Two years ago, newsletter giant The Hustle started running a test that earned 43,876 additional clicks in their emails. 

Not 44,000 total. 44,000 more. 

If you’re like me, you’d do terrible things for that kind of engagement. 

So I banged on their managing editor’s door and demanded to know his secrets.

Thankfully, the process is simple and repeatable — no terrible things required. So put down that crowbar, because I’m going to share a process that you can start today. 

Inside Scoop

The How-To That They Do

Ben Berkley, the managing editor of The Hustle and former executive editor of The Onion, perpetually sports an impish grin. Which is fitting, because behind that grin is a deceptively simple method — with some twists coming up. 

Here’s how it works:

Every weekday morning, Ben cooks up two separate subject lines for each newsletter. At 5:30 am ET, each subject line is sent to only 30% of The Hustle’s audience.

After an hour, the variant with the most engagement is automatically sent to the remaining 40% of recipients.

“That’s it?” you’re thinking. “It’s just a stinkin’ A/B test?!”

Not so fast. I promised you twists:

1. The variations are sent to four predefined subscriber segments.
   
   

    

2. The winner is based on the click-through rate (CTR) — not the open rate. 
   
   

    

3. Ben’s secret sauce: The WTF factor.

Inside, Ben spills the actual rules The Hustle's editorial team follows, plus instructions for recreating the test for yourself. 

Open Tabs

• 📊  Email marketing benchmarks by industry (+ email open rate data)
  
  
• 🔥  11 Sure-Fire Ways to Increase Email Click-Through Rates
  
  
• 💡  30 Brilliant Marketing Email Campaign Examples [+ Template]