To find out if a email campaign was successful or not, the marketing team can rely on various key indicators. One of the most important being the average click-through rate. What is an average click through rate? How to calculate it? And above all, how to improve it? This is what we are going to address in this content dedicated to the average emailing click-through rate.
What is a click through rate?
In marketing, click-through rate is sometimes also called CTR (Click Through Rate). As its name suggests, the click through rate refers to the number of people who click on a link.
To generate sales, or turn prospects into loyal customers, it is important to click. Indeed, the more clicks there are, the more you increase your chances of having new customers.
THE click-through rate is therefore one of the key indicators to evaluate the performance of an advertising campaign. This indicator can be used for:
- PPC ad campaigns
- advertising emails
- Articles on your social networks
- The performance of each internal link on your website
- For organic search. That is to say, to improve your position on search engines. Especially through SEO.
While the CTR is important, it is not the only indicator allowing you to evaluate a marketing campaign. You can also cumulate with open rate and deliverability rate.
Note that it is common to confuse click-through rate and responsiveness rate. While these are two fairly similar key indicators, they are different. Indeed, the reactivity rate is the relationship between clicks and the number of openings. What differentiates it from the average emailing click-through rate, the calculation of which we will see in more detail.
As we have just explained, the average click-through rate corresponds to the percentage of people who click on a link. It is therefore very easy to calculate. This is the ratio between the number of clicks and the number of emails delivered. All multiplied by 100 since it is a percentage.
The formula is therefore as follows: (number of clicks / number of emails delivered) x 100.
By emails delivered, we mean the emails that have succeeded. That is, those that landed in your target’s inbox.
It is possible to calculate two types of rates:
- The single rate : represents the number of clickers. That is, people who clicked through the email.
- The cumulative rate : it is indexed to the total number of clicks made on all the links in your email.
Some emailing software allows you to directly calculate this performance rate. Do not hesitate to consult our comparison of best free email software.
Why is average click-through rate important?
THE average email click-through rate is one of the key indicators for evaluating the results of a marketing campaign. Indeed, it makes it possible to estimate the relevance of your content (text). But also the attractiveness of your visuals (images, computer graphics, etc.). Finally, thanks to the emailing average click rate, you can evaluate the position of each link placed in the emailing.
But much more than that, the average emailing click-through rate has other interests:
- It helps to optimize campaigns : With the results of this indicator, you can know what works or not. And therefore optimize your following campaigns.
- It has an impact on the quality score : This is true if you use Google Ads. Google distributes a quality score to advertisements. Google uses this adwords average click-through rate to determine the priority it will give to your ad.
- It can influence the ranking : Web experts are not yet certain of this fact. But it could be that the average emailing click-through rate influences the ranking on the search engine.
- It improves ROI and revenue : a good CTR means that you have a lot of visitors on your page, and therefore more conversion. With one advertisement, one email, if you get a good CTR it will generate more revenue. So your marketing strategy will be more profitable.
What is a good average click rate according to its sector?
There are many marketing campaign statistics. And for good reason, it is a very popular tool. We will therefore focus on some data concerning various industries. For this data, we looked at two networks: the search networks and the Display network. As a reminder, the Display network is made up of more than 2 million websites, videos and applications.
Here are the average email click-through rates for the “main” sectors:
- Consumer services : CTR of 2.41% on search networks. And 0.59% on the Display network.
- Ecommerce : research networks: 2.69%. Google Display Network: 0.51%.
- Industrial Services : research networks: 2.61%. Display Network: 0.50%.
- Real estate : research networks: 3.71%. Display Network: 1.08%.
- Technology : research networks: 2.09%. Display Network: 0.39%.
- Health/Medical : research networks: 3.27%. Display Network: 0.59%.
- Travel/Hospitality : research networks: 4.68%. Display Network: 0.47%.
- Dating/people : research networks: 6.05%. Display Network: 0.72%.
It is observed that the average click-through rates differ a lot between search networks and the Google Display Network. In order to better analyze the results of your sector of activity, it is important to take these two elements into account.
There is no ideal CTR per industry. What is important is that it is high. Indeed, the higher a CTR, the more it means a high number of clicks. And therefore more likely to reach potential prospects.
1 – Target the audience
For someone to click on your link, they still have to be interested. It is therefore important to know your target audience well. This will help you find the link that will captivate him for sure.
Triggering an emailing after a shopping cart abandonment makes it possible, for example, to follow up with a person who has already shown interest in a product but who may have been prevented from going through with it by a series of external circumstances.
See also: Boost the conversion rate with Marketing Automation
2 – Adapt the content format
A responsive email
Likewise, make sure your campaign can be read correctly on mobile. More and more users are choosing this channel. Be sure to create a responsive emailing which takes into account these constraints.
Take care of your CTAs
THE CTA (or call-to-action button) are crucial elements for the average click-through rate. In particular, they allow you to tell your target what to do next.
A good CTA (call to action button in French) will allow you to generate more clicks. To draw attention to your CTA you can play with shape, color, placement or even size. Do not hesitate to test several optionsthen analyze the results to find the best CTA.
See also: CTA examples
Pay attention to the subject of the email
It’s the first element of the email that the recipient will see. This is what will push the recipient to open the message or not. If the message does not open, there cannot be a click. Write for your email a simple, short and precise object. Again, experiment with several options until you find the right “tone”.
To have some relevant keywords can have a strong impact on your CTR. Keywords that correspond to the interests of your target will encourage them to open your email. And follow your links. What is true in search marketing remains relevant in emailing strategy.
Focus on quality images
If your ad or advertisement contains a image, make sure it is high quality. And it attracts attention. On average, people have a habit of not dwelling on advertisements or announcements unless something catches their eye. Be careful not to accompany the image with too many words (people generally do not read them if there are too many). You can find them on free stock image banks.
3 – Try various options by doing A/B testing
To know what works or not, there is nothing better than to test in real conditions L’a/b testing by comparing several versions is the way to achieve this. Once your first campaign is launched, analyze the results. Then, depending on the data, refine your strategy until you find the “best” one.
FAQs
What is the CTR of the first page of Google?
55% of clicks are on the first three positions of the SERP, we better understand the importance of a good SEO strategy. And get a good position on search engines. When moving to the second Google page, the average click-through rate becomes less than 1%. It is therefore important to work well on its referencing.
Here are the CTRs of the top 10 Google first page results in order:
• 28.5%
• 15.7%
• 11%
• 8%
• 7.2%
• 5.1%
• 4%
• 3.2%
• 2.8%
• 2.5%
It is therefore also to be taken into consideration in your emailing strategies, the order of the content presented in your emailing will have an impact on their click rate.