Microtests

You don’t need a subscriber base of 20K people to run email tests.

Your database, whether it’s 10 or 100 people, is your own little universe. See it is as your focus group. A sophisticated software would be ideal, but lobster isn’t always on the menu. 

Before sending a message to your entire list, grab a few random samples and test variations of your email on them. Which one brings in better results? That’s the one you get to send the entire database.