The 2023 ANA Email Evolution Conference (EEC) – Litmus

If you’re following the thrilling adventures of Team Litmus, you’ll know our team hit the road last month for one of the biggest email events of the year! That’s right, we’re talking about the 2023 ANA Email Evolution Conference, better known as the EEC. We did all the things one normally does at a conference, including networking, taking notes, and handing out adorable plush moose (aka, Litmoose). 

The Litmoose are on the loose!

Drop by and say hi to @carinslater, @logansandrock, and @hannahjtiner at the @ANAmarketers Email Evolution Conference!#ANAEEC pic.twitter.com/GvzvKZ0rIf

— Litmus (@litmusapp) February 7, 2023

Totally normal. 

Anyway, we couldn’t attend a landmark event like this without recording it for posterity. So without further ado, here are a few of our team’s takeaways from the 2023 ANA Email Evolution Conference!

Test, test, and test some more

Are you testing your emails, your audiences, your creatives? You should be testing all of the above at the very least. And however much you’re testing, you could be testing more. Once one A/B test is complete, that’s the perfect time to start the next one. 

We saw several speakers strongly emphasize the importance of A/B testing for more effective and more profitable email campaigns. If you’re not testing, you’re just doing the same thing over and over. 

Let’s talk about churn

Churn is the bogeyman for us email marketers. The shadow that hangs over our inboxes (and our engagement rates.) We heard several leaders in their industries share injunctions to check for churn… and some interesting suggestions for better places to check for warning signs of churn. 

Places to keep an eye on:

• Onboarding campaigns. When are people opting out? 
• Sign-ups. Are your “Welcome to the Family” emails being met with the cold shoulder?
• Platform use. Where are you losing folks? 

Knowing when your subscribers are churning is the first step towards knowing how to put a stop to it. You can’t fix a problem you don’t understand!

You’re talking to your customers… but are you listening to them?

Everyone wants a shortcut to better engagement rates, higher clickthrough rates, or more conversions. But the honest truth is that sometimes, there is no secret sauce. What works for others might not work for your customers. 

But there is good news. While your customers might need a different and unique experience than other businesses’ customers, you can figure out what that is with just one simple trick: ask them. Engaging with your customers wherever you can and tuning into their needs can often be the quickest path to better performance with prospects. 

Thinking outside the box

Finally, our last takeaway is a roundup of some of the most radical takes we heard throughout the 2023 ANA Email Evolution Conference. 

Some of our favorite rad takes: 

• Efficiency drives us to homogeneity. Don’t let speed cost you your originality!
• In email, you own the database and know your audience better than anyone else. Take advantage of this thorough knowledge of your audience wherever you can!
• Which is better, a direct call-to-action (CTA) or a softer sell CTA? Food for thought.
• Segment your audience differently to open your mind to different ways of delivering information. Sort contacts by loyalty, acquisition type, or level of engagement. How will your emails change? 

In the email game, it’s easy to get stuck in the mindset of “this is how we’ve always done it”. This can cause us to miss out on awesome opportunities or innovative ideas—and risks inboxes across the land suffering from the same old thing.

And that’s one of the best parts about getting out to events like the EEC. Alllll the new ideas! 

Well, that’s all we got, folks. Thanks for coming to our roundup of what you missed (or just wanted a recap of) from the 2023 ANA Email Evolution Conference!