How to Increase Email Conversion Rates

Overview

At this point, email seems like one of the oldest marketing tactics in the book, but it is still an excellent and effective way to engage with prospects while also building relationships with existing customers.

Regardless of what industry you are in and your product or service, we are all trying to get the same results from our emails - conversions. With that in mind, there are several best practices that can be adopted across any industry to help improve your email strategy to boost the engagement and overall conversions you are seeing from your marketing emails.

What is an email conversion rate?

In the most basic sense, the email conversion rate is the percentage of subscribers who performed a specific action. The actions will vary depending on the goals you intended. For instance, if you are running an online store, a plausible action is a purchase. Likewise, for an online magazine, signing up for a subscription is an ideal intended action.

The email conversion rate formula is:

Conversion rate = The number of purchases via your email / The number of recipients

AVADA lets you see your conversions from various reports inside the app, such as:
- The overall report (right from the dashboard)
- The general report (in the Reports section)
- The detailed report of each workflow/ campaign (including short reports outside and detailed reports inside)

For more information, please read our article on How to Use AVADA's Reports.

Why does your conversion rate matter a lot?

Conversions are what drive your business, increasing your revenue, as well as providing how valuable your channels truly are. Acquiring subscribers and delivering great content are crucial, but the most critical step in your marketing process is to convert your audience to become loyal customers. That is why it is so essential to analyze and increase your conversion rate.

Conversion rates, as we said above, differ depending on your industry, how new you are to email marketing, and many more.

How to increase your email conversion rates?

Below are 8 best practices to increase your email conversion rates:

- Segment, segment, segment

- Exclude the suppression list

- Choose the right frequency

- Write a great subject line

- Use links wisely

- Create engaging CTAs

- Improve the checkout experience

- Optimize workflows

1. Segment, segment, segment

You can create the best email with the best subject line and a great CTA, but if you are sending it to the wrong people, all that won't matter. That being said, when you further segment your list, you will likely see an improvement in your conversion rate.

The actual differentiators you use for your segmentation will be based on what type of email you're sending and what the intended action is. But consider segmenting people based on things like product, area of interest, level of engagement, buyer persona, etc.

When you create specific and target content, ensure that your emails go to those most interested in what you have to say. For example, you can create a VIP segment to target with exclusive content, deals, products, and many more. You can even invite these loyal VIPs to produce content and referrals that will boost conversions from new subscribers.



You can read our guide on Segments for more creative ideas.

2. Exclude the suppression list

While you should use segmentation to pick the people you want to receive your emails, you can also use the suppression list to exclude specific groups of people that you don't want to receive them.

In AVADA, the suppression list contains bounces, complaints, unsubscribers, and invalid email addresses. By taking advantage of this list, you can improve your email deliverability and sender reputation, and eventually boost your conversion rates. For more information, please head to our article on the suppression list.

3. Choose the right frequency

The number of emails you send will extremely depend on the size of your database, your product/ service, and your overall marketing strategy. Whether it is once per week or every other day, choose a cadence your teams have the bandwidth to stick to.

Routine is crucial because it will help your audience get used to seeing your emails on certain days. It will also ensure that you are not unknowingly bombarding them with email after email.

4. Write a great subject line

Believe it or not, getting conversions on your emails often starts with a subject line. Your subject line is the first thing a recipient will see before even opening the email. If they are new to your emails or your brand, it can hold a ton of weight as to whether or not they even open your email at all.

Your email subject lines should be engaging and intriguing while still being truthful to the value your email holds. Experiment with different types of subject lines to find what your audience responds to the best.

Related topics:

- How to Write The Best Subject Lines for Open Rates?

- The Guide for Email Subject Line Testing

5. Use links wisely

Including links in your emails is essential for customers to click and engage with your content. That said, the links that you include should be applicable to your content and drive conversions, as this onsite activity directly relates to conversion rate.

Generally, you should primarily link out to E-commerce pages of your site. If instead you link your home, blog, news article, contact page, or collections page instead of your E-commerce-related pages, you may see a drop in your conversions. That is not to say you should remove all non-E-commerce links that assist your business; rather cut back and add in direct E-commerce links to help your conversions grow.

Additionally, keep the following tactics in mind when adding links:

- Make them easily found and emphasized in your email design

- Ensure all links work and lead to the correct place

- Don't add too many links that will overwhelm your subscribers

6. Create engaging CTAs

There are a ton of different ways to highlight an offer or link insider of your email. Whether you're using simple linked text, a button, an image, or even a GIF, it should be easy to spot and enticing to follow.

If using text, choose language that clearly states there is action to be taken like "Download Now" or "Click Here For..." so that users don't get confused by where they should be clicking. If you are prompting a video, you can use a GIF with a play button on it which takes the user directly to the video window in their browser.

7. Improve the checkout experience

Another thing to consider is the checkout experience your customers go through when buying from your store. If you recently changed the checkout experience in any way (i.e., added a new layout or new form), this can lead to a change in your conversion rate. If you see this rate drop, consider weighing whether or not the change is worth this drop in revenue.

Likewise, if your product price or shipping fee recently increased or you're suddenly offering fewer incentives for subscribers, you may see a drop in conversion rates. You will likely need to re-think who you target to accommodate for higher price points.

For instance, send higher-priced product marketing emails to a segment of high AOV (Average Order Value) customers. Alternatively, if you decide you can no longer offer a specific discount, offer a less costly but otherwise exciting incentive, such as free shipping or the chance to join a VIP program with additional purchases.

If you notice a delay in shipping, communicate this proactively to customers. Consider including shipping information in your post purchase follow-up email or via forms on your website. They will be more likely to return to place another order from your store if you give them adequate expectations from the start.

8. Optimize workflows

Workflows are a great way to boost conversions with little manual lift because, once created, they automatically email subscribers when they qualify for messaging. The key workflows to have live include:

- Welcome series

- Abandoned cart emails

- Product browse abandonment workflow

In particular, abandoned cart workflows are crucial for increasing your conversion rate, as someone who genuinely wants to buy from your store may abandon their shopping cart for a variety of reasons. Sending them a reminder message, and even a discount to purchase, increases the likelihood that they will return to place an order. Without this workflow, you lose out on an abundance of potential conversions.

Other workflows that can level up your account performance and increase conversion rates include:

- First-time purchase anniversary workflow

- Customers' birthday celebration workflow

- Winback workflow

Updated on: 29/08/2021