Why a Better Open Rate Can Yield Lower Click Through Rates
In email marketing, the name of the game is engagement. Full stop.
Let’s put it out there, the open rate is not the be all end all of email marketing. Important, yes. But it is imperative that digital marketers take off their blinders when looking at open rates and focus on engagement rates, too.
Now, most of the time an email with a better open rate will naturally lead to better engagement. After all, the open rate is the first gate you make your users walk through on the journey to your site.
However, I recently wrote a piece titled, “Email Marketing 101: Split Test Optimization” and in it, I presented the theory that in a classic A/B test, email marketers have to look past the subject line that pits two versions up against each other. And at the end of the article, I posed the question of how could it be that an email with a lower open rate can yield better results? I know, it sounds counterintuitive, and I address this pressing issue here.
Top 3 Reasons Why Your Open Rates Are Not Helping Your Campaigns
Now, writing a great subject line takes a lot of practice. Campaign Monitor reported on the best length for your email subject lines and discovered that you only have 27-41 characters (Android vs. iPhone). So, pixel real estate comes at a premium. And foolproof ideas on how to get the highest ROI on this investment will come in a future edition. If you have any thoughts on this, please let me know. For now, without further ado, here are reasons that your open rates can be hampering your engagement rates.
#1 Clickbait at its Finest
The first reason why you might be skewing your results is clickbait (or perhaps “open bait”). I think this one is pretty self-explanatory. Yet, if you’re not sure, here’s a dictionary courtesy of Merriam Webster.
clickbait
noun
click ·bait | \ ˈklik-ˌbāt \Definition of clickbait
: something (such as a headline) designed to make readers want to click on a hyperlink especially when the link leads to
Merriam Webstercontent of dubious value or interest
So, if you are split testing two subject lines, e.g., “The Clickbait” vs. “The Wholesome Truth” then there is a good chance the former will seduce better open rates, but I reckon the latter will give you better click-through rates simply because they are treated to a better experience.
#2 The Cliffhanger
Now some would call the cliffhanger a form of clickbait, so maybe this is reason 1½. The cliffhanger is the form of deliberately or unknowingly using an ellipsis (i.e., a series of dots…) at the end of the subject line. I say unknowingly, too, because many time smartphones will break the subject line, as noted above.
It’s not a bad tactic, but the “half subject line” might evoke a certain feeling amongst your readers and when they open the email, they’ll see a different story.
For example, “The Meaning of Life is…” And then you follow up with a sale on chocolate. Yeah, chocolate is nice, but I don’t think that is the meaning of life (unless you are a chocolatier). Hence, this might explain high-opens-low-click-through-rates.
#3 The CTA Connection vs. the CTA Disconnect
Lastly, this reason is something that I’ve noticed particularly in long form copy emails.
Many times, I’ve written emails that recycled the subject line as the main call to action (I call this CTA Connection). When a subscriber sees the subject line as the CTA link, I believe that they feel more inclined to click because they’ve already made a “micro yes” to the same copy when they saw the email in their inbox.
And the truth is, when applicable I like to do this because I’ve noticed that the subject line that doubles as a CTA elicits high click through rates.
On the flipside, when the CTA is disconnected from the subject line, you might be increasing your open rates but sacrificing your click-through rates. As such, perhaps this is the reason why a subject line with higher open rates gets lower CTOR.
True, it might be just a few percentage points, but a buck’s a buck and when you are sending 100,000’s of emails it is even more. No matter what, I urge you to pay close attention to all crucial aspects of your email marketing campaigns.
