As a traffic acquisition strategy, advertising in emails, and maintaining an email list to send content to rank very highly. Indeed, I'ml sure you've heard one phrase repeated over and over again: "the money's in the list".
However, as with all techniques designed to boost traffic and sales, it isn't as simple as it first seems.
For example, having built an email address list, some marketing experts would have you believe that your work is done, and all you need to do is send them emails, and reap the rewards as they buy any old thing you try to sell them.
Of course, anyone who has tried this knows that it just isn't true.
This article will explain all the sides to the mythical "CTR" or Click Through Rate metric, why it's important, how to best measure it, and, most importantly, how to improve it!
However, as with all techniques designed to boost traffic and sales, it isn't as simple as it first seems.
For example, having built an email address list, some marketing experts would have you believe that your work is done, and all you need to do is send them emails, and reap the rewards as they buy any old thing you try to sell them.
Of course, anyone who has tried this knows that it just isn't true.
This article will explain all the sides to the mythical "CTR" or Click Through Rate metric, why it's important, how to best measure it, and, most importantly, how to improve it!
What is Click Through Rate in Email Marketing?
The first thing to remember is that the CTR isn't the same as the conversion rate.
In an email marketing campaign, the reader is presented with a subject line. If they click it, the email opens. They read it. If it captures their imagination, they may well click on a link that takes them to a web site, at which point they will usually be called upon to perform another action.
Each one of these could be termed a "click".
However, the last one, that turns your sales message into a sale, is known as the conversion.
The CTR is the middle one: the action that the reader takes to click a link in the email, abandon their current activity and take time out to do something else. Take a moment to re-read that and gauge the impact that I'm trying to make.
The CTR is a measure of how interested your target market is in your product offering.
In an email marketing campaign, the reader is presented with a subject line. If they click it, the email opens. They read it. If it captures their imagination, they may well click on a link that takes them to a web site, at which point they will usually be called upon to perform another action.
Each one of these could be termed a "click".
However, the last one, that turns your sales message into a sale, is known as the conversion.
The CTR is the middle one: the action that the reader takes to click a link in the email, abandon their current activity and take time out to do something else. Take a moment to re-read that and gauge the impact that I'm trying to make.
The CTR is a measure of how interested your target market is in your product offering.
Click Through Rate vs Click to Open
The trouble is that, on its own, the CTR isn't terribly helpful: all it does is tell you how many people read your content and clicked the link.
Let's imagine that you take some content that has a good CTR on your web site and then move it to an email campaign. You see that the CTR drops significantly, and therefore the logical assumption is that there is something wrong with the message content.
However, there could also be something wrong with the delivery medium.
Or, the subject line.
In fact, anything that affects the open rate will also affect the CTR. After all, if the recipient never sees the message text, they never have the opportunity to click (or not).
So, many marketers use the so-called CTOR (Click to Open Rate) which gives a more accurate view: it measures the number of times an email link is clicked, per number of times the email is opened (and presumably, read).
Before you can think about this level of analysis, you have to know what to measure, and set up some metrics.
Let's imagine that you take some content that has a good CTR on your web site and then move it to an email campaign. You see that the CTR drops significantly, and therefore the logical assumption is that there is something wrong with the message content.
However, there could also be something wrong with the delivery medium.
Or, the subject line.
In fact, anything that affects the open rate will also affect the CTR. After all, if the recipient never sees the message text, they never have the opportunity to click (or not).
So, many marketers use the so-called CTOR (Click to Open Rate) which gives a more accurate view: it measures the number of times an email link is clicked, per number of times the email is opened (and presumably, read).
Before you can think about this level of analysis, you have to know what to measure, and set up some metrics.
How to Analyse Click Through Rate?
Many tools used to send emails have built-in mechanisms to show you a variety of different measurements:
Now, because of the way that email works, some of these are easier to measure than others: for example, it's easy to tell if an email is rejected, but less easy to see if has been delivered directly to the spam folder, and therefore never even seen by the target customer, let alone opened or read.
In fact, the only measure that is 100% guaranteed to be correct is the Click Through Rate, which although it could be confused by multiple clicks from the same user -- rare, but not unknown -- is the only one that results in a verifiable user action.
But, everything else contributes to it.
So, to analyse the CTR, you need to know it in terms of everything else:
It's also worthwhile testing different placements for the call to action (CTA), and attaching different trackers to each so that you know where the reader is getting to in your email message.
One final point: it may be that your email is a long sales letter or a simple come-on. Don't forget that if you are simply asking the target customer to open a sales letter on your site, that you need to measure the CTR of the email to the CTR (or conversion rate) of the sales material as a separate metric.
- Delivery rate: the success in actually delivering each email;
- Open rate; a measure of the proportion of emails opened;
- Read Rate: a measure of the proportion of delivered emails actually read;
- Click Through Rate: the proportion of read emails that generate a click.
Now, because of the way that email works, some of these are easier to measure than others: for example, it's easy to tell if an email is rejected, but less easy to see if has been delivered directly to the spam folder, and therefore never even seen by the target customer, let alone opened or read.
In fact, the only measure that is 100% guaranteed to be correct is the Click Through Rate, which although it could be confused by multiple clicks from the same user -- rare, but not unknown -- is the only one that results in a verifiable user action.
But, everything else contributes to it.
So, to analyse the CTR, you need to know it in terms of everything else:
- CTR to Delivery;
- CTR to Open Rate(see above);
- etc.
It's also worthwhile testing different placements for the call to action (CTA), and attaching different trackers to each so that you know where the reader is getting to in your email message.
One final point: it may be that your email is a long sales letter or a simple come-on. Don't forget that if you are simply asking the target customer to open a sales letter on your site, that you need to measure the CTR of the email to the CTR (or conversion rate) of the sales material as a separate metric.
How to Improve Click Through Rate?
Let's look at a few things that affect the CTR in an email marketing campaign:
There are undoubtedly other factors, but these are the key points that you can actually influence.
Each one can be tested.
The delivery rate can be tested against different domains, subject lines can be tested against open rates, and click through rates can be tested for multiple call to action messages, even within the same email.
The point is that everything that can be measured, should be, and everything that you measure can be -- and needs to be -- tested.
In the end, the only real key to improving click through rates is to test, track, and measure your success!
- A poor reputation (of the sender) may mean that the email goes straight to the spam folder, or bin;
- Bad subject lines will be dismissed summarily in a few seconds;
- Poor sales copy, copy that is incorrectly rendered for the platform, etc. will have readers deleting the email even if they open it;
- Incorrect targeting -- content and delivery media -- will drive down CTRs.
There are undoubtedly other factors, but these are the key points that you can actually influence.
Each one can be tested.
The delivery rate can be tested against different domains, subject lines can be tested against open rates, and click through rates can be tested for multiple call to action messages, even within the same email.
The point is that everything that can be measured, should be, and everything that you measure can be -- and needs to be -- tested.
In the end, the only real key to improving click through rates is to test, track, and measure your success!
