Test two subject lines and read your email results

The Statistics tab shows how your email has done over the last 30 days: how many were delivered, opened and clicked, and how many people bought something afterwards. If you gave a campaign two subject lines, it also tells you which one won.

Before you start

• A campaign that is still a draft, if you want to test two subject lines. Once a campaign is sent, its subject cannot change.
• For results, at least one campaign sent in the last 30 days.

Steps

Give a campaign two subject lines

1. Go to Marketing › Email › Campaigns and click the draft campaign to open it.
2. Under Subject, click + Test a second subject line. The first box is now Subject A and a Subject B box appears.
3. Type the second version in Subject B. For example, Wick & Ember Candle Co. might test "Our autumn candles are back" against "15% off autumn candles, this week only".
4. Send or schedule the campaign as usual.

Half your audience gets each subject. They alternate down the list, so both halves have the same mix of old and new contacts. To go back to one subject before sending, click remove beside Subject B.

Read your results

1. Go to Marketing › Email and open the Statistics tab. The Engagement summary covers the last 30 days.
2. Read the four rows: - Delivered: emails that reached an inbox. - Opened: the share of delivered emails that were opened. - Clicked: the share that had a link clicked. - Ordered: people who paid for something within a week after one of your emails reached them.
3. To see one campaign on its own, change Everything sent to the campaign's name. Only sent campaigns are listed.
4. If that campaign had two subject lines, a Subject line test box appears above the figures. It shows each subject with how many of its emails were opened and the open rate.

What happens next

• The verdict under the subject line test says Subject A or Subject B "was opened ... points more often. Worth using next time" only when the result is clear: at least 100 emails sent and a gap of 5 points or more. Anything smaller reads "Too close to call", because a difference that small is as likely to be chance as anything you wrote.
• Ordered records that an email arrived and a purchase followed. It does not prove the email caused the purchase.
• Emails sent by a workflow have their own figures. Open Automations › Workflows and click the arrow at the start of a workflow's row to see Sent, Delivered, Opened, Clicked and Bounced.

Troubleshooting

The Statistics tab says "Nothing sent in the last 30 days". The figures come from campaigns you send, and only the last 30 days count. Send a campaign from the Campaigns tab and its numbers appear here.

My campaign is not in the list next to Everything sent. Only campaigns that have been sent are listed. Drafts, scheduled campaigns and cancelled ones are not.

I chose a campaign and it says it "has not been delivered to anybody in this window." It was sent more than 30 days ago, or nothing it sent was delivered. The tab only looks back 30 days.

There is no Subject line test box. The campaign was sent with a single subject. You have to add Subject B before sending; it cannot be added afterwards.

The test says "Too close to call" every time. Your sends are small or the two subjects performed almost the same. Send to more people, or test two subjects that are more different from each other.

I can't find the "+ Test a second subject line" link. It only appears on campaigns you write on the Campaigns tab. Emails sent straight from Contacts and emails inside a workflow have a single subject.

Related

• Create and send an email campaign
• Find, organise and reuse your campaigns
• See who went through a workflow