiosity Corner in both the email and the web version.
When Experiments Become Features or Not
Here’s the thing: the average poll received 11.5 responses, which accounted for only 1.92% of my audience.
🧠 Now, that’s not exactly a guiding light, but it does indicate a very engaged and loyal subset of my audience.
So I need to weigh up the cost of keeping the Curiosity Corner experiment against the benefits.
Unfortunately, the current Curiosity Corner format adds a bit of code weight (the joys of clipping) and takes more time than you might think to pull together, so:
Curiosity Corner is taking a break (but it will be back).
The format will be different (less code and maybe a sprinkling of automation).
Asking better questions (I had a run of 4/5 weeks with a good volume of responses).
💡 Sometimes an experiment doesn’t work, and that’s OK… that’s the point, but sometimes the experiment needs to be modified and tried again.
Experiment Resources
🧑🔬 It’s time to get all sciencey (yes, I’m making “sciencey” a word). Experimentation requires resources.
Some of our ESPs and (more importantly, the plans we are on) give us more tools to experiment with than others, but in general, these are the human resources required:
Thought - we need to be intentional about our experiments (you and your subscribers will benefit)
Time - how long should an experiment run for? (Impacted by factors such as sending frequency, seasonal activity, etc.)
Analysis - we need to be critical in our thinking and decision-making.
Potential Iteration - If an experiment doesn’t end (either by removal or bybecoming a feature), it might need a tweak and be analysed again before a final decision is made.
Experiments To Try
You might be inspired, scratching your head or daunted by yet another thing to try in your campaigns and newsletters (if you aren’t already testing), so here are some examples to get you started:
Not using Annotations for Promotions? - Try now and compare to your previous campaigns.
Emails not being summarised correctly in the AI inbox? - Make sure your images have Alt and Title text, and you use a semantic HTML structure in your emails. (I’m looking at you in particular, Apple Mail!)
Engagement lacking? - Add a regular poll, survey or quiz. (Just like Curiosity Corner 😉)
Email Summaries - Give your subscribers (and the AI inbox) a defined overview of your email (see how engagement changes and whether the inboxes ignore your summary).
…And Remember
🚨 If you are going to experiment, make sure you can measure it as accurately as possible, whether that be in your ESPs data, a connected CRM, or an analytics integration; shots in the dark are useless and a waste of time.
And, don’t feel pressure to announce every experiment (although you might have to on occasion); some are subtle, and some experiments should be silent (you don’t want to bias your data).
That’s it for this week, {{first_name|friend}}. 👋
Curiosity Corner
Welcome to Curiosity Corner! Each week, I throw one question your way…not always about email marketing, but always worth a reply.
Last week, I asked, ”Do Your Email Campaigns take a break”?
So far it’s a tie with 3 out of 8 votes (37.50%) 👇
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Yes - A pause can be good. (3)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Nope - full steam ahead. (3)
🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ "It Depends." (2)
🚨 This week, there is no question, and Curiosity Corner is taking a little break (I’ve already explained why 😉).
All About Email - Playlist 🎧
Every week, as I write this newsletter, I'll share the track of the moment to create an unbelievably eclectic playlist just for your inbox.
Sponsorship Opportunities
🚨 If you’re interested in sponsoring the “All About Email” newsletter, you can find all the details in this Google Doc.
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Email Marketing News & Tips
This week's excellent and insightful email news & tips:
🧠 Nobody Agreed - We Asked Email Deliverability Experts About Soft Bounce Handling. (Engagor)
AI Inbox Insight - Your GAL Score™ Analysis. (emailexpert)
Huge Potential - How to Run a Great Local Events Newsletter. (Inbox Collective)
Migrating ESP? - 5 tips that will keep your warmup plan from dissolving like wet toilet paper in a hurricane. (LoriBeth Blair)
Dormant, Not Dead - How to Revive Email Subscribers and Drive ROI. (Donna Morton - Zeta Global)
Email in 2026 - Evolving Technical Requirements, Individualised Filtering, and AI Integration. (Laura Atikins)
❤️ I Love This - Do Not Disturb! (Kyle Adams)
Carry On - How To Handle An Email Deliverability Crisis Calmly. (Bento)
Relentless by Design - Des Brown on Ambition, Community, and Building in the Margins. (EmailBoutique & Des Brown)
Support Needed - Urgent call for community support to secure Mautic’s financial future. (Mautic)
🤔 Do You Agree? - Email Welcome Flows Are Dead, and Orientation Flows Are In. (Beth O’Malley)
If you have any questions about this email or email marketing, please reply, and I will get back to you as soon as possible.
I hope you have a great week! 👋
