Conversion-centred design: Increase your email marketing campaign’s click-through rate

Understanding how to optimise your email marketing campaign is crucial when it comes to getting a high click-through rate. To get someone to follow a link you need to make it worth their while to do so. The two main individual incentives in marketing terms are a desire to gain pleasure, and avoid pain. We have narrowed this down to three key principles, which are…

1) Your design and text should motivate the reader to take action

The reader might potentially be looking for a product or a service to resolve something that is causing them a problem, or just something to eat, drink, buy as a gift, or for themselves. Whatever the reason someone might be attracted to your email (and it might not be something they’re consciously looking for), you need to make sure your campaign stands out. One sure way of doing this is with imagery. Using beautiful imagery is an incredibly successful way of increasing the incentive for your product or service. In particular, in a more visually-driven business area like fashion and food, images can make or break your campaign. When it comes to your text, rather than focussing on the features of your product, focus on the benefits, and try and convince people that your product or service can make their lives better, giving them an incentive to click.

2) Your campaign should reduce anxiety towards taking action

To get a conversion, you need to effectively reduce any worries or anxieties a potential customer might have when looking at your e-shot. Many people feel discomfort or unease at clicking on links in marketing emails, for a number of reasons. They might simply feel that what you’re offering isn’t worth their time or money, they might doubt you can actually provide the service or product that you say you can, or they might think your links aren’t secure and that you’re scamming them. One way of combating anxiety is by using testimonials. Testimonials are an important part of any digital marketing strategy, whether it’s an e-shot or a website, and where possible you should include a full name or even an image so people trust it’s genuine. Another way of reducing anxiety is by showcasing customer numbers. Showing how many items you’ve sold or how many customers you have can reassure people that you are a secure and reliable business

3) Make it easy to convert

In order to get a conversion, you need to make it easy for the customer to convert. Ease is something many people take for granted when putting together an email marketing campaign, and it is so important if you want your campaign to work. In a recent email marketing experiment, using large call to action buttons improved click-throughs. Simple call to action text links were replaced with bold, highly visible call to action buttons, and got a 127% increase in click-throughs. Another way to make it easier to convert is by cutting out all the extraneous, unneeded elements from your email. Simplicity can make your calls to action stand out even more.

To summarise, by focussing on a person’s motivation to click on your call to action, both with dynamic graphics and text and quashing any anxieties they might have, you can ensure your campaigns will get results. By using these three key steps – create desire and motivation through your graphics and text, reduce anxiety, and make it easy to convert – as a means to assess your campaigns, you can get those ever-important conversions on a more frequent basis.