How can you know how well your emails are performing? One way to find out is to regularly examine and analyse your click-through rates (CTR). Put simply, the CTR of your emails tells you what proportion of recipients actually click the links within them and reach their desired destination. It is one of the best indicators of the efficiency and effectiveness of an email.
There are many things you can do to improve the click-through rates of your emails (and ensure they stay at a consistently high level). This includes making sure that your emails stay out of the spam folder, and ensuring your always have strong, persuasive body copy. But, one of the simplest steps your can take to boost your CTR is to make some tweaks to your email designs. Here are some small design changes you can make that will make a big difference to your click-through rates.
Make Your Call to Action the Star
So many emails have a call to action that is hidden at the bottom of long reams of copy, or buried in the middle of a body of text. The call to action should be the star of your email, standing out from everything else within it and willing the reader to click on it. The call to action button should stand out from everything else in the email, with a strong colour and clear wording.
The colour of your call to action button can be very important. First and foremost, it should contrast with the background colour of your email, while still sitting well with your company’s branding. However, some studies have shown that different colours can have different psychological effects on consumers. For example, yellows can create a sense of urgency, while blues generate trust. Test a few different colours to see which works best for your business.
Take this example from Graze:
This call to action uses a strong, contrasting colour that is still in-keeping with the company’s branding. The email has been designed so that the eye is drawn to the button, and it is clear that that is where the customer needs to click.
Remove Distractions
Some companies make the mistake of including too much in their emails, trying to please all of their subscribers at once. However, in reality, a cluttered email only serves to distract the reader. This example from Topshop illustrates this point:
While the design of this email is not bad, there is nothing that jumps out at the reader. There is far too much going on, and it’s not clear where the reader needs to click. You can improve your click-through rates by removing unnecessary clutter and giving your emails one clear focus. Generally, people spend a few seconds deciding whether they’re going to act on a marketing email. They need to know immediately what an email is about and what they need to do to act upon it.
This is a much better example from Topshop:
The design is clean and simple, and the reader immediately knows what is expected of them.
Use Responsive Design
I wrote about this in a recent blog, but it bears repeating. With so many people reading emails on mobile devices these days, you should make sure that you’re using responsive design in your emails. This will ensure that your emails are optimised and look attractive, no matter what device they’re viewed on.
Improving the CTR of your emails needn’t be difficult. By producing eye-catching emails with strong calls to action, your clicks should see a significant boost.
Image courtesy of adamr at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
