That email marketing is an essential part of a company's marketing efforts. But sending quality emails is only a small part of the impact on results. Increasing profits requires mastering the process. Increasing the open rate is only the first step. According to ibm's 2016 email marketing benchmarking report, the average open rate is 21.8% across all industries. This figure is considerably low considering that most companies send out hundreds of emails every day. But even if they manage to increase the open rate by 30-50%, the real challenge is to increase the click-through rate or ctr. Why is click-through rate (ctr) important? Click-through rate determines the number of consumers who visit links shared through email campaigns. This is a crucial metric to monitor and improve. In general, ctr is an important metric in many areas of online marketing strategy. For social media , this company mailing list helps define how much exposure a post will get in the future. For banner ads , it indicates whether (or not) the ads resonate with the intended audience. For organic search results , it is crucial whether a site provides the content that consumers are looking for. When it comes to email marketing, ctr indicates whether an email captures the audience's attention and prompts them to take action. The higher the ctr, the higher the chances of converting a customer. In turn, these conversions affect the bottom line. If a business has a 0% ctr despite having a high open rate, the email campaign would still be considered a failure because no one acted on the content presented. Ibm also reported an average ctr across all industries of 3.3%, which would be a good benchmark to measure against. Here's how to increase profits by increasing click-through rates. How to improve click-through rate many factors influence the click-through rate. From design, to link placement and overall email construction. Here are the top ways to increase email click-through rates. 1) better subject lines for emails, the first thing you see is the subject line.