Email marketing is the act of sending a commercial message to a specific audience using email. When done correctly, email campaigns can be a highly effective marketing tool. If you spend valuable time creating mailshots, for few of the intended recipients to even open them, let alone click on the outbound links within the email, it can be disappointing and feel like a wasted effort.
However, you should not give up! You can improve your click-through rate (CTR) just by making a few small changes. Read on to gain a better understanding of email marketing and what makes an effective campaign, and for tips on how to improve your CTR.
Open rate vs click-through rates
If you are familiar with email marketing, you will probably have heard of open rates and CTRs. However, you may not fully understand the difference between them, or even know they are two different statistics.
An open rate is the amount of recipients that opened the email, whereas a CTR is the amount of recipients that not only opened the email, but also clicked on a link or links within the email, usually to your website.
A higher open rate will typically result in a higher CTR – the greater number of people opening the email, the more likely you are to get a greater number of clicks on links. Your CTR is a good indicator of how effective your emails are at influencing your audience.
Be GDPR compliant
You should only send email campaigns to contacts that have opted in to receive marketing communications from you, such as by subscribing to your mailing list, or that have expressed legitimate interest, such as previous customers.
Not only will this ensure that you are GDPR compliant, but it will also help to ensure your email campaigns are only seen by people who are genuinely interested in your business, products or services, thus increasing the chances of an improved open rate.
Test your subject lines
Your subject line is what recipients are going to see in their inbox, so it is important to get it right. An enticing subject line is more likely to get you a higher open rate. Once you have come up with some click-worthy subject lines, you should carry out A/B testing with different subject lines to see which performs best.
Keep it concise
When it comes to the content of your email, make sure you keep it brief. Recipients are more likely to read all of an email if it is short and to the point. If there is a lot of copy in an email, you may lose your reader’s interest before they reach the end. Another good tactic is to front-load your content – have the most important information at the top of the email to increase the chances of it being read.
Have a clear call to action
Think about what the goal of your email marketing is. You may want to direct customers to fill out a form or survey, visit your website, purchase a product, read an article, get in touch, or download a file. Whatever your call to action (CTA) is, it needs to be clear.
To increase your chances of the recipient completing this action, consider having the CTA appear several times throughout the email, including towards the top. These could be in the form buttons, hyperlinks within the written copy, or linked to an image.
Hire a professional
If you are struggling to get the results you wish to see, or simply do not have the time or knowledge to develop your marketing activities, you may wish to consider seeking help from a third party that specialises in digital marketing.
At DBS Digital, we provide Digital Marketing Services to put your mind at ease and to drive quality leads. To learn more, contact us today.
