Running email marketing campaigns is a helpful tool in building your brand identity and following as well as increasing attendance at your events. However, it is not as simple as creating a mailing list and sending an email. You need to ensure your email marking campaigns are effective and efficient. But how do you do this?

This blog will outline the two most essential concepts in email marketing, open and click-through rate, and how you can increase their effectiveness when running your campaigns.

Defining Email Open and Click Through Rate (CTR)

But first, what is email open rate and click-through rate?

While people may think that email open rate is calculated when a receiver opens an email, it’s much more complicated than that. The open rate metric only calculates emails where the images are in full display and when a reader clicks a link in the email.

On the other hand, email click-through rate or CTR summarizes the number of subscribers that clicked a link in the email. Therefore, CTR is also considered the most critical metric in email marketing.

How To Improve Your Email Open Rate

There are many ways that you can use to improve your email open rate. We’ve listed down some of the top methods below:

• List Segmentation

Readers will open emails if the email is relevant to them, and one way to keep your content relevant is by segmenting your email list. An article by Email On Acid found that 39% of marketers who segmented their lists saw an increase in their open rates.
For instance, if you have a customer who has hired your services before, avoid sending them promotions for first-time clients. Instead, send them emails about your new event packages for long-term customers. You can also segment lists based on demographics such as location, season, business, and more.

• Perfectly Timed Emails

Timing is an essential factor in whether a subscriber will open an email or not. When starting, it is best to a/b test to see what day and time will perform best for your email marketing campaigns; it is all dependent on your brand and demographic. There are many resources online to help you get started with this.

• Subject Lines That Stand Out

If there’s one thing that marketers always agree on, subject lines are everything in email marketing campaigns. Since brands have been using email marketing for years, many use a standard subject line formula that has worked for them before. However, these older subject lines are often filtered out as white noise. That’s why, to stand out, you need to break away from the competition.
Some of our tips include enticing their curiosity, adding numbers, using fun and conversational tone, and speaking in a language and style they are most familiar with.

How To Improve Your Click Through Rate (CTR)

So, you manage to entice your subscribers into opening your emails. Your next challenge is to encourage them to click links found in the email (and hope it’s not the “unsubscribe” link).

• Practice the less is more concept.

If you don’t want your readers to get bored of your email, make sure that the content is straightforward. So, always practice the “less is more” concept in your copy. This is an effective way to direct your readers to see the correct links immediately.

• Include social sharing in your email.

Did you know that emails with social sharing options have a much higher CTR rate? Around 30% higher than average, according to a study by Econsultancy. The idea here is that, even if your subscriber may not redeem what you offer in their email, they may have a friend who does.

• Remove clutter from email.

Relating to our earlier tip on following the less is more concept, it’s also essential to remove clutter from your email. These distractions will deter them from doing specific actions, such as clicking relevant links. One example of clutter in an email is multiple offers or adding your website navigation to the header.
So, if your email aims to introduce a new Christmas event package, create a copy that highlights that message. Don’t add other promotions or include snippets of your blog that might distract your reader.

Summary

Email marketing is still one of the most powerful digital marketing tools today. But, of course, for your campaigns to be effective and efficient, you need to adapt and innovate to stand out from your competitors. So, more than having the emails of your event attendees, you also need to know how to measure the success of your campaigns with your open and click-through rate.
You should look out for two metrics: email open rate and click-through rate. It’s also important to remember that an open rate is more than just a reader opening an email. In addition, CTR is the most critical metric in email marketing.
To ensure that your campaigns are effective for your business, follow our tips above to stay relevant and perform better than your competitors.