10 Ways to Boost Your Email Click-Through Rate

Regardless of the type of business you are operating, it is likely that you are utilizing email marketing to engage with your audience. If you are not yet employing this strategy, it is highly recommended that you begin.

However, one of the big hurdles you’ll need to overcome is getting people to open your emails, read them, and click on your links. This is especially true given that they're probably receiving hundreds of emails in their inbox every day.

In this blog article you'll discover 10 of the most effective strategies you could implement today to increase your email clickthrough rate (CTR).

1. Establish a Recognizable “From” Field

Your subscribers aren’t going to open your emails, much less read them or click on your links, if they don’t recognize who the emails are coming from. That’s why you’ll want to be sure the “from” field is clear and recognizable. The “from” field should use the same name you used on the lead pages where the subscribers signed up.

For example, if your name is John Smart, and that’s how people know you from your website, social media and elsewhere, then don’t use your company name or a variation of your name (such as Johnathan S.) in the from field. People won’t recognize it, and they won’t open the email.

TIP: If people know your name but not your company name, you can include both in the from field. Example, “John Smart from Smart Company.”

2. Create Compelling Subject Lines

Your subject line is going to affect your open rates and read rates tremendously, so be sure you craft one that:

• Focuses on the big benefit (or benefits) readers will receive if they open and read your email
• Arouses curiosity where appropriate and relevant. But don't just use clickbait subject lines
• Includes social proof where applicable

For example:

• Who else wants to [get a desirable outcome]?
• The #1 secret for [getting a desirable outcome]
• You too can [get a desirable outcome]

3. Craft Persuasive Preview Lines

Many email marketing platforms let subscribers preview the first line (or in some cases, the first few lines) of an email without actually opening the email. As such, the first line or two of your email should help encourage people to open your email. You can use this preview line to:

• Engage people with the beginning of a compelling story
• Ask an intriguing question
• Begin with a startling fact
• Show you understand the problem (and empathize with the reader)
• Continue to focus on benefits and/or arousing curiosity

4. Format Emails for Easy Readability

If someone opens up your email, and they see a big, unreadable wall of text, guess what happens? They’re most likely going to close your email without reading it. That’s why you want to format for easy readability by:

• Using short sentences and small paragraphs
• Breaking list paragraphs into bulleted lists
• Using subheadlines to break up text
• Inserting relevant graphics to break up text
• Using everyday language so that it’s easy to read

5. Utilize a Mobile-Friendly Design

Another way to make your emails more likely to be read and clicked-on is to use a mobile-friendly design. This includes:

• A responsive design that looks good on any device
• Links that are spaced out so that they’re easy to tap

TIP: Be sure that the landing pages you link to are also mobile-friendly and user-friendly. No sense in getting someone to click through, just to have them bounce out immediately due to poor usability.

6. Craft Engaging Content

In order for your subscriber to click on your links, they need to first read your email. And that’s why crafting engaging content is so important. Here are a few tips:

• Write using a friendly, conversational tone
• Tell relevant stories to engage people on an emotional level
• Develop a unique writing voice
• Sprinkle in light humor where appropriate
• Offer unique tips, strategies, examples, case studies, etc.
• Utilize unique hooks and approaches in your content
• Use analogies, metaphors and similes
• Develop unique formulas and coin new words

7. Give Your Audience What They Want

If you want people to click on your links, then you need to provide content that they really want and present desirable offers. This requires that you do your market research to better understand your audience.

What products are they already buying in your niche? What topics do they bring up again and again in community groups, blog discussions, social pages and more? Your job is to give your audience what they want but serve it up in a fresh way to get your audience opening and clicking on your emails.

8. Create a Compelling CTA (Call to Action)

Every email you send should have a specific purpose, and you should move your audience towards your desired action with a call to action.

Example, “Click here to [take some specific action], because [good reason why they should take this step now].”

9. Develop “Top of Mind” Awareness

You can’t build a good relationship with your subscribers if you’re sending emails out once on a blue moon. In order to build these relationships and develop top-of-mind awareness, you need to send emails out on a regular basis. This includes:

• Sending an initial autoresponder sequence where you reach out to new subscribers every day or every other day for the first week or two.
• Continuing to touch base with your audience regularly – at the very least once per week.

10. Send Good Content Consistently

One very good strategy for getting subscribers to open and click on EVERY email you send is to train them to expect good content. Your content should:

• Be something your audience wants
• Speak to your ideal prospect
• Provide something unique
• Offer actionable information, including quick wins
• Provide value
• Offer recommendations (free and paid) to help the prospect solve their problems

Conclusion

If you build a targeted list of subscribers and then you use the ten tips and ideas you just learned about, you’re going to develop a responsive list who opens, reads and clicks on every email you send.