Stop Staring! Convert Openers into Clickers.

How’s the summer going? Open rates on vacation? Click rates setting like the summer sun? Have no fear! Over my next two posts, we are going to review a few ways to isolate subscribers who are stopping in the purchase funnel way too soon.

I reviewed a 15 minute exercise to increase engagement a few weeks ago where we broke out subscriber populations based on engagement levels. If you haven’t worked through the exercise yet, take a few minutes and check it out.

Today’s focus, openers who are not clicking.

We frequently review our email conversion data for promotional planning and to develop our communication strategy. Don’t be short sighted and ignore the subscribers who live in the part of the purchase funnel that exists before even reaching your site… the consistent openers who do not click. Let’s think about this group. These subscribers are engaged, they want to see what you have to offer, but darn it, they won’t go to your site! What’s stopping them and how do we get them to stop staring and start clicking?

The first step is to segment this group in a way that makes sense for your brand. The goal is to create a segment for subscribers who have opened within the past X days and have not clicked. The X factor here will be unique based on your mailing frequency. If you mail frequently, you may want to run queries with a smaller window time and the inverse if you do not mail often. This will ensure that subscribers have an opportunity to open your email and show that they are engaged. Great! Now that we know who they are, let’s drive them to convert to at least a clicker. Here are a few tactics to get you started.

Subject Line Calls-to-Action

Yes, subject lines typically work to get the open but in this case we have a population that has been consistently opening. Try including direct calls to action in the subject line that encourage a click. We don’t want them to just “See what’s inside” or “Our weekly deals are here.” We want them to be enticed to go to the site to get all of the information they need or to be thinking of the checkout process. A few ideas are:

• "View the Entire New Fall Collection & Save 10%"
• "Use code SAVE10 at checkout for 10% off!"

Pre-Header Text Optimization

This works in tandem with your subject line calls-to-action to encourage the click. Make sure that your subject line CTAs are augmented by the pre-header text. Here are a few concepts using the examples above:

• View the Entire New Fall Collection & Save 10% Over 100 new styles. Find your style today.
• Use code SAVE10 at checkout for 10% off! Plus free shipping over $100!

Check out this AllPosters email that ties in using a coupon code in the subject line and adds in a sense of urgency by including the expiration in the pre-header text: 

Calls-to-Action

This is where testing is going to not only going to help you find the best way to convert these openers into clickers, but you will also gain insight into your overall email program design. A few creative elements to test are:

• Including price points, size options, color options, rating, etc…: Having this information in the email will answer many of the questions a hesitant shopper may have and will drive them closer to the cart.
• Showing the original price, sale price, and savings amount: Communicating the full savings rather than a blanket percentage off or only the sale price communicates many factors that could influence the opener to click and hopefully convert.

Animation

This doesn’t have to be a full creative concept but adding in smaller elements such as a pulsing “2 Days Left” icon could be the driver to gaining the click. Don’t be afraid to test but do be a aware of going overboard!

Long form vs Short form

These openers who have not clicked may finally convert to a clicker if you switch up your currently email format. Having additional click opportunities does not always result in a higher click rate. Test versions of your email creative that either expand or limit the amount of links.

Text-Only Emails

Of course having an HTML rich email experience ideal in most cases, but switching to a text only version could break out of the expectations your customers have for viewing your emails. Remember, these folks have been looking at your emails and doing nothing. Here is text email I received in my Gmail account from OldNavy that is very short, shows the original prices/savings/sale price. While this is an interesting approach, the email itself does not have a lot of click opportunity. 

Any of these elements can be combined in your testing or you can divide each concept into a series of communications that is sent to openers who haven’t clicked. Whatever your approach, make sure you that you have some methodology to your plan. Having a well thought out testing road map will give you more organized data in your results and help you to make informed decisions about which levers to pull next.

Have you had any success reaching out to openers who haven’t clicked? Let us know what has/has not worked for you!

Jim Davidson
Manager of Strategic Services at Bronto