Email marketing continues to be one of the most impactful marketing mediums for brands. And with an average ROI of $36 for every dollar spent, it’s not surprising that more businesses are interested in email marketing. Email is the best way to send targeted messages and build brand awareness, purchase intent, and customer loyalty––no matter the industry, niche, or product.
Of course, for you to enjoy that return on investment, subscribers need to actually open–and click through–your emails.
The click-through rate (CTR) is the second most important metric of your email campaign. The first is the open rate. A great email draws readers in and gets them to click.
What is the Average Email Click-Through-Rate?
According to the latest data from Mailchimp, the average email CTR is 2.6% across all industries. Hobbies and media emails can generate click-through rates as high as 5%, while e-commerce typically hovers around 2%.
How Can I Craft Emails that Convert?
A disappointing CTR can feel like a punch to the gut––especially after having a smashing open rate.
Part of the joy of email marketing is that emails can continuously be improved.
Follow the tips below for boosting your email CTRs.
Keep it On Brand
The widespread impact and value of brand consistency across all content channels cannot be overstated. It’s essential to make your emails look, feel, and sound consistent with your brand/website. This can be accomplished by adding your logo as the first element of your email and using your brand’s colors, fonts, and messaging.
Use a Laser-focused Layout for Offering Content
How you present your content determines how readers receive it. If your email is designed well, your readers should naturally move toward your Call-to-Action (CTA.)
The F-pattern format is how most people will read (scan) your email. Always aim to offer the most important content immediately. Campaign Monitor got a 127% increase in email click-throughs by redesigning their email.
Keep it Short and Sweet
(And by ‘it,’ we mean your sales copy.)
Make Your CTAs Stand Out
Use buttons to add your primary CTAs and ensure they stand out as they prompt readers to click. Link thoughtfully, though. With one CTA, it’s easier to be concise and ensure there’s no confusion about where to click. Have less crucial links? Use text links only to not distract from your primary CTA. And when you use text links in your email, ensure they are noticeably long. Mailchimp’s analysis shows that linking a phrase with around 7-10 words is great for boosting CTRs.
Get Visual
While your emails must make sense without images, designing with relevant, high-quality images increases engagement. Why? Humans are visual creatures. Emails with images have 42% higher click-through rates than emails that don’t feature any images.
On the subject of images, always remember to add relevant alt tags. You can also try adding links to images as they’re easier to click over the mobile as compared to button or text-based CTAs.
Elevate Engagement with Segmentation
Email segmentation is like a rite of passage for serious email marketers.
Repeat after me: E-BL*ST is a four-letter word.
Bulk email can only get you so far, and the time of mass email messaging is long over.
Email personalization is absolutely essential for retention and engagement. At this point, seven out of ten subscribers expect it. Meanwhile, nearly half of consumers say it frustrates them when brands don’t provide personalized content. (Which, if you stop for a moment and think about your own email inbox, you’d most likely agree.)
Segmenting your list is the first step you should take down the road to hyper-personalization. Not only does this make customers happy, but marketers say they notice a 20% increase in sales after launching personalized email campaigns.
If you want to provide subscribers with the most relevant content possible, you must segment that list of contacts, especially if you have a lot of subscribers. Email segmentation simply means dividing your email list into smaller groups of people. There are endless possibilities for segmenting your contact list, for example, past purchase history, product/service preference, geolocation, content interest, browsing behavior, stage of sales funnel, time zones, weather, occupation, homeowner vs renter, buyer vs seller, and so on.
(A)lways (B)e A/B Testing
With each campaign, use A/B testing, or split testing, to see how different elements of your emails impact our click-through rates. Test out different types of: Headers, Images, Subject Lines, Copy, and CTA Buttons.
Pay Attention to Analytics
Every brand is unique, and that uniqueness extends to its email marketing. What do your analytics say? Do you see higher click-through rates or open rates on certain days or times of the week? Try adjusting your email schedule to optimize your click-through rates.
Make it Mobile Friendly
Mobile email open rates are steadily growing. Today, 81% of all emails are now opened and read on mobile devices.
What do your readers do when you send them an email that isn’t optimized for mobile? They delete it. In fact, 80% delete the email immediately.
And companies are realizing the importance of email marketing optimization. As many as nine in ten businesses are developing a strategy to optimize their email layout. By making your emails responsive, you won’t just extend a smooth mobile experience to your readers, you will also hold their attention for longer (thereby getting more clicks).
Final Thoughts
Following these email best practices and adopting simple design tweaks can result in a higher CTR. Cue the Nora Ephron vibes.
Looking for more tips on building an email marketing strategy that leads to clicks and conversions? Drop us a line.
