Why has my email click-through rate dropped in Gmail?
Summary
What email marketers say10Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Email on Acid says that rendering issues can affect the display of your email, and if links aren't working correctly or are broken, or the message is not readable then this could affect the CTR. Test your emails across different email clients.
Email marketer from Sendinblue shares that a less engaging subject line can lead to lower open rates, thus impacting click-through rates. Testing different subject lines is recommended.
Email marketer from Litmus shares that sending irrelevant content to your subscribers can cause them to disengage. Segmenting your email list and tailoring content to specific groups can improve CTR.
Email marketer from Email Geeks shares the root cause was cookiebot on their client's website, not deliverability.
Email marketer from Neil Patel's Blog explains that a drop in CTR could be due to a decline in the quality of your email list. He suggests cleaning your list regularly to remove inactive subscribers.
Email marketer from Reddit explains that if your emails are consistently landing in the Promotions tab instead of the Primary tab, users are less likely to see and click on them. Try to make your emails look more personal and less promotional.
Email marketer from Mailjet explains a drop in email CTR may signify that what used to work in the past is no longer effective with your audience. To combat this, constantly test and optimize email subject lines, preview text, body copy, design, and CTA buttons. Test one thing at a time to clearly assess performance.
Marketer from Email Geeks shares that the DKIM success rate can be looked up in Google Postmaster Tools for the domain under Authentication.
Marketer from Email Geeks says to look at Google Postmaster Tools records for domain's reputation and spam.
Email marketer from HubSpot Blog explains that poor email design, especially on mobile devices, can deter users from clicking. They suggest ensuring responsive design and clear calls-to-action.
What the experts say4Expert opinions
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that authentication issues (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) can lead to deliverability problems with Gmail. If email authentication is misconfigured or failing, Gmail may filter those emails as spam or reject them outright, resulting in a decrease in CTR. Ensure proper authentication setup to improve deliverability.
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that maintaining good list hygiene is crucial for engagement. She emphasizes removing inactive subscribers and those who haven't engaged recently, as Gmail considers recipient engagement when filtering emails. Lower engagement can lead to emails landing in the spam folder or promotions tab, reducing click-through rates.
Expert from SpamResource explains that the content within emails can trigger spam filters in Gmail. Using overly promotional language, spam trigger words, or suspicious links can cause Gmail to filter emails to the spam folder or promotions tab, thus lowering click-through rates. Review the email content to remove any potentially problematic elements.
Expert from Email Geeks asks for the actual domain and the current DKIM selector to further investigate the issue.
What the documentation says5Technical articles
Documentation from Google Bulk Sender Guidelines shares that a sudden decrease in engagement, if you're sending a large number of emails, could be related to a change in IP or domain reputation. Monitor your sender reputation in Google Postmaster Tools.
Documentation from SparkPost explains that ISPs like Gmail may temporarily throttle emails from senders with low engagement. Improving overall engagement metrics can help alleviate throttling.
Documentation from Microsoft suggests that a drop in click-through rate may be caused by safelinks being enabled on user tenants. When safelinks is enabled, the links in your email are replaced by the safelink redirect. The user clicks the safelink, and then they are redirected to the destination URL. Safelinks is a security feature, but it can delay the user on their path to the website.
Documentation from RFC explains that if your DMARC policy is set to reject emails that fail authentication, and your emails are not properly authenticated (SPF/DKIM), Gmail might be rejecting your emails, leading to a CTR drop as no one receives them.
Documentation from Google explains high spam complaint rates in Gmail can negatively impact your sender reputation, leading to lower inbox placement and thus reduced CTR. Monitor your spam complaint rates and address any issues.