How will a direct request in a subject line affect click rates?
Experiment ID: #106665
American Cornerstone Institute
Experiment Summary
Timeframe: 09/08/2022 - 09/22/2022
In a recent housefile email send promoting the opportunity for subscribers to sign a birthday card for Dr. Ben Carson, we wanted to test how a direct request subject line that puts the call to action front and center affects open rates. We tested this against a subject line that was less direct in mentioning a “birthday surprise,” and made no other changes to the email. We sent each subject line to 50% of the house file to assess the results.
Research Question
We believe that a direct request in a subject line will improve click-through rates for a housefile send when compared to a less direct subject line.
Design
C: A surprise for Dr. Carson's birthday
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T1: Will you help me celebrate Dr. Carson's birthday?
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Results
| Treatment Name | Click Rate | Relative Difference | Confidence | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| C: | A surprise for Dr. Carson's birthday | 6.5% | ||
| T1: | Will you help me celebrate Dr. Carson's birthday? | 6.8% | 4.5% | 96.7% |
This experiment has a required sample size of 54,420 in order to be valid. Since the experiment had a total sample size of 128,313, and the level of confidence is above 95% the experiment results are valid.
Flux Metrics Affected
The Flux Metrics analyze the three primary metrics that affect revenue (traffic, conversion rate, and average gift). This experiment produced the following results:
4.5% increase in traffic
× 0% increase in conversion rate
× 0% increase in average gift
Key Learnings
Including a direct request in the subject line resulted in a 4.5% lift in click rates with a 96.6% level of confidence. We believe this lift occurred because the direct request better aligned recipient expectations as to what the email is all about.
The direct request version of the subject line makes it clear that the recipient is being asked to help celebrate Dr. Ben Carson’s birthday in some way while the less direct subject line merely mentions a “surprise,” without alluding to the fact that it in some way involves the recipient.
As a result, the recipients who received the direct request subject line were more primed to “help” and thus more likely to click through on a call to action that matches this expectation. Recipients of the less direct subject line may have thought they were simply being informed of a surprise, making them less primed to participate in some way.
Humans crave consistency and this test suggests that by setting an early expectation and keeping that expectation consistent through to the CTA, you are more likely to see engagement with the offer being promoted.