Why are email clicks declining despite high open rates?
Summary
What email marketers say9Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Neil Patel explains that a mismatch between content and audience expectations, a lack of compelling call-to-actions, poor mobile optimization, or sending emails at the wrong time can lead to low click-through rates despite high open rates.
Email marketer from Mailchimp shares that a discrepancy between the email's subject line and content, an unengaging email design, or not segmenting your audience enough can result in high open rates but low click rates.
Marketer from Email Geeks shares an example of a client with high open rates and low click rates due to putting all the information in the email with only one CTA.
Email marketer from Reddit user u/MarketingGuru notes that users may open emails out of curiosity but don't find the offer or content interesting enough to click. They advise segmenting and personalizing emails further.
Email marketer from HubSpot explains that unengaging content and CTAs, an irrelevant audience that may have signed up for a different reason than the email's intent, or a confusing email layout can lower click-through rates even with high open rates.
Email marketer from ActiveCampaign explains that creating a sense of urgency and using more persuasive language to create a compelling CTA. Doing this makes the user feel that they will miss out if they don't click. They highlight that you should have a clear and concise CTA. They also suggest to segment your audience and ensure that your email content fits.
Email marketer from Reddit user u/EmailPro suggests that the email content may not be aligning with what was promised in the subject line or that the call to action isn't compelling enough. They suggest A/B testing different CTAs.
Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum user JohnS suggests that a recent change in email design or content may be negatively affecting clicks. Additionally, the links themselves may be broken or redirecting incorrectly.
Marketer from Email Geeks suggests checking for non-human interaction (NHI) by filtering clicked email events and grouping by bot clicks to determine if the click drop is due to bots.
What the experts say3Expert opinions
Expert from Spam Resource suggests that high open rates and declining clicks can stem from list fatigue. This indicates that although people are opening emails, they've grown tired of the content or offers. Addressing this may involve cleaning inactive subscribers and revising your email marketing strategy to re-engage your audience.
Expert from Email Geeks explains that high open rates indicate emails are reaching the inbox, making deliverability issues unlikely. The opens are probably the pre-fetching of images and are a sign the mail is going to the inbox on lots of different platforms so unlikely to be a deliverability problem.
Expert from Word to the Wise highlights the need for in-depth engagement metrics beyond just open rates, suggesting that a decline in clicks despite high opens could indicate that the content isn't resonating with the audience or the call to action isn't compelling enough. Requires a more detailed look at how users are interacting within the message itself to determine the disconnect.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from Google explains that avoiding spam trigger words and using a clean email design that is optimised for different devices increases the chance that the user will engage with the email and not mark it as spam.
Documentation from Litmus explains that broken links or buttons, poor mobile rendering, or an unreadable email layout can cause low click-through rates. They recommend testing emails across different devices and clients.
Documentation from SendGrid explains that ensuring the email provides value, is relevant to the recipient, and has a clear call-to-action is critical. Other things such as optimising for mobile, can improve engagement and increase clicks.
Documentation from Email on Acid highlights that accessibility issues, such as low contrast or small font sizes, and rendering problems, may prevent people from easily reading and interacting with an email. This results in fewer clicks.