You can easily test your email’s subject line, from-line, and body using Action Network’s email tool. This can help you find out what kind of subject lines, sender, images, text, and more works best with your email list. You can then use the random limit feature in email targeting to test your various email versions to a small segment of your list. Note: You cannot test email subject/from/body when using the automated testing feature. For more on using automated testing, click here.
Note: Testing from subjects, from lines, and/or bodies together is possible, but realize it will create a version for every combination, so two subjects and two from lines creates four email versions. You’ll receive multiple test emails when you send yourself tests, but your recipients will only receive one version.
Testing subject lines
To set up a subject test, use the alternate subject field for a second subject, and click the green plus icon to add as many additional alternate subjects as you want.
If you want to remove a subject line, delete the content and leave the alternate subject field blank.
Note: Don't make your subject too long, both because long subjects tend to perform worse, and also because subjects over the byte limit will be truncated and will break open and click statistic reporting. Less than 200 characters should be your goal.
Testing from lines
You can enter more than one from line if you'd like to set up an automatic from line test. If you enter more than one from line, we will randomly distribute each from line you enter among your email's targeted universe, and allow you to track the statistics of each from line individually to see which one performs best.
If you want to remove a from line, delete the content and leave the alternate from field blank.
To set up a from line test, use the alternate from field for a second from line, and click the green plus icon to add as many additional alternate from lines as you want.
Testing email bodies
You can test multiple email bodies, which lets you test your creative like email text, buttons, images, and more. Below where you write your original email body, click the green plus button to ‘add alternate body’. This will copy your original body over to the alternate, where you can fully edit the body. Give your alternate body a name, which will appear on the ‘test results’ tab of your email manage page, so you can track how your email is doing.
If you want to remove an alternate body, delete the content and leave the alternate body blank.
Random limit
At the bottom of the email targeting page, you can enter a number in the random limit box. This will take the total number of activists targeted with your includes and excludes and cut it down to the number you entered by choosing random activists in your universe. For example, if you targeted 5,000 activists using includes and excludes and then set a random limit of 1,000, your email would be targeting a random 1,000 activists in your larger 5,000 person universe.
Random limits enable easy email testing. For example, let's say you wanted to test two different images in your email to see which did better with your activists. You’d create your email testing two email bodies, using a different image in each. Then you'd enter in a random limit of, for example, 1,000 to target your email to 1,000 random activists in your targeted universe.
In some cases, you may want to do more long term testing and tracking with a randomized subset of people, you can apply a random limit to a report. You'll be able to target different emails and contact to this audience by targeting that specific report or applying a tag to it. Click here to learn more.
On the email preview page, we'll show you your random limit compared to the total activists that match your targeting criteria.
Viewing test results
After you send your email, you can navigate to the ‘test results’ tab of your email manage page. You’ll see a combination of every subject, from line, and body that you sent. From here, you can evaluate the statistics and pick your “winner”. You can duplicate or duplicate with exclude the email directly from that tab.