Personalized Messaging Tested: How little changes to an email send led to a 380% change in response rate

Personalized Messaging Tested:How little changes to an email send led to a 380% change in response rate

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Jon PowellSenior Manager of Executive Research and Development,MECLABS Institute

Today’s speakers

Tim KachuriakChief Innovation and Optimization Officer, NextAfter

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What makes donors give?

NextAfter is obsessed with answering that question. That's why it helps nonprofit organizations turn the Web into a living laboratory to find the answers — and acquire more names and convert more donors than it ever thought possible.

More about Tim and NextAfter

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Experiment: Background

Background: Think tank soliciting year-end donations to meet annual fundraising goal.

Goal: To increase donations.

Research Question: Which email will generate the most revenue?

Test Design: A/B split test

Experiment ID: #616Record Location: NextAfter Digital Research LibraryResearch Partner: The Heritage Foundation

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Experiment: Version A

• This email was sent by Jim DeMint, the president and most well-known leader of The Heritage Foundation, asking recipients for their support with a year-end gift

• The tone of the email is formal and professional

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Experiment: Version B

• The email was sent by Christie Fogarty, the foundation’s lesser known Director of Membership Programs, requesting donations

• The email uses a much friendlier, informal tone

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Version A

Experiment: Side-by-side comparison

Version B

?Audience Question:Which email will result in more donations?

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DesignRevenue per

VisitorRelative

DifferenceStatistical

Significance

Version A – Jim DeMint $0.03 - -

Version B – New Sender $0.14 380.7%

% Relative Change: 380.7%

99%

Experiment: Results

Increase in Revenue381%The optimized version’s revenue increased by 380.7%.

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Version B

Version A

Experiment

?Why didn’t the more formal letter sent by the well-known company president produce better results?

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Experiment: Background

Background: B2C credit counseling company wants to discover which image will produce the most leads.

Goal: To generate new leads.

Research Question: Which image will result in greater lead generation?

Test Design: A/B split test

Experiment ID: TP #1402Record Location: MECLABS Research LibraryResearch Partner: Consolidated Credit Counseling Services

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Experiment: Version A

• Version A incorporates image of generic company employee

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Experiment: Version B

• Version B incorporates image of well-know company founder

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DesignLeads

generatedRelative


Significance

Version A – Generic image 7.16% - -

Version B – Company founder 9.64% 34.6%

% Relative Change: 34.6%

95%

Experiment: Results

Increase in Leads35%Version B’s leads increased by 34.6%.

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What do these two winners have in common?

Key question

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What do these two winners have in common?

Key Question:

They both represent the right amount of humanization in each

situation.

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Why humanize your sales process?

“The funnel does not occur as a physical construct; it occurs as a

mental construct …The marketer does not optimize a sales campaign (or even

a website); the marketer optimizes a thought sequence.”

From The Marketer as PhilosopherReflection Number 5

https://goo.gl/HnUWpX

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Today, we are going to show you three ways you can humanize your sales/nurturing process and show how each case study

achieved this.

Today’s focus

I. Ensure that you have the right representation for the right conversation

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Version A

I. Right representation

• The use of a well-known, high-ranking sender with a long-form letter implies a mass, impersonal email send

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• The winning email hypothesized (and confirmed) that a lesser-known sender with a shorter, briefer message would imply a more believable, personal email send

Version B

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Not This But This

60%In Click-Rate

159%In Completion Rate

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• In the case of a homepage, however, the conversation is not at a personal level yet

• Because of this, it makes the most sense to use a more known figure to help draw someone into an introductory conversation with the company

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• In the case of a homepage, however, the conversation is not at a personal level yet.

• Because of this, it makes the most sense to use a more known figure to help draw someone in to a introductory conversation with the company.

“People don’t buy from companies, from stores or from websites; people buy from people. Marketing is not about programs; it is about relationships.”

-The Marketer’s Creed, Article I

II. Ensure that you have the right tone for the right conversation

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II. Right tone

• The losing email uses a tone that reads very much like a formal lecture

• This might make sense in other marketing materials, but not email

Version A

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II. Right tone

• The winning email, however, takes a tone that matches more closely to the expectation of the medium

• In fact, it was designed to read like a conversation and is true to the style of the actual sender

Version B

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Experiment: Right tone

Background: A large event management online software provider.

Goal: To increase total lead inquiries (phone calls and form sign-ups) from visitors who abandoned the free trial sign-up process.

Research Question: Which email tone will result in a higher rate of lead inquiries?

Test Design: A/B single-factor split test

Experiment ID: TP2083Record Location: MECLABS Research LibraryResearch Partner: Active Network

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Subject Line: Your Free RegOnline Access

Dear [Name],

You’re just one step away from getting FREE access to RegOnline, our award winning Event Registration and Management Software. Quickly make an event website, try our event marketing tools, build a registration form template or even generate custom name badges.

Click here to finish your profile and get started. Your personal profile is kept secure and we promise NEVER to sell or misuse your information.

Have questions? Call us direct at 1-800-XXX-XXXX -- we can even set up your free access over the phone.

Sincerely,

Jon PowellCustomer Service RepresentativeRegOnlineDirect: 1-800-XXX-XXXX ext. [email protected]

Control

• The Control email uses typical sales tone of a direct-response email

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Subject Line: Your Free RegOnline Access

Hi [First],

I noticed that you started the process of getting free access to RegOnline but weren’t able to finish. Are you concerned about giving out your phone number? Are you worried about high pressure sales tactics or mandatory contracts?

We believe our product sells itself, so we’re just here to provide you with whatever assistance you need in getting your event up and running - in whatever way works best for you. We promise NEVER to sell or misuse your information.

Call me direct at 1-800-XXX-XXXX and I can help get you rolling. If you’d rather just try again online, use this link instead.

Thank you in advance for your trust!

Sincerely,

[Name of Representative]Customer Service RepresentativeRegOnlineDirect: 1-800-XXX-XXXX ext. XXXX[name]@RegOnline.com

Treatment

• The treatment directly addresses the anxiety of completing the process

• It takes on a categorical shift in tone — from a direct-response tone to a customer service tone

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Design Inquiry RateRelative


Significance

Control – Company-centric 1.58% - -

Treatment – Customer-centric 7.08% 349.41% 99%


Increase in Lead Inquiry Rate349%The service tone achieved a statistically significant increase in inquiries.

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Design Inquiry RateRelative


Significance

Control – Company-centric 1.58% - -

Treatment – Customer-centric 7.08% 349.41% 99%

Experiment: Right Tone

Increase in lead inquiry rate349%The service tone achieved a statistically significant increase in inquiries

“Brand is just reputation; marketing is just conversation, and

buying is an act of trust.”

-The Marketer’s Creed, Article II

III. Ensure that you have the right level of clarity for the right conversation

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Version A

III. Right clarity

• The losing email asks donors to blindly give without establishing how donations will be used

• In addition, the calls-to-action either omit the desired action or are easily missed by being placed in the middle of a long sentence

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III. Right clarity

Version B

• The winning email, however, walks through why donations are needed and how they will be used

• In addition, the call-to-action is very clear and direct

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Background:• Client: Good of All

• Email acquisition campaign with traffic being driven from Facebook

• Headline “talks down” to the visitor

• Call-to-action focuses on what I must do

Control

III. Right clarity

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Tested Elements:• Copy is more clear and tells

the reader what they want to know.

• The copy also addresses reader as a “fellow world-changer.”

• Call-to-action communicates value: what I get and when get it.

Treatment

III. Right clarity

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Control Treatment

133.7% increase

in conversion rate

III. Right clarity

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Enhancing Clarity

133.7% increase in names acquired

Version Conv. Rate Relative Diff Stat Confidence

Control 1.3%

Treatment 3.1% 133.7% 98.0%

Key Learning:

By communicating more clearly the value of the offer, rather than the

action required, the conversion rate improved by 133.7%✓

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III. Right clarity

• In the case of a homepage, the new visitor is still forming their understanding of who the company is and how it might be able to serve them

• In this case, you want to ensure that the potential customer is aware that a figure they may know and trust actually founded the company and is engaged in it

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III. Right clarity

• In the case of a homepage, the new visitor is still forming their understanding of who the company is and how they might be able to serve them.

• In this case, you want to ensure that the potential customer is aware that a figure they may know and trust actually founded the company and is engaged in it.

“Testing trumps speculation and that clarity trumps persuasion.”

-The Marketer’s Creed, Article III

SUMMARY

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Summary

FKey principles

1. People don’t buy from (or give to) companies, stores or websites; people buy from people. Leverage this principle in your own marketing by making your sales/nurture process the personification of a human relationship.

2. As detailed in today’s case studies, here are three ways you can humanize your marketing:

1. Ensure that you have the right representation for the right conversation.

2. Ensure that you have the right tone for the right conversation.

3. Ensure that you have the right clarity for the right conversation.

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More from NextAfter.com

Find out which page won at:http://tinyurl.com/nextafter

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LIVE OPTIMIZATION

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Live Optimization: Advantage Route Systems

Primary Audience: B2B

Page Purpose: Lead-gen, encourage requests for free demo of accounting software suite

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Live Optimization: EntirelyPets

Primary Audience: Conscientious pet owners

Page Purpose: Ecommerce

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Live Optimization: EMercury

Primary Audience: B2B

Page Purpose: Lead-gen, email marketing solution

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Live Optimization: Whistler Travel Insurance

Primary Audience: Canadian travelers

Page Purpose: Insurance sales

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