Creative & layout to maximise click-through rates

Examining the 5 most common mistakes in email design & why they impact on click-through rates

One simple goal

Emails need to be seen

3 objectives:1.Get the email opened2.Get the message

understood3.Get the link clicked

User behaviour

Understand how users read/see email:

• Subject line• Preview pane

Is it a “Cold” email or a newsletter?

Clever email & not-so-clever users

• Images turned off• Inboxes/Filters that learn• Spam/blacklisting• Unsubscribing

– Easier to delete or move to spam

– Bad unsubscribe processes

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Barriers to conversion

Types of barrier:

• Quality of Data• HTML Coding• Email broadcast systems• And CREATIVE...

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MISTAKE NO. 1Large header banners

Large header banner

• Design for the preview pane

• Keep important content “above the fold”

• Ask– Is it meaningful?– Can you get the message get

across without it?– Does it have to be an image?

MISTAKE NO. 2Unclear calls to action

Unclear call to action

• Display above the fold• Make it prominent• Avoid conflict• Show it is clickable

– underlined link– button

• Be transparent– Describe exactly what links click through to

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MISTAKE NO. 3Too many images

Who wants their email to look like this?

Images turned off

Too many images

• Images don’t display offline• Imbalance of images and text adds

to spam rating

If it doesn’t have to be an image don’t make it one

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MISTAKE NO. 4Hard to read copy

Hard to read copy

Make content scannable• Ensure it’s easy to read

– Font style– High contrast

• Break up text with:– Headlines– Bullets– Hyperlinks– Bold

MISTAKE NO. 5Underutilised subject lines

Underutilised subject lines

The subject line is seen by everybody• Make certain it’s integral to email

message• Keep it short• Mention company name• Avoid spammy words and

UPPERCASE words

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TESTINGA/B test example

Version A Version B

Header Banner

Call to Action

Images

Copy

A/B Test

Want to know how and why big B2B brands invest in their visual styling?

Investing In Visual Property: a useful, downloadable Base One guide

Version B

Double the open rate

Triple theunique clicks

A/B Test – the results

Version A Version B

What was the most popular link?

58% of clicks were to this link

A/B Test – the surprise

Summary

1. Larger Header Banner2. Unclear calls to action3. Too many images4. Hard to read copy5. Underutilised subject lines

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In conclusion

Get your email Seen

OpenedUnderstood

Clicked

Test and prepare to be surprised!

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Thank you

www.baseone.co.uk