Five articles instead of three in a newsletter: higher click rate
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsHomeAdvisor's newsletter got a higher click rate when it carried up to five articles instead of three, though no figures were shared.
HomeAdvisor ran the test itself, and it was published as a MarketingSherpa case study.
- Click rate: increased with more articles. The size of the lift was not shared.
- Time in email: the team suspected readers spent longer in the email, but this was not measured in the source.
The change
The variant adds two more article modules.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
HomeAdvisor's modular newsletter featured three articles.
Variant
The same newsletter featured up to five articles, giving readers more things to click.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- More articles mean more chances that one topic matches a reader's current project.
- HomeAdvisor sent only to engaged subscribers, who are more likely to browse a longer email.
- Longer reading time may also send good engagement signals to inbox providers, which was part of the team's thinking.
Caveats: No click figures, sample size or test length were shared. The test ran on an engaged-only list around 2014.
Who ran it
HomeAdvisor ran this test and published the results (MarketingSherpa case study). The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
Read the original case study on HomeAdvisor →
How to run this test on your site
- Hypothesis
- If we include five articles in our newsletter instead of three, then click rate will rise because readers have more chances to find a topic they care about.
- Primary metric
- Newsletter click rate
- Guardrails
- Conversions from newsletter clicks
- Unsubscribe rate
- Mobile rendering and load time
- Who should test it
- Lead-gen and content businesses with broad audiences and plenty of articles. It may not help when the newsletter has one main call to action you don't want diluted.
Questions
How many articles should a newsletter have?
Test it for your audience. HomeAdvisor saw a higher click rate with up to five articles than with three.
Do more links in an email hurt conversions?
They can split attention from one main goal.
Track conversions as well as clicks when adding more content.
MarketingExperiments