What is a good click through rate?
Naturally, whenever you create and send an email campaign, your aim is to encourage as many people as possible to open your email and interact with its content by clicking on links.
The email click through rate (CTR) that's reported by your email marketing system shows how many recipients have engaged with your email by clicking a link.
What counts as a good CTR? It varies by sector but we consider a good click through rate for email is generally between 2% and 5%. This level of engagement means that between 2% and 5% of the total email recipients clicked on a link or links within the email.
There are several simple things you can do to increase the number of people who click on the links in your email to view your services, offers and products. The advantage of using professional email marketing software is that real-time campaign reporting allows you to instantly see what’s working and what to improve by checking the email click through rate across your campaigns.
1. Include a picture
‘A picture is worth a thousand words’ and a well-chosen image or graphic is far more eye-catching than a long piece of text. A picture can grab someone’s attention instantly, and convey so much more information than text alone.
Make sure that it’s in focus, makes good use of the frame and correctly portrays what you have in mind. And, of course, don't forget to add your hyperlink so it takes the reader to the desired destination when they click on it!
2. Send at the best time
Improve the chances of your email being opened and acted upon by sending it at a time when recipients are most likely to engage. For B2B email marketing, soon after the start of the working day can be a good place to begin but the best time will depend on your audience, so it's important to test different send times. Evenings or weekends can work best for consumer audiences.
Consider your contacts and when they are most likely to check their inboxes. If you're already sending email campaigns, check your email marketing reports to see when people are opening and clicking on your emails. Use this information to decide the most effective send times for future campaigns.
3. Create tailored offers
People won’t click on something that's of no interest to them, no matter how good the product or service is. You wouldn't advertise dog food to cat owners and the same applies to your email campaigns. Ensure you know your audience and segment your contact list according to their industry sector, geographical location or product interest, whichever criteria are most relevant to your campaign. Then tailor campaigns for each segment, creating content that's interesting and relevant, so they're more likely to engage with it by clicking on your links.
Smart Messenger allows you to have multiple contact lists and gives you access to powerful segmentation tools, so you can manage your different audiences easily and improve your all-important click through rate.
4. Include a call to action
A call to action (or CTA) is something within your email that prompts the recipient to take action. It's often an eye-catching graphic or button but it could also be hyperlinked text. You may have a limited-time offer for customers, or be promoting tickets to an event. Whatever your proposition, ensure you follow the Four Cs, so that your call to action is Concise, Clear, Compelling and Clickable! To make sure every part of your email is optimised, from subject line to CTAs, use our Email Marketing Checklist For Success before you send your campaigns.
6. Add a video
Video content is easy to engage with and including one in your emails can increase click-through rates to your website or landing page. Why not give it a try to see if it works for you too? All smartphones can shoot videos and you don’t need to be an editing whizz to make something engaging and entertaining.
Video ideas could include a tour of your business, a demonstration of how to use a product or service, or a personal introduction to your account manager. Some people prefer reading instruction manuals but others find a video more helpful, so why not give them the choice and create both?
11. Don’t forget your mobile users
Your carefully designed email can look vastly different depending on the device used to view it. If you are not optimising your emails for mobile, an email that looks perfect on a desktop or laptop could be a struggle for mobile users to navigate.
View your test emails on different devices to make sure your mobile recipients don't have to squint to read your email or struggle to click on links. You can also use the mobile device preview function on your email marketing software to get an idea of how your email will look.