# Several content offers in one rented-list email: +197% opt-ins

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Email (Lead-gen)
- Elements: Email copy, Content
- Date shared: 2017-01
- Test run by: [MarketingExperiments](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/marketingexperiments/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://marketingexperiments.com/a-b-testing/sermo-increased-opt-in-rate
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/sermo-multi-article-rented-list-email/

Offering several content options in one email, instead of a single survey article, lifted the email capture rate by 197% among Sermo's most qualified prospects. The MECLABS team ran the test with Sermo, a physicians-only social network, and published it on MarketingExperiments. The lift applies to people who clicked twice in the email, not to all recipients.

## Result

**+197% opt-ins**

- Email capture rate among people who clicked twice (the most qualified prospects): +197%.
- The lift is for that segment only. The source does not report the effect on all recipients.
- Earlier single-article tests came back inconclusive, but conversion varied widely by article, which led to this test.

## Control

An email to a rented list of pharma industry contacts promoted one article built on Sermo's survey data. A download button opened a pop-up asking for an email and other details.

## Variant

The email offered several content options in the same send, so readers could pick the topic that interested them.

## Why it likely won (our reading)

- When content drives most of the difference, offering a choice raises the odds that each reader finds a topic worth an opt-in.
- Rented-list readers do not know the sender, so a menu of offers gives them more reasons to engage.
- People who click twice are already showing intent, and more options give them more chances to convert.

## Caveats

The reported lift covers only people who clicked twice, and the source does not share sample size, duration or confidence. The test dates from around 2017.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we offer several content pieces in one email to a rented list, then more qualified readers will opt in because each one is more likely to find a topic that fits their needs.
- Primary metric: Email capture (opt-in) rate per recipient and per engaged clicker
- Guardrail: Click-through rate
- Guardrail: Lead quality of captured contacts
- Guardrail: Unsubscribe and spam complaint rate
- Who should test it: B2B lead-gen teams that rent lists or sponsor sends and gate content behind a form. It may not help if you have only one strong asset, or if your list already knows exactly what it wants.

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Credit: MarketingExperiments ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/sermo-multi-article-rented-list-email/).
Usage: Free to use, quote and build on, with credit and a link: name the practitioner or organization that ran the test and link to its LiftArchive page. The results belong to the practitioners who ran and shared them; the summaries and commentary are LiftArchive's.