Email marketing is a powerful tool to drive customers to your website. But which tactics are best if you want to get more customers clicking through?
In this blog post, we explore fifteen tactics you can use to improve your email click-through rate.
What is email click-through rate?
Your email click-through rate is the percentage of people who click through from a link in your email to your website.
Click-through rate is an important measure of how effective your emails are at influencing the behaviour of your target audience.
Compelling someone to click through to your website pushes them one step closer to converting.
How do you calculate click-through rate?
Click-through rate is calculated by dividing the number of unique link clicks by the number of emails delivered. This is then multiplied by one hundred to give a percentage:
Unique link clicks/Number of emails delivered x 100 = Click-through rate
What is a good click-through rate?
According to GetResponse, the average email click-through rate in the UK is 3.51 percent. This is averaged out across industries.
But how do click-through rates for different industries compare? Here’s a breakdown of the industry click-through rates that are relevant to our clients here at Pure360:
| Industry | Click-through rate |
| Health and beauty | 4.56% |
| Retail | 3.47% |
| Technology | 3.91% |
| Travel | 3.22% |
How to improve your email click-through rate
Improving your email click-through rate is crucial if you want to boost conversions and grow your bottom line.
Here are fifteen tactics you can use to do improve your click-through rates:
1. Have one clear objective
Best practice dictates that it’s more effective to have a single objective within each email. Too many competing call to actions can leave readers confused as to what you want them to do next, resulting in them doing nothing.
This phenomenon is often referred to as choice overload or choice paralysis. In 2000, psychologists Sheena Iyengar and Mark Lepper published a study about the impact of choice on the purchase behaviour. The study took place in a supermarket where they had a display selling different types of jam.
On the first day, the display contained a choice of 24 types of jam. The following day they reduced the choice to only six.
The result of the study revealed that the while the 24 jam display gained more interested, people were less likely to make a purchase. The six jar display ended up generating more sales.
We think consumers want lot of choice, but choice can offer a less satisfying experience and even lead to frustration.
The same theory applies to email marketing. Overloading people with lots of call to actions can reduce your click-through rates.
Decide on one action you want recipients to take. Your message should be tailored to persuade customers to take this action, and this action alone.
2. Nail your call to action
Having decided on one clear objective, create a compelling call to action that helps you achieve it.
To nail your call to action:
- ensure the content of your email builds up to a single call to action
- write compelling copy using language that resonates with your target audience
- test button style, size, text, and colour
3. Segment your database
Aim your marketing at everyone and you risk engaging no one. A one-size-fits-all approach waters down your message and results suffer.
Instead, segment your audience and tailor the content you sent to each segment. This ensures you’re sending relevant messages to the right people.
There are a number of ways you can segment your email list including:
- demographics
- online behaviour
- purchase history
4. Personalise your message
Research conducted here at Pure360 revealed over half of consumers would be more likely to engage with retailers that send them interesting or relevant offers.
Personalising your message for each segment increases relevancy and engagement. This results in a higher click-through rate.
According to Experian, the unique click rates for brands that send personalised emails are 27 percent higher than brands that don’t personalise.
5. Refresh your templates
As in any area of marketing, it is important to keep your email marketing fresh.
Customers may become tired of what they see if your emails always look the same. With boredom comes decreased engagement and fewer clicks.
Be sure to refresh your templates and keep your campaign concepts varied.
Keep up the creativity and don’t stop innovating. Your increased click-through rates will make it worth the effort.
6. Create urgency
Another way to improve your email click-through rate is by creating a sense of urgency.
Try using countdown timers that count down the hours, minutes, and seconds until a sale ends.
These are an eye-catching visual element you can add to your emails. They prompt recipients to click-through now, before they miss out.
7. Use social proof
Popularity is powerful. Use this to your advantage by including social proof in your emails.
Adding product reviews and testimonials alongside product recommendations builds trust. This makes recipients feel more confident to click through.
8. Highlight scarcity
Highlighting scarcity triggers the fear of missing out (FOMO) which encourages click-through.
Try adding real-time alerts that show items that are running low in stock to make use of this tactic.
9. Send triggered emails
Behavioural triggered emails are an effective way to keep customers on course in their journey to purchase.
Use browse and cart abandonment emails to entice customers to click back through to make a purchase.
10. Test copy length
To have maximum impact, your copy should be digestible at a glance.
Test the length of your copy and ensure your message scans well. This is the smart way to ensure your words compel that click.
11. Test send time
Your low click-through rates may be due to the time you are sending your emails.
Try testing your send times to figure out which times attract the highest number of clicks.
Or better yet, use our Intelligent Timed Sending feature to send individual emails when each recipient is most likely to open and engage.
12. Resend to non-openers
If recipients don’t open the first time, try resending.
Giving your messaging another shot increases the chance your customer will open and click through. In fact, resending to non-openers can increase campaign open rates by 50%.
13. Use an inverted pyramid design
To make your emails more persuasive, try using an inverted pyramid design.
This is a way of structuring your email so it draws recipients in and drives them to engage with your call to action.
The key design elements you need to include to use this tactic are:
- succinct headline highlighting your value proposition
- supporting messaging/imagery that sells the benefits of clicking through
- prominent and compelling call to action
14. Make emails mobile-friendly
Device type is another thing to consider if you want to maximise your email click-through rate.
Make sure your email is mobile-friendly so as not to lose out on click-throughs from recipients reading your message on the go.
h3>15. Clean your list
Our fifteenth and final tactic you can use to increase click-throughs is keeping your email list clean.
Remove those sleeping subscribers from your list who have not responded to your attempts at re-engagement. Continuing to send to them will be skewing your stats.
Make sure you also remove any incorrect email addresses that keep bouncing back.
Takeaway
Now you’re equipped with fifteen tactics to improve your email click-through rates, we hope you see engagement soar. A spike in conversions will be the natural by-product.
The tactics we’ve explored are easy to implement with the right email marketing technology in place. Learn how our email marketing platform will help improve your results by booking a demo via the button below.
