When building and evaluating your mobile program, it is important to consider best practices, benchmarks, and case study results. However, it is even more critical to continuously test your strategies. The best strategies for maximum engagement and return can be entirely different from retailer to retailer, niche to niche, or business model to business model.

SMS is an entirely different messaging channel than email, so your tried-and-true email strategies will likely not be as effective via text. You must learn your audience's text preferences to ensure lower unsubscribe rates and higher response rates.

It's easy to create and review strategies with Listrak’s automated A/B split testing tool.  

A/B testing your SMS messages is an effective tool to learn about your subscriber's wants and needs and understand what motivates them to engage and react. The goal of A/B testing is to tweak small details in your message and compare two versions (variant “A” and variant “B”) to see which performs better with the audience. For example, you can test your message’s wording, content, timing and more. The results are data-driven insights you apply to your messages to maximize effectiveness.

Here are a few A/B strategies and tips to get to know your audience and ultimately improve message performance:

Message Content Testing 

Message content tests help you understand what motivates your subscribers. Consider: 

• Do your customers need a lot of detail upfront?
• Do they need a visual?
• Can a different offer result in better redemption rates?
• Are they more enticed with "surprise and delight" copy?
• What product categories bring in the most site traffic?
  

Set up message content tests to see what results in more clicks and what converts higher.

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Look for Statistical Significance 

As you test and analyze your results, look for statistical significance. Trying something one time does not mean the same thing will happen again, so make ongoing testing a part of your regular marketing calendar and look for clear winners. 

Remember, no matter how well your mobile program is doing, there is always room for improvement. Listrak’s A/B testing helps you send messages more effectively than before. 

Learn more about SMS marketing with Listrak.