Email Marketing is a simple but effective marketing approach to gain customers specifically by means of electronic mail. It is a practical and economical way of direct marketing that promotes business by sending email messages to a vast majority. These email messages are a way to communicate important and special offers, for example, information about new products or services, promos, refund offers, sale promotions, etc.
In comparison to social media and unwelcomed junk mail (which is never a decent promotion strategy by any means), email is the most effective way to gain leads and convert them into actual consumers. The data is conveyed in a more organized way rather than just throwing all the information towards the customer. Email marketing is an approach to reach a large number of potential clients with minimal effort. Hence, it is rather a sophisticated method of online marketing. This is the reason why marketers around the globe send over 196 million emails every day! With that being said, only about 20% of those emails are actually opened. This is why it is important to find out if your email marketing campaign is even working.
There are two main elements to help you analyze the strength of your email marketing i.e.:
- Click-Through Rate (CTR)
- Click to Open Rate (CTOR)
Let us find out what CTR and CTOR are before we talk about how these two elements can help you judge the effectiveness of your email marketing campaign.
What is the Click-Through Rate (CTR)?
Click-Through Rate or CTR is the measure of how many people clicked through an email as compared to the number of emails delivered. Hence, it is a percentage of emails that resulted in clicks. For instance, if you delivered 10,000 emails and 100 clicks then your CTR is 1%.
This can be used to study and analyze the relevance of your ads and how the customers are reacting to it. Therefore:
- High CTR – A high CTR expresses that users find your ads relevant.
- Low CTR – A low CTR percentage shows that users find your ads irrelevant.
Hence, with the help of this figure, you can also determine the strength of your email marketing strategy. A low rate implies that users are not attracted to your offers or promotions and therefore you must update and increase your marketing efforts. While on the other hand, a high CTR rate reflects a successful turnover which implies that you should continue with the strategy and use similar tactics.
Moreover, on the contrary, by improving the CTR you can also enhance the performances of your email marketing. Thus, CTR is not only a measure of email marketing but also a useful tool. Now lets us take a look at how you can improve your marketing email CTR.
What is Click to Open Rate (CTOR)?
Click to Open Rate or CTOR is similar to CTR in the sense that they both measure how many people clicked through an email. However, the difference lies in the denominator i.e.: while CTR compares clicks with the total number of sent emails, CTOR is the percentage of opened emails. This means that CTOR compares the total number of clicks with the total number of emails that have been opened.
For example, you sent 10,000 emails of which 1000 were opened which resulted in 100 clicks. So, CTOR is 10%.
Hence, CTOR helps you identify how your content is appealing to the readers once it has been opened and viewed. This implies that CTOR measures the performance of the content of an email.
How to Increase your Click-Through Rate (CTR) and Click to Open Rate (CTOR)?
You can also use both CTR and CTOR to influence your email marketing campaign by increasing them. So, here is how you can improve them:
Captivating subject-line
Around 70% of people mark an email as spam even before opening it. This is why a captivating subject line plays such an integral part in your email marketing strategy. To get the reader to click, you need them to open the email in the first place. So by creating engaging and eye-catching subjects you have a better chance of getting the readers to react.
Email Formatting
Email Formatting plays a vital role in influencing the CTR. Some formatting areas that need your attention are:
- Your emails should be mobile-friendly.
- Don’t use images for key info as image blockers or slow internet will hide them.
- Use visual signifiers to gran the reader’s interest.
- Make your emails visually appealing and easy on the eyes.
- Have scannable emails.
Email Content
When it comes to online marketing, content is the king. Without good content, all your efforts will go to waste. Make sure you write an engaging email that is bound to get a click from your reader.
Call to Action
Having a clear and rightly placed call to action (CTA) will win you the click. Giving people what they need to do will have them do it. It is as simple as it sounds but incredibly powerful.
Personalize Your Emails
Target your audience by making them feel special. One way of doing this is to personalize your emails by using relevant personal data such as customers’ download history, purchase history, and satisfaction scores. This tactic is known as effective lead nurturing which attracts more click-throughs because of the customized nature of email.
CTR vs. CTOR – Which One Is Better?
Both CTR and CTOR are useful measures of the success of an email marketing campaign. However, CTR takes the upper hand has it measures the overall performance of an email whereas CTOR only analyses the success of email content. All in all, both these rates can be used to improve your email marketing campaign and boost your conversion rates.
Conclusion
From planning to execution to analysis, each step in the email marketing process is crucial to make it a success. With the help of CTR and CTOR, you can not only analyze and monitor your email marketing efforts but also improve them to a significant degree!