What Are Click-Through Rates and How to Improve Them

This article was last updated on June 7, 2021

There are quite a few challenges with email marketing. The biggest one is getting readers to take action and click-through your emails once they have opened the email. For email marketing to be effective, you must ask your readers to do something. This might include asking them to click a link to your website or maybe even social media pages.

So, why is this important? If your subscribers are opening your email, that’s great. That means they are interested in reading what your email says. However, opening the email is only the first part. You must follow up with the next step by getting those who open the email to take action. Click-through rates measure exactly that. If subscribers are clicking on links, they are doing what you want them to do.

How to Calculate Click-Through Rate

Your email click-through rate is determined by the number of subscribers that have clicked on a link in your email campaign.

To determine this number, you take the number of subscribers that have clicked on your email campaign and divide it by the total number of emails you have sent. To get a percentage, you multiply that number by 100.

So, for instance, if you send an email campaign to 500 people and 50 people clicked on the links in your email, the click-through rate would be 10% (which is above average.)

The Average Click-Through Rate

Speaking of average, you might be wondering what the average click-through rate is. Today, the average click-through rate is below 7 percent. Yep, you read that right, only 7 percent! If you’re above that, you’re doing great.

How to Improve Click-Through Rates

We know what you are thinking, 7 percent is not a lot. So whether your click-through rates are below average, right at average, or above the average, there is plenty of room for improvement. That’s why we’re here to share some of the best ways to improve your click-through rate.

Include Countdowns

Have you ever opened up an email that included a countdown? For instance, a brand might have included a countdown that stated “24-hour sale!” or maybe “Get this limited-time offer!” The purpose of emails that include countdowns is to create a sense of urgency and according to data, it works.

An eCommerce brand, Clarks America, found that their countdowns during the holiday season boosted click-through rates by 32 percent.

Countdowns work well because readers know that they can get something they want for a deal during the limited time offer. Test this out in your next few emails and see how it works.

Perfect Your Call-to-Actions

The success of your click-through rates is dependent on your call to action buttons. Without the call to action buttons, your readers have nowhere to click. Here are some tips to consider when creating call-to-action buttons:

• Include only 1-2 call-to-action buttons in an email
• Make the call-to-action button clear so it is easily accessible to readers
• Include bold colors that stand out from the rest of the email
• Make it large

Your call-to-action button should also be clear so that your audience understands what you want them to do, but including too many call-to-actions, statements might confuse your reader and leave them feeling jumbled about where to click. So, with the right call-to-action buttons, your audience will be more likely to click through.

Get to Know Your Audience

If you give your readers something they want, they will be more willing to click. For instance, sending a male an email with content that is about female clothing, will not generate great results. So, before you create any content for your email campaign, you must thoroughly understand your audience and what they are looking for. It’s important to understand who your target audience is, what their interests are, and their demographic (location, gender, age, etc.)

Knowing your audience is key to effective communication as you can then create content that is relative to them. Because if you understand what your audience does not want, you can avoid using that type of content in your emails.

Add Social Sharing Icons

Research shows that emails that include social sharing icons have higher click-through rates compared to those that don’t.

Including social icons give your readers a chance to learn more about your brand and what you’re all about. This way, they don’t have to do the extra work to research your brand on their own. Include social icons for Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Of course, if you’re not active on those channels, there is no point in linking them, but together, email campaigns and social media can generate fabulous results.

MailBakery: Touching it up with a design

Boosting click-through rates does not have to be that hard. With these tips, we know your click-through rates will improve. In addition to these tips, a creative email design makes all of the difference when it comes to enhancing your metrics and results. After all, wouldn’t you be more interested in clicking through an email that has an enticing design compared to one with a dull design or no design at all?

MailBakery is here to help you craft innovative email templates from scratch that help you engage your audience.

Don’t waste another minute and order your email now to boost those click-through rates!