Use A/B testing to optimize and improve your email marketing efforts and referral engagement. Send out two versions of your invite emails, then compare and analyze the metrics to see which one performs better.
Note: A/B testing is only available for the English version of the invite email in your campaign's Emails & Pages.
A/B testing best practices
Plan your tests. Start with a clear goal and define what you want to learn. Are you testing your subject line, email body, banner images, or call-to-action buttons (CTAs)?
Optimize the content. Change one variable at a time. This helps you isolate which change was most effective in capturing your customers' attention.
Decide when to end. Set a duration or recipient count that marks the end of the test. Ending too early may skew the results, while testing too long may lead to inconsistent messaging that may confuse your customers.
Monitor the progress. Compare metrics like open rates and click-through rates. Identify which version drove more engagement and referrals.
Select the winner. Pick the better-performing email and roll it out to your customers. Use your findings to refine future email content and strategies.
Pro Tip: Read the Promoting your referral program article to learn how you can draft compelling and attention-grabbing referral emails.
A/B testing emails
Manually create a variant of your referral email and choose the version that performs better based on metrics.
Set up your test email
From the ReferralCandy dashboard, go to Campaigns > Select your campaign > A/B Testing.
Click Create a new test.
In the I want to test dropdown, select post purchase emails, also known as the post-enrollment or invite email. Only invite emails can be A/B tested.
Click Edit Email B to edit the variant. You can change the branding or the content of the invite email. Save your edits.
In the I want to start dropdown, select immediately to start the test now, or select at a specified time to schedule the test.
Click Start test. A popup appears. Click Start test to confirm.
Manually select the winner
You can only do one invite or referral email A/B test. 50% of your customers receive Email A, and 50% receive Email B. Monitor the performance of the two versions on the A/B Testing page. To select the winner:
Go back to the A/B Testing page.
Find the active test and click View More. Use the side-by-side data comparison between the control and variant performances to pick a winner:
Keep & End Test - Set the control as the default email
Select Email B - Set the variant as the default email
End Test - The test ends without changes to your campaign. The control remains the default email.
A popup appears. Confirm your selection.
Once the test ends, you can create a new one. Ending a test is irreversible.
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