About Jodi Kaplan

How Does Your Average Click Through Rate Stack Up to Your Competitors?

Posted on April 27, 2011 by Jodi Kaplan

Image by Dominique Godbout via Flickr

Got an email list? When you send a message to that list, you probably want them to do something (comment, buy, click for more information), right?

So, the higher your average click through rate and open rate the better.

Right?

The question is, are you getting a good click-through rate? Or does it need improvement?

Are your average open and click through rates high enough?

How do they compare to your peers, or other people in your industry?

No comparison is perfect – it’s like well, apples and oranges, each industry and audience will be different.

Some companies find they get better results on weekends, others on Thursdays. In some cases, time of day is important. And, of course, you need to write a subject line that gets opened.

How does your average open rate compare?

Here are some resources to help you find out.

Email metrics report: Put out yearly by Mailer Mailer, this report tracks the results from over 900 million email messages. It’s got data by industry, list sizes, open rates, click through rates, personalization, and subject lines.

Marketing Sherpa Email Newsletter: A free newsletter with case studies (these often include screen shots, interviews, and specific statistics) on topics such as: low cost ways to build your list, simple changes that improved orders by 29%, and using Facebook to get more signups.

AWeber: AWeber will manage your list for you, and also track your open rates, click throughs, and bounces (emails that never quite made it to their destination).

With this data, you can see how well each email performs and even send a second message to subscribers who didn’t open your first email.

In fact, a recent case study in the Marketing Sherpa newsletter showed one firm got a 55% increase in sales with this strategy.

Hubspot: Webinar on demand with info on the science of email marketing: how days of the week affect average click-throughs, opt-out rates based on the day of the week and time of day, and whether recent subscribers are more likely to click than older ones.

Highest open rates by industry

Agriculture 25.3%
Religious 21.0%
Transportation 18.1%0%
Large Business 17.3%

Lowest average open rates (by industry)

Entertainment 9.2%
Banking 8.2%
Marketing 7.4%
Medical 7.3%

Highest average click through rates by sector

Religious 10.5%
Transportation 7.6%
Environmental 4.8%
Retail 4.5%

Lowest click through rates

Legal 0.9%
Marketing 0.8%
Entertainment 0.7%
Restaurant 0.7%

(stats from 2010 Mailer Mailer report)

Open and click through rates will vary

Your mileage will vary. Reports on average open rates and average click through rates can give you an idea of the kinds of things to look for (time of day, size of list, location, etc.), but they can’t pinpoint exactly how your audience will respond.

Test, test, test

Experiment with subject lines. Try dividing up your list (if it’s big enough) by industry or location. Test the time of day that you send your messages. Change the day of the week. Add more links. Test the response of new subscribers against longstanding readers. See what happens.

7 Calls To Action You Should Be Using

Posted on April 25, 2011 by Jodi Kaplan

Are your readers looking at your site but not clicking or buying? If not, you may need a “call to action.” What’s a call to action? Read on to find out, get some call to action examples, and learn how they work.

The best call to action

It may sound silly, or obvious, but if you really want people to do something you need to ask them first. It’s what copywriters call a “call to action.”

It’s simply a request to do something. It could be trying to get a reader to download a pdf, buy a product, or subscribe to your newsletter.

You can spend a lot of time and effort tweaking your calls to action to see which works best. The first rule, however, is simply to have one.

Why calls to action are important

Because they ask someone do do something. And, oddly, if you don’t ask, you don’t get.

It’s not necessary to be pushy, just clear and obvious. The goal is to encourage people to click (or call, or mail back a response).

You’ve gone through a lot of trouble to write an irresistible headline, outline the benefits of your service, and make an offer they can’t refuse. But, it will all be wasted without a call to action.

Call to action examples

“Ask for a free quote today”

“Join Now”

“Start My Free Trial”

“Start Now”

“Download Demo”

“Sign Up Here”

or even the much maligned “Click here” (which, incidentally, works really well for people, even if search spiders don’t like it).

Be clear about what people should do

For example, tell them exactly what to do (click here), explain what will happen next (your download will start), and stress the importance of doing it right now (not two days from now).

Your readers are busy, possibly a little nervous (will this work? will downloading hurt my computer?), and easily distracted. Get them to act quickly – before Joe from accounting comes over with a question about last month’s timesheets.

Test your calls to action

Don’t just stick with one. Try different variations and test them against each other to see which works best. You can use Google’s Website Optimizer (free) to do this.

Test the colors, size, position on the page, or wording. See which gets more clicks.

Using more than one button? For example, you might have a subscribe button as well as a read more button. Make the subscribe button bigger or a different color than the other buttons on your site. It’s the most important action to take and you want to make sure it stands out.

A Copywriting Tip from Graffiti

Posted on April 21, 2011 by Jodi Kaplan

Image via Wikipedia

We New Yorkers love to express ourselves (shocking, I know). We’re noisy, opinionated, and like to let everyone know it.

Graffiti is everywhere, but if you put up something in this town, you’d better be prepared for wisecracks, kibbitzing, and takedowns.

For example, here’s a sample of graffiti spotted on a subway platform long ago:

I LOVE BELA!

Underneath that, someone wrote

Bartok? Lugosi? or Abzug?

One was a composer, the second starred in horror movies, and the third was a member of congress (famous for her big hats and her wit).

Clarity matters

When you’re marketing your business, there are three things you need to do:

1) tell the right people about your business

2) set yourself apart from your competition

3) be clear about what you do (and what you don’t do)

Don’t confuse your prospects

Otherwise, your readers could end up with horror movies when they wanted music. Or staring at a gallery of hats when they were looking for zombies. They may like both (but they may not).

Before you hit that button, launch that site, or push that email campaign, show it to someone who hasn’t been directly involved in the project. It’s best if they closely match your target audience, but any smart person will do.

Ask them if they understand your product or your page. If anything puzzles them, ask them why and how you can make everything clearer.

Confused readers and prospects won’t buy from you. They’ll just click away, close their email, or turn the page.

Can You Answer These Four Questions?

Posted on April 18, 2011 by Jodi Kaplan

Image via Wikipedia

Every year, people all over the world gather to remember the events of Exodus and to ask four questions.

Escaping slavery may not seem to have much in common with marketing, and these aren’t those questions.

But thinking about them did inspire me to write this post.

1. Why is your business different from all other businesses?

All other businesses fail to differentiate themselves, but your business is run by a Hasidic rabbi, hands out free ice cream, only sells $100 blue t-shirts, or has some “edge” that makes you different. Your business stands out.

2. Why is your marketing more targeted than your competitors’ marketing?

Because you’ve been reading this blog. And, instead of trying to sell to everybody, you have a specific kind of client in mind. You only sell to them. They’re your fish.

3. Why do you use internet/direct marketing rather than branding campaigns?

A direct mail campaign can cost as little as $260 to print and mail 250 postcards. Adsense can be pennies per click. A full out TV campaign – millions. I’ve done successful marketing campaigns for $100. I once heard an ad exec say, “The budget for this project was really small, only $5,000,000.” Glurk.

4. Why does remarkable content/marketing spread?

Something remarkable or special will spread much faster than something average and ordinary. Remember all those electric sheep videos? They were entertaining and funny. They spread much faster (and got far more views) than an ordinary ad would have, because they were fun. People like to share things that are fun and unusual. Nobody would share an ordinary ad for a TV.
Happy Passover everyone. Easy on the horseradish.

Friday Fun: Cool Free Tools for Creatives and Freelancers

Posted on April 15, 2011 by Jodi Kaplan

Image via Wikipedia

This month’s cool tools covers everything from wordpress to music.

Down for Everyone? A simple ping tool (for you sophisticated computer types). For everyone else, just type in the website you can’t reach and see if you’re the only one having the problem.

Anatomy of a WordPress Theme This handy infographic explains all the bits and pieces of wordpress themes (so you know where to look if you need to fiddle with something.

Creative Commons Music Use it for podcasts, videos, all sorts of things. Completely legal to reuse.

Zipcast Instant meeting. Turn a slideshare presentation into an online discussion. Doesn’t need any extra software.