Interactivity in Email Enhances Engagement- An Uplers Research

Interactivity in email is gonna be the next big thing. We’ve been talking about it for quite some time, and studies have been proving us right. Experian’s Q4 2016 Email Benchmark Report states that as compared to non-interactive emails, kinetic emails show an increase in unique click rate by 18% and click-to-open rate by over 10%.

However, since we have been creating interactive emails for our clients for a considerable time now, and also sending interactive emails to our subscribers, theUplers thought of carrying out an analysis of our own Holiday Email Templates from 2016 and 2017. Sounds great? Let’s dive into the details.

The Easter Emails of 2016 and 2017

Before we check out the metrics, let’s take a look at the two emails:

Click on the image to view the interactivity in the 2016 Easter Email

Click on the image to view interactivity in the 2017 Easter email

The Easter email sent in 2016 includes a flip/ offer reveal effect. The subscriber needs to click on either of the eggs, which flips to reveal a specific offer. Flip effect works because it has been developed tapping the inquisitive nature of humans. This interactive element reveals hidden information in a dramatic manner, and this is exactly what encourages subscribers to engage with your email. Flip effect works well for revealing discounts (like we did!), doing a launch, displaying products, etc. For its compatibility across email clients, click here.

This year (2017), we thought of doing something more awesome and fun and added gamification in our email. We used keyframe animation by creating a pendulum movement, allowing people to catch the egg which oscillates at varied speed.

Isn’t it awesome?

Great!

Now let’s check out how these individual templates performed:

There’s a conspicuous rise in the open and click-through rate for the 2017 email. Moreover, out of the 5.70% clicks we got for the email, we noticed that 74.4% subscribers tried to play or engage with interactivity. While email clients supporting animation noted a good rise of clicks, those not supporting the interactivity noticed a major increase in clicks on Fallback CTA (web version).
That’s great news!

The Thanksgiving Emails of 2016 and 2017

Here are the two Thanksgiving emails sent by Uplers:

Click on the image to view the interactivity in the 2016 Thanksgiving Email

Click on the image to view the interactivity in the 2017 Thanksgiving email

With GIFs being the evergreen superstar, we created a GIF email to wish our subscribers on Thanksgiving Day in 2016. It’s a subtle movement that helps to grab attention of the subscriber. A GIF works in most email clients, and in clients that don’t support a GIF, subscribers will see a static first frame.

In our Thanksgiving email of 2017, since we’re in love with gamification in email, we dabbled with it again. The movement of the turkey is showcased through keyframe animation, and the subscriber needs to catch the turkey by clicking on it.

Here’s how the two emails performed:

Just like the rise we saw in opens and clicks for the Easter email of 2017, we noticed a great difference in the opens and clicks for Thanksgiving email sent in 2016 and 2017. Moreover, out of the 5.1% total clicks we got on the email, 63.6% subscribers showed interest in checking out the interactivity. Email clients supporting animation got good clicks, and even those not supporting interactivity noticed a major increase in clicks on the Fallback CTA (web version).

Another important observation was that 34.5% clicks were on the free template offer we had combined with the interactivity.

There’s a clear indication that people want to check out interactivity. And when combined with an offer, the campaign is likely to perform even better.

How Uplers can help you?

If you wish to create such amazing campaigns,  Uplers can help ‘coz creating interactive elements in emails is our forte.

Know more about:

Menus in Email

Sliders in Email

Kinetic Emails

Countdown in Email

…or try a sample in your inbox, and once you think you are up for the interactive game, connect with us.