13 Powerful Ways Financial Advisors Can Increase Their Email Click-Through Rates

Have you ever sent an email expecting to get a really positive response, only to find that your click-through-rate (CTR) was subpar? It happens. Even though having high CTR for your email sends is important to track, don’t panic if yours is low when starting your email marketing initiatives. There are strategies to boost your click-through rate.

Ultimately, you want to draw in an audience with your content, and while it does take time and effort, the payoff is definitely worth it as you start increasing interest and converting readers into clients!

How Can I Increase My Email Click-Through Rate?

Here are 13 sure-fire ways you can start implementing today to increase your click-through rate:

Tip #1: Only Include One Call-to-Action

When you’re writing an email, you might think that putting multiple call-to-actions (CTA’s) would be a good idea, because if there are more options, then there is a higher chance of engagement. Well, that is never the case.

If you include too many options, then this will decrease your click-through rate. It causes too many distractions and can quite frankly, be very overwhelming! Only include one CTA and make sure your visitors just focus on taking that one action. 

Tip #2: Segment Your Contact Lists

Segmenting your contact lists is such an important step, because just as everyone has different interests, so does your audience. If you are trying to increase your readership, then you need to cater to each individual group. You can’t just send an all-encompassing email and think that it will draw in everyone. If you were to do this, then that would cause your numbers to fall rapidly.

For example, would you send the same email to a group of young advisors just getting their start that you would to someone looking into retirement in the next two years? Definitely not. Be sure to segment your emails into lists and tailor each email accordingly! Within the Lead Pilot platform advisors have the ability to add unlimited segments. In the example below Mark Summers has created segments for Exxon Mobile employees, those who are considered hot leads, clients only and more.

Tip #3: Create a Sense of Urgency

Try to evoke a feeling that your client needs to click on your CTA, right NOW!

A great way to do this is to discuss an offer that is ending soon or a webinar where seats are filling up fast. Use phrases, such as, “Seats are filling up quickly!” or “Reserve your spot now!” This will make readers much more likely to sign up so that they don’t miss their opportunity to gain valuable knowledge.

Tip #4: Make It Personal

Do you want to receive an email addressed to you personally that caters to your interests? Or a mass email that does not pertain to you whatsoever. Obviously, not the latter, which is why it is so important to personalize your emails. When your subscribers receive an email from you, they should feel like they are the only person you are addressing. This type of connection will lead to a much higher click-through rate.

These simple personalization tricks can make a huge difference:

• Include your subscriber’s name in your email. This is simple yet effective.
• On your email sign up form, request information about your subscribers’ interests. You can send emails later based on their interests.
• Collect your subscribers’ birth dates on the sign-up form and send them an email on their birthday.

Tip #5: Be Mobile-Friendly

This one is crucial, as 52% of customers are less likely to engage with a company due to a bad mobile experience.

So, if your emails are difficult to read on a phone or your site isn’t loading properly, there will be a huge percentage of your subscribers that aren’t getting the information that they need! To remedy this, make sure your emails are easy to read from any device and use email templates that are mobile responsive.

Mobile responsive emails are easier to read on both desktops and mobile devices because text, images, and buttons automatically adjust to fit the screen size. Working with an email provider like Lead Pilot is so great for advisors for many reasons but you can rest assured every email deployed from the Lead Pilot platform is responsive across all devices, making for quick loading and easy readability no matter what device your audience is viewing it from.

Tip #6: Include Clickable Buttons

One of the simplest ways to boost your click-through-rates is to ensure your subscribers know where to click. For some it might be just fine to use plain text, but a button with colors that make the CTA stand out has a much higher chance of warranting a click. 

If you’re adding a button to your email, there some reasons why you’ll want to use an HTML button rather than an image button:

1. An HTML button can resize for people that may use different mobile devices.
2. Images in emails might not display for some subscribers.
3. Email load times will be faster with fewer images in your emails.

Another tip to remember is that when you use the first-person pronoun in your button text, it can increase your email click-through rate by 90%. That’s a huge jump, so keep this tip in mind when creating your CTA buttons!

Tip #7: Keep Your Email Design Simple

Like I have said so many times, quantity isn’t better than quality and complexity is definitely not better than simple, especially in the case of email design. If you have too much going on with your email, then it will overwhelm your readers, as well as, distract them from a call-to-action on your page. So, remember, less is more!

Tip #8: Make Sure Your CTA is Action-Oriented

Your email call to action copy need to be specific, so the visitors know what needs to be done. If you simply write, “Click Here,” that doesn’t give details about what they need to do. Say something along the lines of, “Download our Whitepaper,” or “Subscribe to our Newsletter,” “Sign up for our Webinar,” or “Download our Guide.” This is a great way to attract an audience and showing what they will be getting if they click the button!

Tip #9: Be Intriguing

How do you draw someone in? You make sure that you have a story to tell. Just like with your website, you try to show that you are a thought-leader in the industry, you can do that in your emails, as well. Pique your readers’ interest by having enough information about what is coming up in the future with their company and when you segment your lists, be sure to tailor them best to the ways that each individual group with find your emails relatable.

Tip #10: Have an Interesting Opening Headline

Your email headline is the first thing that the receiver will see when they open your email, that’s why it’s so important this headline copy be strong to hook them and keep them reading. The ideal headline at the top of your email will quickly grab the attention of your subscriber, engages them so that they will read the rest of your email. Obviously, getting customers to read your email makes customers much more likely to engage with you and hopefully take action.

One tactic that many people use is to link the headline to the subject line, as this will entice the reader to keep going to find out what else you have to say in the body of the email. The below example built in Lead Pilot from Summers Finance is a great example of an intriguing lead-in headline. Just by leading with more of a question-based tone, “Ready to Claim Social Security?” will really pique readers’ interest.

Tip #11: Use Video

When you use video, your open-rate can increase 19% and click-through rate can go up by 50%! That’s a pretty good reason to include this in your email. Videos are engaging, readers can very easily see what you have to say and it humanizes your brand by putting a face with a name if a person is speaking on the video.

You may say that the video doesn’t play in a lot of inboxes, but fear not! You can include a thumbnail image of your video and a play button very easily and that will increase your click-through rate, as well.

Tip #12: Find Out What Your Audience Likes

Like many things that you do at work, it is a game of trial and error. You need to find out what makes your readers click. If you noticed one email performed extremely well, go back and see what exactly it was that you did and replicate that. Did you include a certain photo? Have a CTA where you could sign up for an upcoming event? Whatever it was, do it again!

Your readers are the main measure for the type of content that you provide, so you should always check their click-through rate and see what you did that worked so well. If Take a look at your past emails and see which ones got the highest click-through rates. If some of your emails had lower open or click-through rates than usual, then find out where the disconnect is and try to change it. Was the subject matter not as interesting as it could have been? Was the CTA too bland? Whatever it was, it can be easily fixed, and just remember that practice makes perfect.

Tip#13: Use Enticing Images

I love imagery in both emails and on advisor websites. When used correctly, they are extremely powerful, can send a message, break up mundane text and do a great job of “showing” rather than simply “telling.”

Be sure that you are not just adding images randomly through the body of your email just because they look nice though. They need to add meaning and support the content of your email or really send a point home. You can also consider linking your images to a website or blog post so the receiver can easily learn more.

Don’t get discouraged if your email click-through-rates are low, to begin with. Email marketing can feel like a science at times and it’s always a good idea to test, re-test and iterate to make every email you send even better than the last. Keep in mind that the average click rate for the business and finance industries is 6.64% so if your emails fall below that threshold consider implementing a few of the ideas above into your next email campaign to try and reach the 6.64% industry standard.