Click-through rate (CTR) is the percentage of people who click a specific link or button out of the total number of users who viewed it.
CTR applies across channels including advertisements, email, push notifications, and SMS. In each case, it is calculated by dividing the number of clicks by the number of impressions (views).
Evaluating the click-through rate of your email, SMS, and push notification campaigns can reveal how well your engagement strategy is working, and whether a good click-through rate is being achieved across channels.
CTR is a key performance metric in marketing and advertising, used to gauge the effectiveness of an ad or messaging campaign, benchmark results, and measure progress over time.
Companies commonly A/B test marketing or advertising campaigns and use CTR to determine which version performed better. This lets them refine their strategy based on what actually resonates with their audience, whether that means adjusting subject lines for email, copy for SMS, or timing for push notifications.
Our studies show that A/B testing messaging campaigns improves click-through rates by an average of 8%.
Click-through rate is a highly contextual metric, and what's considered "good" varies by channel and by industry.
The average push notification CTR ranges from 1% to 7% depending on the app category, the type of notifications sent, and whether messages use personalization and targeting. For email, a good click-through rate typically falls between 2% and 5%. Bulk SMS has an average CTR of around 6%.
These are industry averages, so what's "good" for one company may not be the same for another. The most reliable approach is to establish your own baseline CTR and track performance against it over time.
There are a variety of factors that influence CTR. Aside from the context (i.e., the industry and channel), click-through rate can be influenced by message content, timing, personalization, design, rich media, and language, among other factors. For instance, push notifications that include images earn 60% higher CTR than those without, making image-rich messages a reliable way to improve click-through rate for push notifications. Many marketers use A/B testing to uncover which factors influence CTR across different channels and audiences, then adjust their strategy based on those results.
OneSignal is designed to help you send notifications and seamlessly manage your user communication across a variety of channels, including mobile and web push notifications, email, in-app messages, and SMS. Our platform is quick to set up and makes it easy to send eye-catching messages without doing any development work. If you don't have a OneSignal account, you can create one for free and start sending push notifications to your users today. Don't take our word for it — simply sign up and see for yourself!