Not many will be aware of the impact that email marketing played in getting President Barack Obama re-elected to the most powerful position in the world.

20 writers working around the clock generated a staggering $690 million for the campaign. So how did they do it? After all many have been doom mongering email marketing for some years now.

The answer lies in the research. Extensive A/B testing was carried out on all aspects of each email campaign, from the wording used to the subject lines and the layout of the emails themselves. Up to 18 variations of each email were tested and only once there was a clear winner that resonated with recipients was the campaign pushed out to the entire database of millions of subscribers.

The results of the research and testing were fascinating. They found that tone of voice was a key ingredient. Despite being mocked on many popular US television programmes the campaign found that subject lines that were similar to those used by people you may know were definite winners. Subject titles such as “Hey” and “We should go to dinner” were used. The most popular subject of “I will be outspent” was the top performing campaign email, generating $2.6 million alone.

It wasn’t necessarily the highly styled donate buttons that brought the most success – with large and bold font sizes on links proving to increase their click through rates.

Research also indicated that there was no upper limit for the amount of emails a recipient was willing to receive from the campaign, with no clear increase in people unsubscribing as they received more and more emails.

So email marketing does still have a role to play after all – who would have thought it!

To get your own email marketing up and running please give us a call on or email hello@mihidigital.co.uk