Improving click through rates from your email marketing campaigns

Most advertising does not result in a direct sale. Rather it is an introduction to the products and/or services of the advertiser and an invitation to begin a dialogue. Email marketing is no exception, though it does provide an unusually direct route to a sale - a link to the website.

I’ve noticed that, for some LiveWire Campaign users - Gencia's DIY email marketing platform - links to the website almost seem like an afterthought. I know that many users use LiveWire Campaign more as a way of imparting information than as a sales channel, but for those users who are selling direct, the website link is of prime importance. One of the main reasons for poor click through rates is the placement of the link way down the page in a very long email message. Any email where the recipient has to scroll more than twice the length of the email window on an ‘average’* screen is too long.

The old saying ‘less is more’ could not be truer than with email marketing. When we at Gencia create a bespoke email marketing campaign for a client, at least 50% of the creative time is spent making the message as simple and succinct as possible. It’s always time well spent. I find that messages that can be opened in full at an ‘average’ screen resolution are always the most successful in terms of click through rates. It stands to reason that if the message is simple and direct, and the ‘call to action’ is right alongside it, then we will get a better result than if we ask the recipient to take time out of their busy schedule to read through swathes of text and click a link at the bottom of the page.

It’s worth bearing in mind that, no matter how relevant the product or service, most of us are too busy to read all the emails we receive in our in-box. We prioritise by relevance, timing and by the actual time we have at our disposal to read the mail. So, simplify the message as much as possible. If there’s a lot to say split it over multiple campaigns. A simple message, with a strong call to action, will almost always beat a longer message in terms of results.

*I’m using the term purely for shorthand purposes in the writing of this article. It’s a subject that I'm sure we'll come back to.