What, exactly, is a conversion rate and why is it important to improve for your email marketing campaign?
A conversion rate is how many customers (subscribers, in this case) act on what you ask them to do, your call-to-action. So, an action that you ask may include to redeem a coupon code, take a survey or visit a landing page.
To figure out your conversion rate, take the total number of emails sent (your subscriber list), subtract bounces and bad email addresses and divide the remainder by the number of subscribers did what you asked.
1. Where Are You Now?
Before jumping headlong into improving your email marketing campaign so it can bolster your conversion rate, you need to figure out where you are now.
What is your current conversion rate? What's the average, say, over the past quarter?
Whatever the percentage is, that's your measuring stick and that's where the work begins. Your current conversion rate will help you figure out what's the most achievable. A 20 percentage-point swing will probably not happen, but a 5 to 10 percent increase is more doable.
Also, make a list of what strategies and tactics you've already have in place with email marketing campaign.
2. Avoid Using Fancy Graphics
What does fancy graphics have to do with your conversion rate?
Well, fancy graphics make for a slow download of your email. Slow downloading ticks your customers off and ticked off customers don't normally buy products.
For email marketing, the best practice is to keep your graphics to a minimum.
3. Make Redeeming Your Promotions Easy
Essentially, don't make your subscribers jump through hoops in order to cash-in your deals. Really, it should just take a single step for your subscribers to reap your rewards.
Meaning, if you include a promotional code for an online purchase, link directly to your deals page.
Don't force your customers to remember your code either. Include it on every page they go to and on all of the order pages.
4. Keep Your Promotions Focused
Another great way to immediately improve your conversion rate is to ensure that your promotions or call-to-actions focused. Meaning, ask your subscribers to do one particular thing and don't cloud your email with numerous asks.
With multiple asks, you're risking your conversion rate.
5. Look at Your Data
You'll never know whether your conversion rate is improving if you're not tracking it. This is where SimplyCast's link tracking tool steps in to save the day. You can track all your links and get instant reports so you know what changes to make.
Make single changes first, like streamlining your redemption process. Review your data collected afterward and see if there's any improvement.
The problem is that if you pile on all of the changes at once, you'll never know which change was the one that worked and which change doesn't.
