When it comes to Insurance Agency Web marketing, the Split Test is an important tool, offering powerful insights into campaign optimization and conversion efficacy. A/B split testing is also used in traditional marketing and advertising, though for the purposes of this article, we’ll focus on a specific aspect of web marketing split tests, namely insurance agency emarketing. A/B split testing is an empirical approach used to ascertain optimum conversion rate (click-through rate) for a website, landing page, banner ad or email campaign.
In the case of insurance emarketing, two versions of an email are created (version A and B), and are then compared for effectiveness. Typically the emails are identical except for one modification which can, or at least theoretically can, impact conversion rate. For example, Version A might have one call to action, while Version B includes two call to actions. Or Version A might have 3 bullets while Version B has 5 bullets. Variations can be overt, or quite subtle. Insurance agents can also test fulfillment choices. For example, which is of greater interests to prospects, on demand video, live webinars, a case study, blog entry or newsletter. A/B split tests can test the copy of the outbound messages, and/or the fulfillment used for the call to action. Insurance marketers can then measure important emarketing campaign fundamentals including open rate, unique click-through rate and total click-through rate to mention a few of the key metrics. Let’s review an email campaign example.
Perhaps your insurance agency has a database of 4,000 prospects and you decide to create an email campaign offering a webinar on PPACA Compliance & Pay or Play Penalties. Email Version A, uses a short subject line. Email version B is identical, but notes the speaker name in the subject line and the email copy. Your split test is sent to 2,000 prospects each. All other elements of the email and layout are identical. Your agency can then measure which campaign has the highest success rate by analyzing the response fundamentals of each campaign. Let’s look at some hypothetical analytics.
Let’s say that Campaign A yielded an Open Rate of 20% with 100 Unique Clicks and 150 Total Clicks. And Campaign B yielded an Open Rate of 28% with 140 Unique Clicks and 265 Total Clicks. The results of the A/B split test are obvious in this case, though in other instances the results can be subtle, or the split test can determine there is no effective difference between the campaigns. The important aspect of split testing, assuming your agency has the necessary skills and resources in place to execute and measure the results, is that it allows the opportunity to experiment and optimize with a modest incremental effort.
Multivariate testing is similar to A/B testing, but tests multiple email iterations at the same time. For agencies seeking to test more email elements at the same time, they can arrange two or more simultaneous split tests for their prospects. For example, in the scenario above, an agency can execute two A/B tests with four emails to 1,000 contracts each, and then measure the results. This would provide more granular results in a shorter time period. It’s also important to note that split tests do not need to be sent to the entirety of a database. They can be sent to a statistically significant sampling, and measured for optimization. Let’s say Version B outperformed all other versions, Version B can then be sent to the balance of the list.
A/B split tests, or multivariate split testing allows agencies to optimize their insurance emarketing efforts. It allows them to analyze click-through and open rates, subject lines, email copy, layout and call to action options. It’s a great opportunity for agencies to measure and refine, and to improve their insurance agency emarketing initiatives, to generate more insurance agency leads.