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What is a ‘Good’ CTR and How Can it be Achieved?
For those taking their first steps, welcome! CTR will be your constant traveling companion.
Understanding CTR
Expressed as a percentage, CTR compares the number of times a desired action is taken on an email, like clicking a CTA link, to the number of times the email is viewed.
The formula for calculating CTR is:
clicks ÷ impressions = CTR
So, say you send 100 viewed emails (impressions) and 5 people click the link to a landing page.
The CTR is figured by 5 ÷ 100 = 0.05 or 5%
Defining Good CTR?
Email CTRs vary by industry. A study by IBM in 2016 found that the average CTR in the US across all industries was 3.3%. Technology, non-profit, and government sector emails experienced the highest rates.
Other broad business categories reporting high CTRs include:
– Hobbies – 5.13%
– Media and Publishing – 4.70%
– Photo and Video – 3.49%
– Home and Garden – 3.47%
– Gambling – 3.33%
Of course, a “good” CTR for your organisation could mean noticeable improvement over current performance. Perhaps it’s time to take a look at the analytics of recent email campaigns to see where you stand.
Achieving New CTR Levels
Fortunately, there are a lot of ways to better you email CTRs. Apply these five tips to your next campaign and get ready for gangbuster results.
1. Grab Attention with Irresistible Subject Lines
Before your email reader takes the desired action, they must be convinced to open the email. The subject line provides the first (and only!) shot to tell the reader, “Hey, out of all the messages in your inbox, this is the one you need to read now!”
T
he more persuasive the subject line, the greater the chance the reader will click-through.
Try these tips when writing your next subject line.
– Pique the reader’s curiosity
– Mention a time constraint to provoke action
– Describe your offer upfront
– Personalise it by using the recipient’s name
– Keep it succinct for mobile viewing. A length of 50 characters is a good rule of thumb.
– Use emojis and symbols to make the subject line jump out
2. Use Informative Anchor Text
A generic anchor text like “click here” fails to clue the reader about what lies beyond the link. There’s nothing informative or exciting motivating the reader to click.
Instead, try anchors that contain relevant details about the linked product or service. This includes mentioning features and benefits.
Also, people are drawn to numbers in copy. Incorporating them into your anchor creates a sense of authority that can spike CTR.
3. Pack Anchor Text with Emotional Triggers
As in just about every stripe of marketing copy, emotional triggers work well in email anchors. These are words that make the reader feel something likely to cause a reaction.
Common emotional triggers stir a sense of curiosity, fear, urgency, guilt value, and instant gratification, among other inclinations.
4. Leverage the Serial Position Effect
The serial position effect is a psychological theory stating people tend to recall best the first and last items in a sequence and the middle items less so.
Translated to email marketing, this means including multiple instances of your CTA or link throughout the message body.
There are a few benefits to the serial position effect:
– The repetition gets readers well acquainted with the offer
– On mobile devices, where 55% of mail is opened, a clickable option is easy to locate with little or no vertical swiping
– Mix clickable objects in email body, e.g., anchor text, images, button widgets, etc.
5. Show a Human is Sending the Email
Readers want to know there are real, caring people behind the emails they receive. And with email often the first touchpoint with customers, it’s critical for businesses to create rapport and trust in this early stage of the relationship.
Use a real name in the sending address to give your email a human touch. No-reply, info, and other automated mailboxes are impersonal.
A message from joe@example.com looks more friendly than one from do_not_reply@example.com.
Similarly, greeting the reader by name and signing off with your name in the closing makes it believable the email was sent by an actual person.
ProTip – Include a P.S. section containing your link below the email closing. Readers may skip to the bottom of the message for details about the sender.
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