A/B testing allows you to compare different versions of your emails to see which performs better. This guide covers how to create, manage, and analyze A/B variants in Reachkit.

How A/B Testing Works

In Reachkit, you can create multiple variants (A, B, C, etc.) for each step in your email sequence. When your campaign runs, Reachkit distributes sends evenly across all enabled variants.

The distribution works by always sending from the variant with the fewest sends. So if you add a new variant mid-campaign, it will receive more sends until it catches up with the others.

Creating Variants

Go to your campaign and open the Sequences tab
Select the sequence step you want to test
Click Add Variant
Write your alternative subject line and email body
Repeat to add as many variants as you need

Each variant can have a different subject line and email body, allowing you to test completely different approaches or just small changes.

Subject Lines in Follow-up Steps

For follow-up steps (Step 2, 3, etc.), the subject line is optional. If you leave it empty, it inherits the subject from the corresponding variant in the earlier step. So Variant B in Step 2 will use “RE: [Variant B’s Step 1 subject]”.

Viewing Results

To see how your variants are performing:

Go to your campaign’s Analytics tab
Scroll to the bottom to find the per-variant breakdown
For each step, you’ll see each variant’s:
- Number of emails sent
- Reply rate
- Positive reply rate

Enabling and Disabling Variants

You can toggle variants on or off in two places:

Sequences tab: Use the toggle next to each variant
Analytics tab: Use the toggle in the variant breakdown section

Disabled variants won’t receive any new sends but their analytics remain visible.

Deleting Variants

You can delete variants entirely, but be careful. Deleting a variant also deletes its analytics data permanently.

Best Practice: Changing Your Copy

When you want to update your email copy, don’t just edit the existing variant. Instead:

Create a new variant with your updated copy
Immediately disable the old variant

This approach lets you compare reply rates between your old and new versions. If you simply edit an existing variant, the analytics will combine results from both versions of the copy, and you won’t know which performed better.

Tips for Effective A/B Testing

Test one element at a time for clearer insights (e.g., just subject lines, or just the opening line)
Let tests run long enough to get meaningful data before drawing conclusions
Check both reply rate and positive reply rate, more replies isn’t always better if they’re not interested

A/B Testing Your Email Sequences