How to get teachers clicking on your email marketing campaigns to schools: A Q&A with your education content strategist
Clear call to actions (CTAs) are key to sending successful email marketing campaigns to schools.
They help guide teachers and decision makers on a on a smooth journey through your email, to the target destination on your website. That’s why it’s important to understand what makes a good CTA and how to use them to generate engagement with your email marketing campaigns to schools.
To help you get started, I sat down with our resident Campaign Strategist and Copywriter, Kate, to pick her brains about creating the best CTAs and ask all your frequently asked questions to give you some top tips to get teachers clicking.
Let’s hear what she had to say:
Why do I need a CTA?
Your CTA is crucial for driving traffic to your website and generating leads.
If you don’t include a clear CTA, teachers might read your email but then not have the opportunity to find out more or enquire. Whereas, if you make what you want them to do clear, and they can do it in a matter of clicks, they’ll engage with your emails more and take the first steps in developing a relationship with your brand.
For instance, if you want your reader to visit your website, you need to lead them to it with a clear button or a link. Or if you want them to register for an event, you need to tell them that, then take them to a webpage where they can quickly and easily sign up.
What makes a good CTA?
This depends on your email content, but these my 6 sure-fire ways to get good engagement from your CTAs:
1. Make it easy
Teachers are busy people so the easier you can make it for them, the better!
Do this by making sure there’s at least 1 clearly visible call to action near the top of the email without them having to scroll or search for it. Positioning is key, and it’s all about making your email easy to navigate and your CTAs easy to spot.
2. Be direct
Making sure your CTA spells out exactly what you want teachers to do and where the link will take them is vital for getting results.
So, if you want teachers to download a resource – make that clear! This could be through text that says “download”, or it could be visually with a download symbol. No matter how you do it, it’s important to let them know exactly why they should click, where to do it and what they’ll achieve.
To be direct you need to be concise. I recommend a CTA of about 3 – 5 words, as this gives the perfect amount of info about where the link will take them and will prompt them to take action.
3. Make it stand out
What use is a CTA if no one sees it? That’s why you should be creative with it. Use colours that suit your brand, but that are bright, vibrant and stand out.
Different colours can be associated with different things. For instance, blue can create subconscious feelings of trust and professionalism, whereas using red in your CTAs can create a sense of urgency.
It’s always worth testing to see what colours your target audience engage most with, and which deliver your message the clearest.
4. Think about language
The words you choose for your CTA are so important.
Positive words and phrases can make a massive difference – so instead of saying “sign up”, try “sign me up for unmissable offers”. See the difference a few extra words can make? Simply adding “me” makes it personal to them, and “unmissable offers” gives them a reason to sign up before they even read any more.
Small details like this can totally transform your message, making it more appealing to teachers and potentially boosting your engagement rates.
It’s the same with FOMO – phrasing like “don’t miss out” and “limited time offer” can really influence teachers to take action out of the classic fear of missing out!
5. Optimise for mobile
We all know how annoying it is when links just don’t work on your phone, or when you can’t view an email properly.
According to our research, nearly 70% of teachers use their mobile at one time or another to view their emails, so you should always optimise your CTAs for a mobile experience.
This could be sizing them big enough to see on a mobile, making sure they’re clickable, as well as checking that the webpage teachers will land on is mobile friendly too. All these things work together to ensure that your email marketing campaigns to schools are optimised for maximum engagement.
6. Think about the user experience
And last but certainly not least, think about your customers! It’s all about creating a positive experience with your brand for your reader, and this starts from when they first read your email.
To do this, make sure your email is easy to navigate and the webpage you link to is relevant to the button they clicked on and the content they were reading. This will keep your message focused and direct, which helps to create a good user experience and boost the engagement of your email marketing campaigns to schools. Just put yourself in their shoes and imagine the journey they want to be taken on when introduced to your brand.
Consider creating specific landing pages on your website to drive traffic to.
This is especially useful if your organisation works across multiple industries. Having an education specific webpage that’s relevant to head teachers or other specific job titles will generate higher engagement than a generic homepage where the relevant information isn’t always clear right away.
Remember – make it easy for decision makers to find the information they want
For more inspiration, head over to our portfolio and see how our clients have used CTAs in their email marketing campaigns to schools to boost engagement rates.
Our team of experts are also always on-hand to support you in crafting top tier campaigns, so please get in touch.