What’s been the buzz about email marketing since its inception in 1978? It’s quite straightforward: email marketing is that tool that enables marketers to engage with audiences 1:1. It’s the only channel that enables marketers to do so. According to the DMA, when it comes to purchases made as a result of receiving a marketing message, email has the highest conversion rate (66%) when compared to social or direct mail. That means that email marketing can produce results like no other communication avenue.

But how do we make sure that we are achieving the best results? What should we be measuring to understand how to improve our campaigns?

There are various marketing metrics we can use to measure the level of engagement with our subscribers. But while the open rate may show how many people actually viewed our emails, the click-through rate shows us whether or not the email has stirred someone to action.

If you’ve been running your email campaigns for some time, you’ve probably got a good grasp of what your click-through rates (CTRs) should look like. Are you happy with the results? Let’s see how we can improve the email click-through rate to make a real impact with your marketing campaigns.

Below is a list of 5 primary ways to increase your click-through rates.

  1. Using links strategically

Here’s a simple math equation for you: the more opportunity you give recipients to click, the more likely will they do so. If a user needs to get through a few paragraphs until they see a call-to-action, they may not get too far. You have to set up links at the most opportune time. Ensure that every image is a link, as well. More links = more click-throughs.

  1. Social sharing

According to an Econsultancy, emails that include a social sharing option generate more than 30% click-through rates than emails without social sharing links. With 3 or more social sharing options, the CTR jumps to 55%. Your readers may not want to redeem your offer, but their friends just might.

  1. Email personalisation

According to ProfitPersuits, subject line personalisation increases click-through rates by an average of 17.36%. Effective lead nurturing includes knowing about the history of your audiences: their activity on your website, what they’ve downloaded from you, and their social media engagement. This will enable you to provide relevant offers that will receive more click-throughs as a result of personalisation.

  1. A sense of urgency

When you put limits on your offers, recipients are forced to quickly redeem them. As long as you properly segment your prospects and customers, and serve their need with the right offer, by creating urgency you can really work to entice them to take action in your emails.

  1. Test, test and test some more

By sending users content they want to see in the format they want to see it means conducting tests to refine email campaigns in order to find what resonates better with subscribers. From subject lines to CTA and images, in order to increase clicks and hopefully conversions, benchmarking emails against each other enables you to learn more about your audiences. Use the data and insights gathered from your testing to make more informed decisions for future campaigns.

These actionable strategies might give you the push you need to succeed with your emails. What metric tells the best story about your campaigns? Do you have other strategies that work for you?