Email marketing remains one of the most effective ways to get your message across, but only if people are opening and clicking on the emails you send.
Click-through rates reflect how many people open your emails and visit your site for the first time. The higher your click-through rate, the more people visit your site, which means more leads and conversions.
If your email click-through rates have been low in the past, you can use plenty of strategies to improve them.
These techniques can help you reach more people without spending extra time or money on marketing.
By carefully considering the eight tips below, you'll identify which steps work best for your business and start seeing results in no time.
Table of Contents
- What is a Good Click-Through Rate for Email?
- Create a Compelling Subject Line
- Segment Your Subscribers
- Target Customers by Location
- Find the Perfect Time to Send Your Emails
- Encourage Clicks Through Links in the Email Copy
- Keep It Short and Simple
- Provide Click-Worthy Visuals
- Use a Compelling Call-to-Action (CTA)
- Improving Your Email's Click-Through Rate: Final Thoughts
What is a Good Click-Through Rate for Email?
A reasonable click-through rate is higher than the average. The average click-through rate for email marketing campaigns is around 2% to 3%, but you should shoot for a rate of 5% or more.
If you can get your emails opened by at least 20% of your subscribers, that's already a considerable improvement over industry standards.
According to a report, 85% of all emails are opened, with the average user opening 58% of their messages. That's a lot of reads on your message—so make sure you're making the most of them.
Try these tips to achieve this and improve your email click-through rate:
Create a Compelling Subject Line
- The subject line is often the first thing people see, so it should make them want to read your email. Be creative and include a question or something that will resonate with your reader, such as: "Is this how you feel? Here's what we've been up to."
- Personalize your subject line. Addressing your customers by their name on the subject line can lead to 58% higher click-to-open rates.
- Ask a question in your subject line instead of just stating something outright. People love questions— they'll want to find out the answer, so they'll open that email faster than ever before.
- Use emojis. According to Experian, using emojis in your subject can boost your open rates by 45%.
- The first sentence or two should be clear about what you're offering and why they need to read on—this is where you get their attention and keep them reading until they reach your call to action.
Segment Your Subscribers
Email segmentation targets specific groups of subscribers with different types of content.
For example, if you're a fitness brand and want to encourage people who have purchased your products in the past to purchase again, you can send them an email encouraging them to buy more products.
This can also be done with customer loyalty or rewards programs.
In this case, however, it would be better for you to segment your customers into two groups: loyal customers and new prospects that haven't made purchases yet.
After all, sending a coupon or discount code exclusively to loyal customers might make it seem like an insider deal rather than something everyone should receive.
The best way to do this is by using data from past purchases—if someone has already bought from you before, chances are they'll buy again and maybe even recommend it to their friends.
When someone signs up to your mailing list, ask them for their name and email address, but don't stop there.
Suppose you can collect other information, like their phone number or location. What are their interests? What kind of content do they read?
These details can help you tailor your message and ensure it's relevant to your audience.
Target Customers by Location
Many marketers overlook the importance of location in their email marketing campaigns. But in reality, it's one of the most important things you can do to boost your click-through rate.
The reason? Your target audience will likely use a device with a GPS connected to the internet.
That means they can see their real-time location and use that information to make decisions.
If you're sending an email to someone currently at home, they'll probably open it immediately because they don't want to miss out on whatever offer you've sent them.
Geo-targeting is a great way to get more clicks. This feature lets you target customers by location—either by country, state, city or zip code.
For example, geo-targeting would allow you to do that in your email marketing campaign if you're running a sale and want to offer it to people in New York City and surrounding areas.
An excellent way to get started with this strategy is by using Google Analytics and adding location information as part of the tracking code on your website.
You can then use that information with other data from Google Analytics, like purchase behavior, to create more targeted campaigns that appeal more strongly to customers in those locations.
Targeting customers by location can help boost your email's click-through rate by making the email more relevant to them.
If they see an ad that looks like it was sent directly to them, they're more likely to open it.
Find the Perfect Time to Send Your Emails
Send out your email when people are most likely to be online and engaged with their phones or computers.
For example, if you're a retailer, don't send an email in the middle of the night—it'll likely end up in spam folders.
Instead, try sending it out at 8 am or 9 am on Mondays or Tuesdays when people are more likely to check their inboxes.
Don't send emails too often. People don't want their inboxes clogged up with irrelevant emails all day long— especially if they're busy at work or school.
Only send one or two emails per day (or even week), and make sure each one contains valuable information that will help your prospects succeed with your product, service, or brand.
Encourage Clicks Through Links in the Email Copy
Links are a great way to make your emails more interactive. They work best in transactional emails—those sent after a user has taken action, such as purchasing something or signing up for a service.
The user must click on something in a link reveal to show more content or links within the email.
You don't have to use link reveals every time you send transactional emails. Doing so too often might get annoying fast.
But if there's any opportunity where it makes sense to include one, go ahead and give it a try.
Here are some best practices for utilizing links in your email:
- Links should always redirect the readers to valuable content. It should not only be appealing to your subscribers but also insightful.
- Use descriptive link text. Don’t be vague as you may lose the subscriber’s trust.
- Links should be accurate and not misleading. Avoid confusing your readers by tricking them into a different page.
Keep It Short and Simple
When crafting your emails, keep them short, sweet, and concise.
The more you can say in fewer words, the better chance you have of getting your point across and driving more engagement with your email subscribers.
Keep it simple by limiting yourself to one or two links within an email blast.
Sending someone four or five links will likely confuse them as they try to navigate through them all before returning to where they started reading.
This will also help you avoid being flagged as spam by any recipients who receive it on their mobile devices or other devices that don't support images well (e.g., Kindle).
Don't overwhelm readers with lots of text.
Instead, use bullet points or numbered lists that make it easier for people to scan through lots of content quickly and efficiently without having time for lengthy paragraphs.
Provide Click-Worthy Visuals
The first rule of thumb is to provide click-worthy visuals. Images, when used correctly, can help tell the story and engage readers.
They also allow you to highlight important information and reduce the amount of text on your page.
However, remember that sometimes an image is not enough to get customers interested in clicking through to your site.
Use them sparingly if you have a lot of other content on your pages that isn't relevant to the email or blog post you're sending out.
Use a Compelling Call-to-Action (CTA)
CTAs are simple instructions that tell people what to do next after reading or viewing your content—and they're a great way to increase engagement and conversions.
You need a compelling call to action to get your readers to click through to your email.
Use a sense of urgency and show them what they'll miss out on if they don't respond. Make it clear and concise so that the reader knows exactly what's being asked of them.
Don't make them search for the information you're asking for. Clearly state how the subscribers will benefit from taking action now.
And lastly, avoid spammy language like “act now.” Remember: people should want to take action because of how it will help them, not because you told them to do so.
Improving Your Email's Click-Through Rate: Final Thoughts
Email is a powerful marketing tool, but getting your customers to engage with your email campaigns isn’t always easy.
Email click-through rates are lower than ever before, and that's why you need to do everything you can to encourage your customers to take action when they see those little mail icon badges in their inboxes.
These tips should give you a solid foundation for developing winning email campaigns and put you well on your way to achieving outstanding click-through rates. Alternatively, you can always apply for services of a professional email marketing company.
