Answers
Aug 31, 2018 - 08:26 PM
Great question. There are several factors and schools of thought to consider when it comes to the number of links to be included in an email.
One might think that offering up too many links might overwhelm the visitor and cause them to not look at all the options. In much the same way that offering too many options on a website could lead visitors to make no decision at all.
However, a test conducted by Campaign Monitor blew their hypothesis that less links would lead to higher click through rates out of the water.
This test was pretty substantial as it involved studying the actions of 500,000,000 email recipients.
In fact, here is a graph of how the click through rate climbed higher when more links were added.
Here are how click rates perform as the number of links increase in email campaigns:
For comparison, here are how click rates perform as unique URLs increase:
One reason could be that the variety of links speak to different people with different interests and needs.
Another interesting fact noted in this test was that emails with no links saw 55% more unsubscribes than those emails with 1 or more links.
Now, another important fact to consider is the technical aspect. An email loaded with hyperlinks may trigger spam filters. And if your emails are sent to your recipients Spam folder, this means that your delivery rate will drop and fewer people will ever read the email.
That said, your click through rates should not be the only thing measured when testing the number of links in your emails. The open rate should be tested as well to see if adding more links triggers spam filters.
One might think that offering up too many links might overwhelm the visitor and cause them to not look at all the options. In much the same way that offering too many options on a website could lead visitors to make no decision at all.
However, a test conducted by Campaign Monitor blew their hypothesis that less links would lead to higher click through rates out of the water.
This test was pretty substantial as it involved studying the actions of 500,000,000 email recipients.
In fact, here is a graph of how the click through rate climbed higher when more links were added.
Here are how click rates perform as the number of links increase in email campaigns:
For comparison, here are how click rates perform as unique URLs increase:
One reason could be that the variety of links speak to different people with different interests and needs.
Another interesting fact noted in this test was that emails with no links saw 55% more unsubscribes than those emails with 1 or more links.
Now, another important fact to consider is the technical aspect. An email loaded with hyperlinks may trigger spam filters. And if your emails are sent to your recipients Spam folder, this means that your delivery rate will drop and fewer people will ever read the email.
That said, your click through rates should not be the only thing measured when testing the number of links in your emails. The open rate should be tested as well to see if adding more links triggers spam filters.
Sep 20, 2018 - 11:30 AM
An important tack-on to pradeedj's response is the not all clicks are created equal.
Case in point... check out this case study:
https://www.nextafter.com/research/2014/10/how-cre...
The email gets 100%+ more clicks, but a 30% some drop in conversion rate overall.
So even with the influx of extra people arriving to the landing page, far far fewer were taking the real step.
If your goal is exposure, and nothing else... by all means, add extra links and make them low commitment.
But if its an end-action, such as a purchase or donation, then you're better holding off the CTA links until they've had enough information to make a decision.
Usually, i find the common conservative pattern is one low-commitment / vague link towards the top (find out more) and then a very specific link at the bottom or after enough value / reason has been articulated in the email to act.
This goes for both FOR profit and NOT for profit.
-jon
Case in point... check out this case study:
https://www.nextafter.com/research/2014/10/how-cre...
The email gets 100%+ more clicks, but a 30% some drop in conversion rate overall.
So even with the influx of extra people arriving to the landing page, far far fewer were taking the real step.
If your goal is exposure, and nothing else... by all means, add extra links and make them low commitment.
But if its an end-action, such as a purchase or donation, then you're better holding off the CTA links until they've had enough information to make a decision.
Usually, i find the common conservative pattern is one low-commitment / vague link towards the top (find out more) and then a very specific link at the bottom or after enough value / reason has been articulated in the email to act.
This goes for both FOR profit and NOT for profit.
-jon
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