14 Powerful Strategies to Boost Your Email Marketing Conversions

Email marketing is a critical component of ecommerce. For every dollar you spend on email marketing, you can expect an average return of $42. That kind of return is impossible to ignore!

The main goal of an email marketing campaign is to entice recipients to click a call-to-action (CTA). This is true for one-off broadcasts and automated sequences. More clicks to your ecommerce site means more revenue in your pocket. 

The number that helps us measure clicks is called your email conversion rate. To calculate this number, simply divide the number of recipients who clicked your CTA by the number of emails delivered to recipients. Then multiply by 100 to express the outcome as a percentage.

Let’s say your email campaign was sent to 10,355 people and received 804 clicks:

804 clicks / 10,355 people = 0.0776 or 7.8%. 

A higher percentage means more people are clicking your links. Your goal is to raise that number as high as possible in order to drive more traffic to your site. So how do you boost your email marketing conversions? Let’s dive in!

The main goal of an email marketing campaign is to entice recipients to click a call-to-action (CTA).

14 Ways to Boost Your Email Marketing Conversions

The following are a collection of strategies to boost your email marketing conversions. These techniques will entice your subscribers to click to your website. Use this guide like a checklist. Make sure each of your emails fits these guidelines.

1. Spend time on subject lines

If you want your subscribers to click the links in your emails, they first need to open the email. Your subject lines are the only part of the email your subscribers get to decide whether they’ll open the message. Make sure your subjects are compelling and intriguing, but not dishonest.

What makes a great subject line?

• Personalized subject lines generate 50% higher open rates. 
• 50 characters or less so your subscribers can scan the entire thing at a glance. 
• A human “from” name. No one likes emails from “no-reply.” 
• A compelling question or provocative statement. 
• A sense of urgency and/or scarcity.

2. Segment your subscribers

Segmenting your email list is one of the most impactful ways to boost your email marketing conversions. Marketers who segment their subscribers see as much as a 760% increase in revenue. According to the Lyris Annual Email Optimizer Report, there are plenty of other benefits as well:

Image: Lyris, Inc

This practice allows you to send content that’s personalized to their needs. It also stops you from sending content to anyone who wouldn’t find it relevant. 

Segment your subscribers based on their geographics, demographics, psychographics, and behaviors. For instance, if you’re having a sale on women’s shoes, you might send a promotional email to anyone with the tag “woman” or anyone who has purchased women’s shoes in the past. But you wouldn’t send it to anyone you’ve tagged as “man.”

Segmentation also opens up avenues for automation. For instance, if a subscriber clicks a link to your formal wear sale, it’s reasonable to assume they’re interested in formal wear. Based on this new information, you could configure your email marketing app to drop the subscriber into an automation sequence that drips formal wear offers. Automated emails generate 320% more revenue than non-automated emails, while saving you significant effort.

3. Keep your content short

While there’s no perfect length for an email marketing messaging, emails that are too long get ignored. The most effective emails usually get right to the point and don’t waste the reader’s time. Use images and GIFs to tell the story succinctly. 

Notice how this Birchbox email seems big, but the content is fairly short. It only takes a few seconds to read.

4. Test your emails in multiple clients

Before you blast out your messages, make sure they display nicely in various email clients. This way your subscribers can actually read your content. Check your layout, images, emojis, GIFs, CTAs, and other elements. Some email marketing tools will alert you if your content doesn’t display nicely in a particular email client. 

5. Match the content to the CTA or offer

If your email promotes your new line of denim jackets, it would make sense to offer a deal on those products. But if your CTA and deal doesn’t relate to the content of the message, you’ll leave your subscribers confused and possibly annoyed. Make sure the email has a unified purpose and goal. 

6. Use a simple design template

It’s tempting to create a flashy design that impresses your subscribers, but complexity usually reduces conversions. Over-the-top designs can overwhelm your readers, so they just decide to not click anything. 

Ideally, you should use the simplest design that serves your email’s purpose. Use headings and columns to create hierarchy, which helps subscribers understand the content. Stick to a small palette of colors that represent your brand. 

7. Create clear and simple CTAs

Your email’s CTA should be clear and simple. Don’t leave any room for confusion. There’s no need to be clever here. Use action-focused phrasing, like “Learn More,” “View Product,” or “Add to Cart.” Your buttons should be colorful and bold, standing out from the rest of your content. 

Notice how this email uses two very clear CTAs. They are impossible to miss.

8. Include dynamic content

Dynamic content is the height of personalization. It refers to content that’s tailored specifically to the recipient based on what you know about them. The best email marketing tools let you assign elements as “variables” that adjust upon sending. 

Here’s an example: You’re designing a header for a sale on your outdoor gear. The header’s background image could show a bicyclist for anyone with the “biking” tag and a hiker for anyone with the “hiking” tag. This way everyone sees an image that relates to them.

9. Find the right cadence

The frequency of your email sends can affect your subscribers’ willingness to click links. If you send too often, they’ll ignore your emails, or worse, mark them as spam. If you send too infrequently, your subscribers may forget who you are in between. 

Ultimately, there’s no simple answer here, but a good rule of thumb is to send about once a week. You’ll have to monitor your open rates as you send emails. If you’re struggling to get people to open your messages, ask yourself if you’re sending too often or not often enough. 

10. Make your emails mobile-friendly

There’s not much to say here. 53% of emails are opened on a mobile device. If your emails don’t work on mobile, your conversion rate will be half what it should be. 

Making your emails mobile friendly means…

• Using a single column layout (or a multi-column layout that collapses into a single column layout on small screens). 
• Using short subject lines. 35 characters maximum.
• Using CTA buttons instead of links. 
• Writing short and concise copy with larger fonts.
• Using images that are sized for their content area so they load quickly. 

11. Link your images

CTAs are important, but many people assume images to be clickable. If one of your images relates to a link, make it clickable as well. For instance, a product image and its “shop now” button should lead to the same page. This is especially important for mobile users who have a hard time clicking small links. 

12. Run A/B tests

An A/B test is when you create two versions of the same email, but change them by one variable. For instance, you might change the CTA, but leave all of the other content the same. Then, send each version to half of your list and measure the performance. The one that scores the most conversions is the winner.

Image: Weebly

These kinds of tests help you learn more about your audience. In this case, after learning which CTA was more effective, you would use it in all subsequent emails. Our favorite email marketing platform is Klaviyo which comes built with A/B testing capabilities.

13. Monitor your performance metrics

Your email marketing tool will give you lots of data on the effectiveness of your campaigns. Scrutinize this data carefully. Ask yourself why one email got more clicks than another email. Repeat the strategies that work to drive your clicks as high as possible.

14. Follow best practices for deliverability

Before you can optimize your email marketing conversions, you first need to make sure your subscribers are actually seeing your emails. Here are some tips to practice good email deliverability:

• Consider removing inactive subscribers (people who don't open your emails)
• Make sure you are sending emails legally
• Make it super simple for people to unsubscribe
• Stick to a consistent send schedule
• Use a double opt-in or confirmed opt-in
• Remove low investment subscribers who only joined for a specific purpose, such as a giveaway
• Use branding in your "from" name

In many cases, your Gmail subscribers have no idea you’re trying to talk to them because your emails end up in their promotions tab. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be that way. It’s possible to get your emails out of the Promotions tab, which can increase your revenue by up to 133%. Learn more.

Going Forward

The purpose of email marketing is to get subscribers to click to your site. These tips will help you boost that click rate. Keep this guide nearby when you craft your emails to make sure yours are optimized for conversions. 

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