6 Email-Marketing Techniques That Boost Click-Through Rates How you can entice your customers to click through while encouraging them to share information for a greater return on your advertising investment.

Email marketing is a tough sell for any company. Consumers are used to glazing over as they read through their email for the day, and only the most interesting or useful emails will be opened before they are deleted. Even if an email is opened, getting readers to click is another challenge. These six email marketing techniques are aimed at enticing readers to click through while encouraging them to share information for a greater return on your advertising investment.

1. Appeal to the reader without getting faux personal.

Readers who see their name or email address plugged into the subject line or greeting in an email tend to feel more uncomfortable about the personalization than anything. Getting too comfortable with your potential customer too soon is not recommended, but it is possible to appeal to a personal aspect of the customer's life without addressing the recipient specifically. For example, using data collected through the recipient's purchase history or use of the website allows marketers to use keywords related to the particular consumer that will actually apply in the particular sales situation.

2. Use a promotion to encourage readers to share the wealth.

Promotions are ideal for email marketing because the average consumer is always on the lookout for a good deal. A limited-time offer that can be shared with friends and family encourages linking, and including a button for sharing via Facebook or Twitter makes it easy for recipients to share the wealth without having to take extra steps. Even if the company is breaking even on the initial sale, making that sale could foster life-long relationships with loyal customers.

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3. Format text with email recipients in mind.

Formatting text to convey information via email is a bit different than creating content for a website. It is essential for the information to be concise, and calls to action need to draw the eye. Bulleted lists are ideal when you need to give recipients a few details about a promotion or a new product line. Highlight the best features of the topic, then encourage recipients to visit the website for more information. This format actually facilitates the creation of calls to action. Use phrases like "Check out the new line!" or "Click here to save!" to encourage clicks.

4. Let recipients personalize their email experience.

Instead of sending blanket emails out to everyone on your list, consider sending out an email periodically that assesses the frequency of emails for each recipient. While some people are so loyal to the company and engaged that they will open all emails and click through, others form a habit of automatically deleting the frequent emails. Asking for feedback and giving recipients the option to adjust how many and what kind of emails they get is more likely to result in a targeted email marketing campaign with a high click-through rate.

5. Make sure that emails can be accessed on mobile platforms.

More people than ever are using smartphones and tablets to read their email. Email marketing that does not take this into consideration will be unsuccessful. If your recipients cannot read what you sent them, how can they take action? Optimizing email by formatting it to be accessed on both computers and mobile devices ensures that you reach everyone on your email list.

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6. Collect and review data related to click-through rates.

You cannot improve your email marketing efforts if you are not aware of the weak points that you need to work on. Collecting data related to the success of an email marketing campaign is just the first step in using analytics. Evaluating this data and making changes according to the results really make the difference.

Email marketing has potential as part of your online marketing campaign, but you need to use the strategies outlined above to ensure that recipients will click through to your website and feel compelled to share information with their friends and family members.

Written by Steve Lazuka, founder of Interact Media, creators of the Zerys Content Marketplace and Zerys for Agencies content marketing platforms.