A-1 Engine Solutions, Email A/B Test (SPEC)
The client: A-1 Engine Solutions is a fictitious company that operates in the automotive engine oil market. One of its products is A-1 Performance Motor Oil, an engine lubricant that keeps car engines clean and improves the longevity of the engine parts.
The challenge: Based on previous data, the client found out that sales for A-1 Performance Motor Oil, particularly those coming from email, were at an all-time low. I audited the client’s email marketing and learned that while most metrics were within industry benchmarks, the click-to-open rate (CTOR) was lower than expected.
The hypothesis: To understand why the CTOR was below industry standards, I assessed various elements such as textual clarity, language and tone, readability, and visual appeal. This led to the following hypothesis:
Changing the call-to-action (CTA) button text from generic to benefit-oriented would increase the CTOR.
The solution: Working closely with the A-1 team, we settled on using two variants for this A/B test. Variant A contains generic CTA copy as follows: “Visit A-1 Website”. Variant B has benefit-driven CTA copy as follows: “Drive Longer, Drive Better”. I randomly assigned half of the subscribers in the sample to receive Variant A and the other half to receive Variant B.
The results: Variant B achieved a CTOR of 12.4%, outperforming Variant A by 6.3%. The sales revenue originating from Variant B was 126% higher than the sales revenue coming from Variant A. The client was able to project that using benefit-oriented copy on the CTA button would lead to more than twice the sales revenue when compared to past email campaign averages.
I suggested the following next steps:
Optimize subject line writing and audience segmentation to improve open rates.
Update the product page to increase conversion rates and product exposure.
Develop email automation workflows to nurture leads and engage customers.
This is a speculative project. The client (A-1 Engine Solutions) is a fictitious company.