Click-through rate (CTR) is the ratio of users who click on a specific link to the number of total users who view a page, email, or advertisement. It is commonly used to measure the success of an online advertising campaign for a particular website and the effectiveness of email campaigns. In Datatrics, you can measure the CTR of a single touchpoint.

The way a touchpoint is positioned, designed, etc., can significantly impact the CTR. In our check-in with clients, we often advise on this. We have listed the most common tips below for you to start optimizing those touchpoints!

First, let us show where you can find the CTR of a touchpoint, and how it is calculated:

This touchpoint has 300 clicks and 8533 impressions, which makes the CTR 3.52%

Tip 1. Choose the correct position

The positioning of an embedded touchpoint is crucial if you want to have a high interaction rate. If you have a product block that needs to be visible on your homepage, you don’t want to show this at the footer of your website. In general, the higher you position it on the page, the more it is seen, and the more visitors click on it. Think about a place that suits best. The top positions are often underneath the navigation bar or banner:

Tip 2. Show the touchpoint at the right moment

When someone is in the check-out process, you don’t want to show them a product recommendation again. Visitors will not click it, and therefore it affects the CTR of that touchpoint negatively. The best is to exclude touchpoints on pages that are not relevant, making analysis easier.

Tip 3. Create a clear Call-to-action (CTA)

CTA stands for Call To Action: ‘a desire to click on something to set things in motion’, for example, a button that links to a particular product or relevant page.

Make sure that the CTA is clear to everyone. The entire touchpoint is clickable in the example below, but it might not be so clear visually.

To make it more explicit, you can (for example) add a button that directs the customer to the recommended product.

Tip 4. Pick a suitable recommendation strategy

Usually, when showing personalized content to visitors, we advise choosing the strategy ‘let the algorithm decide.’ But in specific cases, it could be more beneficial to use a different strategy. Let’s have a look at an example:

If you add an embedded product block on your homepage, and you are targeting returning visitors with the strategy “Let the algorithm decide,”; visitors will see products that are similar to the products they viewed in their previous session.

While this could be relevant, sometimes a visitor just returns to purchase the product they last viewed. Switching to another strategy, such as “last viewed,” could lead to faster conversion and a higher CTR.

All available recommendation strategies are explained in our help center. Click here to read more.

Tip 5. Use a low Frequency cap in a campaign touchpoint.

A touchpoint in a campaign can overrule a journey, and in that case, you don’t want to set the frequency cap per user too high.

Because if you do, the impressions vs. the clicks do not make much sense since visitors will not click on it more than once or twice. Other than that, the customer experience will be negatively impacted. The solution for this could be to set a low number at the frequency cap per session. We suggest not more than 2.

Tip 6. Show the touchpoint long enough to the visitor.

In Datatrics there is a setting for “hiding the touchpoint after x seconds”. We often see that this period is set too tight, which makes it hard for a visitor to interact. If the touchpoint doesn’t require action and is just for showing information or a persuasion, then that is usually fine. But if you would like to interact with a touchpoint and the period to read everything is too short this will have a negative effect on the CTR. Try stretching the period, or even delete it if there is interaction needed with the touchpoint.

Tip 7. Add a CTA where people expect or desire it.

Sometimes we see touchpoints that don’t have a CTA but are clicked on a lot and have a high CTR. Dive into these cases and see if you can turn them into something useful!

In the below example, a review score is shown. If people click on it, it probably means they are interested in reading more details about the score and its underlying reviews. It could be an excellent opportunity to lead visitors to your review section. They will read about the good experiences of other customers and might also purchase on your website to have that same experience. It could also lead to new reviews afterwards.

Optimized, and now what?!

The above tips are all about optimizing your touchpoints. But if all has been set-up correctly, you should, of course, look into your conversion strategy to get higher CTR’s.

One thing that often leads to higher CTR, is adding an incentive to your touchpoint. Convince visitors with something they get in return: a discount code, free access to premium content or a trial period like the example below.

(Following Cialdini’s principle Reciprocity, “Give a little something to get a little something in return”.)

Instead of:

Experiment with:

Now that you've read our tips, we're very curious about the tactics you use to increase CTR. Leave your comment in our community!