With so many key performance indicators (KPIs) available to email marketers looking to gauge the success of their email campaigns, none are considered more crucial than the conversion rate.
Why? Marketers often use this figure to help calculate the direct return on investment (ROI) of their digital marketing efforts.
What is an email conversion rate?
In email marketing, the conversion rate is the percentage of subscribers who complete a desired action. The action can be just about anything, including:
- Making a purchase
- Downloading an ebook or white paper
- Signing up for a demo
Getting readers to act on your email campaigns can be tough. In fact, on average, the typical conversion rate (CR) comes in at just under 1.5%. Of course, this number varies by industry.
How to measure your conversion rate
Before we jump into how to improve your conversion rate, it’s vital that marketers understand how to measure their overall conversion rate. Again, this involves finding the percentage of your readers that are taking action, such as clicking on a hyperlink, image, video, or CTA button.
To find your conversion rate, you’ll want to divide the number of individuals who acted on your email by the total number of individuals who received it. Then finish it off by multiplying by 100 to get your actual percentage. The formula looks like this:
CR = (# of recipients who took action ÷ total number of recipients) x 100
When measuring your overall conversion rate, you’ll want to keep an excellent record of your CR over time. Comparing these KPIs over time will help you see how well a given campaign is performing and if it’s helping with your ROI.
Knowing that the average conversion rate falls around 1.5%, you’ll be able to compare your conversion rate to that and, if you’re above, great. If not, then you’ll know your campaigns need some work.
The same goes for keeping a record of your brand’s average conversion rate.
Two must-haves to improve your email conversion rate
With a solid understanding of conversion rates and how to both find and measure it, there are a few noteworthy ways that you can work on improving your average conversion rate.
Sadly, only 22% of businesses state that they’re happy with their conversion rates, meaning 78% are unhappy.
So knowing what to work on to improve your overall conversion rate will surely help your brand be a part of that 22%.
1. Relevant content
The number one way to ensure your readers are taking action is to make sure you’re giving them relevant content to engage with. If your readers are expecting material on women’s fitness and you send them an affiliate link to purchase men’s fitness clothing, you aren’t going to see the conversion rates that you desire.
Having properly segmented lists is one way to help in this effort. Take this example by Adidas, who segmented their lists by gender for this email campaign.
Your readers are statistically more likely to make a purchase (make the conversion) if they feel the brand is taking the time to personalize the content and offers to their needs.
2. Big, bold, and direct CTAs
Make it simple: create clear CTAs that the reader simply can’t ignore.
Just take this CTA by Haband:
Source: Milled
Right away, it’s clear to readers that there’s free shipping on orders of $29 or more, and the brand doesn’t want consumers to “miss out.” The call to action? “Choose now!”
Not only is this CTA clear, to the point, and giving the reader something to act on, but it also creates a sense of urgency. If they don’t “Choose now,” then they’re out of luck.
Does email conversion rate really matter?
Email conversion rate absolutely does matter. The entire purpose of your marketing efforts is to get your audience to take action, so, if you don’t see those conversions, your readers aren’t acting.
What now?
Now that you know how you can improve on your email campaigns to help boost your conversion rate, it’s time to take action. We suggest diving into list segmentation, and our helpful guide will help walk you through the entire process.