Open and click-through rate: they are metrics you look at closely if you’re monitoring your email marketing activity. They’re indications that your email was successful for the most part; that your audience engaged and hopefully found your email informative and valuable.
While a high open rate means your subject line was compelling enough to grab a reader’s attention, a high click-through-rate is a more reliable sign that readers found your email valuable. For more information on what indicates a good open and click-through-rate, visit here.
Who’s on Your List?
One thing that impacts the performance of your email is where your email list comes from. If you’re emailing to a purchased list, your audience is mostly unaware of who you are and haven’t opted into receiving your emails. No matter how relevant and compelling your emails are, open and click-through rates are going to be extremely low until your audience learns who you are, builds trust and begins to find value in your emails. This will likely happen slowly over time – expect quite a few opt-outs along the way. On the other hand, if your list has been acquired over time from people opting in to receive your content, your open and click-through rates will be significantly higher. For more on how to convert web visitors, read Automate Lead Qualification with A Proper Web Conversion Process.
Tips for Improvement
While not every email is going to achieve the high open and click-through rates you hope for every time you hit send, there are simple tweaks you can make to continue to improve your email marketing effectiveness.
Tips to Increase Email Open Rates
- Short subject lines. As a rule of thumb, keep your subject lines no longer than 5-6 words so it doesn’t cut off on a mobile device.
- Compelling or relevant subject lines. Use an interesting statement or question as a subject line, but make sure it ties in with content within your email. Pull out key data or figures from your content to serve as your subject line.
- Carve out time in your audience’s inbox. Setting up the expectation for when your email will be coming will allow your audience to set aside time in their schedule when your email comes and look for it in their inbox. For more on this, read this article.
- Find the right frequency. If your emails take the shape of a newsletter, sending once a month or once a quarter may be enough. If you’re sending one piece of content at a time, weekly may work better.
Tips to Increase Email CTR
- Valuable content at the top. Prioritize your content so your most valuable content is the first thing your readers see.
- Tease content. Rather than just including a headline, include a short abstract in your email to grab your readers’ attention.
- Multiple links. Provide multiple links for one piece of content. Link the headline, image and provide a “read more” link.
- Simple or no design. If your email is designed with HTML, make sure it’s easy to read and doesn’t distract your readers. Overly designed emails can also come across as promotional. Sometimes, short text-based emails are more effective and personal.
- Include images. Images are more likely to attract a reader’s attention and cause them to read something. If you do include images in your emails, make sure they tie in with your content and make them clickable.
Closing Thoughts
Email marketing can be a tricky practice. Finding the right method that works best for your email’s purpose and audience takes time and patience. When testing different tactics, make sure to test one at a time so you know which tactic made the difference you were looking for. Don’t be afraid to mix things up and try something different. By following the guidelines above and trying different tactics, you will be well on your way to increasing your email marketing effectiveness.
