How many email links should I have? Email marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways to generate and nurture leads. But how many links should you include in your emails? Don’t be fooled by the common belief that more email links will increase your click-through rate (CTR).
In this post, we’ll go over how many evergreen email links are appropriate for one campaign, as well as what types of links you can include in an email. We’ll also discuss how to link them correctly with text that makes sense. You might be surprised at what we find out!
“MORE LINKS! MORE LINKS! MORE LINKS!”
Stop! Are you questioning how to link an email?
Before you put any more links in your email, highlight the text and ask yourself…
These 5 important questions:
- How many evergreen email links are in your email creative right now?
- How many of those links are clicked on and provide value to the subscriber?
- How many of those links have been in there for years and never been addressed?
- Did you click the link or links to ensure that they go to where they are supposed to go?
- Does the link text make sense?
A TRUE STORY
A few years back, I worked with a client who had a series of links scattered throughout their email. Some of these links were to social media channels, and others were links to “strategic parts of their website.” The problem was two out of the four social channels hadn’t been updated in over two years, while a few of the “strategic” links went to 404 pages. These CTA’s were left over from the last team, and they were never addressed, or even QA’d, and it made for an awkward subscriber experience.
MORE EMAIL LINKS DOES NOT MEAN MORE CLICKS
Don’t be fooled; having more links in an email doesn’t mean that your CTR will increase. On the contrary, having more links might detract from people clicking as there is too much choice, even if the subject line drives incredible open rates. However, having focused, well-placed, and intended links in emails will create balance and help drive your audience to a better place for a click and conversion.
WHERE TO PUT EMAIL LINKS
As we discussed earlier, how many email links should you have in one campaign? There is no definitive answer because it always depends on the subject line and content. This general rule of thumb will work for most: limit your evergreen email links to be around three or less per creative. You can go up or down from there depending on what works best with the attention span of your audience as well as segmentation. For example, an e-commerce retailer might want more than a BtoB company selling services. Make sure that your choices are intentional so they support the overall goals of the business.
TAKE INVENTORY & AUDIT YOUR EMAIL LINKS
If it’s been a year or so and you have not done an inventory around all of our links in your email templates, we at iPost would STRONGLY suggest you do. You might find opportunities, but you also might find ways to optimize your templates.
To take inventory, you must first identify what links have been in there for quite some time and click on them. Do they take you to the desired destination, and is that place indicative of your brand? If so, then find out how many clicks on that link have occurred over the last 3-6 months and if any of those clicks have led to a conversion. Remember, having links for the sake of having links is not the goal here.
THE GOAL OF EMAIL LINKS
The goal is to provide a distraction-free email experience for your subscriber that leads to the conversion. If you decide to eliminate an evergreen link, then back it up with data to combat the naysayers at your organization who feel the need to have it in there. If the link provides no value or is not indicative of your brand, eliminate it as chances are no one will miss it. You can always repurpose the copy to help fill in gaps elsewhere.
CREATE A STRONG CALL-TO-ACTION & LINK TEXT
The link text is just as important as the subject line, if not more because it’s what people see before they even click on that email. The stronger your call-to-action and message, the more likely people will click as they know exactly where to go.
Using a descriptive link text helps your audience understand what’s in it for them once they’ve clicked on that email, and also makes your life easier when you have limited space around an image or design element. Don’t make it feel like you are trying too hard because ”
UNNECESSARY LINKS IN YOUR EMAIL SENDS ARE A DISTRACTION
People are distracted these days quickly, and sending emails with unnecessary links that drive no value only adds to their distraction. Getting rid of things that have been a staple or ingrained into your program for such a long time is hard, but then again, the email program isn’t about you or what executives want. It’s about providing the best experience for the customer while giving them a better chance to convert via a distraction-free piece of creative.
YOUR EMAIL LINKS SHOULD BE FOCUSED AND INTENDED
If you keep your links focused, relevant to the overall brand experience, and intended for click-throughs, then chances are good that they will be clicked on more often. In addition, if those clicks lead to a conversion or sale—congratulations! You have succeeded in creating an email piece with a laser focus on getting results. We’d love to hear how it went down either way so please send us a note if this article helped improve your CTR by providing a better subscriber experience.
Until next time…stay tuned….and stay focused on what matters most – YOUR SUBSCRIBERS! The ones who want subscription emails because they LIKE them?
