Ok. You’ve got a growing email list. Your subject lines are on point and you’re getting your audience to open your emails. You’re in good shape, right? Not so fast. Getting your customers/clients and prospects to open your emails is only the first step (albeit a big one). Now that you’ve got their attention, what do you do? How do you go about improving email click-through rates?
First off, what constitutes a “good” click-through rate varies by industry, so before you get too concerned about your “low” numbers, make sure you aren’t setting the bar too high. Still, there are always methods you can take to improve email click-through rates. It all starts with having a clearly defined goal.
Why do you want the contacts on your list to open your email? More importantly, why should they open it? Whether you’re promoting a new product or initiative or trying to get more traffic to your website or more subscribers to your newsletter, you’ve got to have a purpose. Not to say you can’t include other things (links to your blogs, social media sites, curated industry content, etc.), but your call to action needs to be clear. And it needs to be dominant. Whatever it is that you want your readers to do, make sure that your email clearly defines the action you want them to take.
A focused message that effectively lays out essential information and makes it easy for the reader to take action will go a long way to improving email click-through rates.
Here are some other steps you can take.
Pretend your users only want the facts. Be clear and concise and make it very easy for your audience to do what you want them to do. More than that, motivate them. Show a little personality and be enthusiastic. Create a sense of urgency. Get them to act now.
How? For one, use the same link (to your landing page, signup form, whatever) multiple times. Give them more than one opportunity to click. Take it a step further and include engaging photos or buttons to click. Include social sharing buttons as well. Buttons are effective, especially on mobile devices where a text link might be difficult to hone in on and click.
Make people feel special. Show your subscribers that the only way they’re getting this info is by clicking the links in the email. And start your promotions with an email. People love to be first and “in the know.” Conveying this in your emails will drive more people to click.
Think outside the box. Videos are engaging and more and more people are preferring them to the traditional text email, especially if you’ve got a lot of information to share. If you can’t get your point across in a quick blurb or graphic, say it with video (one that is, of course, clickable and leads your audience where you want them to go).
Triggered email campaigns — automated emails that get sent (triggered) when a user performs (or doesn’t perform) a specific action on your website — not only get high engagement rates, but also high click-through rates. In fact, a benchmark report from Lifecycle Marketing showed that triggers generated almost five times the click rate, almost double the open rate, and almost triple the CTO rate, yet made up just under seven percent of total campaigns marketers sent.
It’s all about timing. Triggered emails deliver targeted messages right when your users are looking at and thinking about your business. Not only that, they show that you value your clients. You know what they want and need, you know when they need it and you deliver it to them without them having to put in the legwork. You’re saving time, too. By automating your emails, you can spend more time on strategy, overall campaign performance, and other big picture items.
Ever hear of the serial position effect? It’s the tendency of a person to best recall the first and last items in a series, versus the items in the middle. Savvy marketers are taking advantage of this by including a “P.S.” call to action at the end of their emails. Think about how many times you open an email, but just scroll through it to find something interesting. If your text or links or buttons or whatever aren’t doing the job, a P.S. could be your last line of defense.
A P.S. is mysterious. It’s engaging. It’s a way to say, “hey, by the way, click here and you’ll really get something you’ll like.” Your P.S. could summarize the offer you just laid out, or deliver an additional key benefit that will truly entice your audience. It could be a testimonial of why your offer is so great. It could cause a further sense of urgency, or it can be positioned as an aside that seems to be directed specifically at your audience.
However you craft your P.S. -- your final thought -- the point is you’re highlighting your call to action in a different and unique way. And, anything you can do to stand out and draw attention is a good thing.
We’ve specialized in effective email marketing since 2003. If you need help improving email click-through rates, let’s talk. Contact us today!