Get More Clicks With a Good Call-to-Action

by Michelle Keegan,  Constant Contact Email Marketing Expert

What do we mean by "clicks" or the click through rate?

Click Through Rate (or CTR) - The percentage (number of unique clicks from an email divided by the number of opens) of recipients that click on a given URL in your e-mail.

"In Q4 2002, the all-company email click-through average was 8.0%." and "In Q4 2002, total email click-through rates increased almost 10% over the previous year." - Source: Doubleclick's Q4 2002 Email Trend Report        (get Adobe Reader)

How does your click-through rate measure up? Whether it is higher or lower, there is always room for improvement.

The call-to-action is a determining factor of your click-through rate. It is an important component of your email copy because it answers three important questions for the recipient.

They are:

1. What you want them to do
2. Why they should do it, and
3. How to take that next step.

Whatever action you want your recipients to take, you can make it happen more often with a good call-to-action.

First, decide what do you want them to do:

• Buy something
• Sign up for a service
• Fill out a form
• Read an article or get more information
• Visit your website or store
• Make an appointment
• Etc.

Then, make sure you incorporate these 6 characteristics to get the results you're looking for.

• Visible - People read, react, make decisions and take action differently. Some make decisions right away ("You had me at hello.") and some need more details ("I'm from Missouri."). Place call-to-action links in the beginning, middle and end of the email so that recipients can click whenever they are ready.

• Clear - Stick to simple words, short phrases, bulleted benefits and paragraphs of 1-3 short sentences. Include appropriate graphics and cut the clutter by making effective use of white space.

• Compelling - Use action-oriented verbs and phrases: "buy now," "call today," "save" and so on.

• Rewarding - Offer an incentive or reward for action. For example, "Act now and also receive...," or "the First 100 respondents will be entered into a raffle to win..." The giveaway, or prize, you choose should be closely related to your product or service. That way, you will be targeting customers who are interested in what you have to offer, not just the latest gadget.

• Urgent - The longer an email sits in an inbox, the less likely it is to be acted on. Create a sense of urgency to get a more immediate response. Try limiting the offer to a specific time period, to the "first 50 customers," "while supplies last," etc.

• Direct - Your call-to-action links should go to the appropriate page on your website with more details on the specific product or service you're promoting. If you don't have a website, the call-to-action might be store locations to visit or a number to call for an appointment.

Keep in mind that, in addition to repeating your call-to-action, you can vary your call-to-action to appeal to different types of buyers (and to fit your sales cycle). For example: "Click here to buy now" will naturally work better with loyal customers. The softer, "Click here to learn more" may be better for newer prospects.

My company uses "Try it free for 60-days" 2-3 times in a given promotion. We supplement this with "Learn more" and "Take a tour" so there's something for every type of buyer, at every point in the sales cycle. But, be careful not to provide too many choices, as readers can become confused.

Finally, never underestimate the power of reports! If you are using an email marketing service*, you can review your reports to see click-through data for each call-to-action link. After you have determined which call-to-action links worked best, what do you do? Use more of that special sauce next time, and get even more clicks!

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