When it comes to successful email marketing, making sure that readers open your emails is only half the battle. As stunning as the design may be, you don’t want people sticking around and admiring the scenery for too long. Whether you’re announcing a holiday sale or promoting a new product, you have one goal - driving more clicks and moving readers out of the inbox and into your website or landing page. Your click-through rate (CTR), the percentage of clicks your email gets, is a good way to gauge your engagement levels. You should aim for a minimum of 2%. By tracking it you can learn just how many subscribers are taking action on your emails.
Catch Them Where You Can
Every part of your email - from the layout to the content - should be focused towards pushing readers to click. Here are 3 easy ways to raise your CTR through the roof:
Put your buttons front-and-center. Let’s start with the most obvious gateway - your call-to-action (CTA) buttons. Readers instinctively look for prominent buttons to click on. Make sure that they stand out in terms of color and size, and put them near the top of the email (“above the fold”) just in case someone doesn't scroll all the way down. And of course, don’t forget to add the link!
Link your logo, text & images. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket with a single CTA button. Give readers lots of chances to click by peppering links throughout your email in your logo, text and images.
Keep your messaging focused and distraction-free by linking to only one website or landing page (secondary social media links in the footer are fine). Meaning, if you want customers to RSVP to your upcoming event, don’t include a competing link to something else.
Give readers a taste of what’s to come. Your entire email is essentially a teaser of your website or landing page. It should tell readers what they are going to see when they click - and give them a compelling reason to do so. By focusing on the benefits, you’re in a better position to convince them to click and take action. Keep it short and sweet for easy scanning, and don’t get bogged down in rambling paragraphs.
Convince Readers to Click
Your email’s effectiveness is only as good as your click-through rate. Yet it’s a tricky balance to achieve - your message should be engaging enough to hold their attention, and intriguing enough to persuade them to move forward. If you see that your CTR is just not up to par, test out any of these best practices to up your game.