CTR in Email: What Is It and How To Increase It

Click-through rate (CTR) is the most important metric to measure the success of an email marketing campaign. If you wonder what CTR is and how to measure it accurately, you’ve arrived at the right place. In this article, you’ll find answers to your questions about CTR.

Click-through rate definition

The click-through rate is the percentage of people who click on a hyperlink in your email. You calculate it by dividing the number of clicks for a particular email by the number of people who opened it. For example, if 150 people open your email and 30 of them click on the suggested link, the email’s click-through rate will be 30/150 = 0.2, or 20%.

How do I measure click-through rates?

In most cases, you calculate the CTR metric for a particular campaign or a given time period. Here’s how to calculate email click-through rate:

• You divide the number of clicks in an email by the number of times the email was opened. Multiply this number by 100 to express it as a percentage.

It may be cumbersome to calculate CTR manually for each email campaign you send. That’s why email service providers (ESP) calculate it automatically and display it in an interactive dashboard. Always choose an email platform with robust analytics so that you don’t waste your time calculating metrics manually.

What is a good click-through rate for emails?

The average email CTR varies from 1 to 5 percent across different industries. Research and industry benchmarks show that anything above 3% is a good CTR. Anything above 10% is stellar and puts you in the upper echelon of email marketers.

It’s essential to differentiate between average CTRs for marketing and transactional emails. Marketing emails usually have lower click-through rates due to their promotional nature, while transactional emails have much higher rates because they convey vital information anticipated by the recipient. A CTR of 50% and upwards is not unusual for transactional emails, while 3-10% is typical for marketing emails. Thus, it is vital to calculate CTR for different types of email separately.

Industry average CTR

Email click-through rates vary greatly by industry. Education and real estate have higher average CTRs of 3-5%. Others, like financial services, healthcare, and retail hover at 2-3%. Some crowded industries like fitness and travel have average CTRs as low as 1%.

Of course, your goal is to stand out of the crowd. Industry averages are a good starting point, but you should strive for more. The image below shows the average click-through rate for emails across major industries:

What factors affect click-through rates?

1. The number of links

The number of links in an email affects how many people will click on these links. It's advisable to have no more than 3 links in a single email to increase the likelihood of getting clicks. Emails with too many links look spammy and annoy readers. Besides, the fewer links in an email, the easier it is to monitor its performance.

2. Length of email

Email length significantly affects click-through rates. The longer an email is, the less likely people are to read every bit of it and click on the links. The optimal email length is 15 to 20 lines of text with a few images and a bold call-to-action button. The more visible your call-to-action button is, the more likely readers will locate and click on it. Avoid long emails unless it’s absolutely necessary to convey relevant information.

3. Subject line

The subject line is the first thing an email recipient sees. This line determines whether the recipient will open the email and click on a link afterward. An ideal subject line is short and precise, telling the reader exactly what they need to know about the email. You can also personalize it with the user’s name to get their attention, e.g., “Hi {First Name}, here’s your offer.”

4. Design

Your email layout should be well-designed and easy to follow. Use clear and legible fonts so people don’t strain their eyes to read. Images should be well-spaced and have consistent dimensions. Avoid too much color contrast because this can confuse readers. Good design means people are more likely to read your content and click through.

How to improve email click-through rate

1. Personalization

Personalization refers to using data you already have about your audience to send more focused messages. The most basic example is sending emails with the recipients’ name in the subject line. You can further monitor users’ behavior on your website or app and send personalized product recommendations, activity feeds, year-in-review, etc. Personalization increases the likelihood of getting clicks from your audience.

2. Segmentation

Segmentation means separating your mailing list into different categories and sending targeted messages to each one. You can segment your list by age range, interests, occupation, purchasing power, gender, and so on.

For example, if you sell clothing items online, you should at least segment your audience into male and female and send relevant product recommendations to each. Segmentation makes your marketing emails more effective, increasing the chances of a recipient clicking on a link.

3. Send relevant content

Your emails ought to include relevant information for your audience. It should be something your audience is interested in and will appreciate. For example, an electronics blog shouldn’t offer fashion-related information to its readers, and vice versa.

Avoid generic messages and focus on delivering precise tips, guides, offers, and helpful information. The more valuable information you provide, the higher your engagement and clicks.

4. Mobile optimization

50-60% of emails are read on mobile phones. Thus, you should optimize your email content and elements for mobile screens. Images should fit nicely into a mobile screen, and text should be adjusted to smaller displays.

Conclusion

Email marketers should keep a close eye on their CTR rates. The average CTR for your emails should be at least 3%, and you can aim significantly higher. The better your CTR, the more product sales you eventually get.

We’ve explained how to calculate CTR, the industry averages to measure against, the factors impacting this metric, and ways to improve it. Email platforms like UniOne make monitoring your CTR easy, so this shouldn’t be a problem. Your focus should be on increasing it as much as possible.