Email marketing is one of the most effective B2C channels for driving conversions, but to capture those conversions at least two (fairly obvious) things have to happen with your email.
The customer has to:
- Open your email
- Click through to your website
Good news - according to Omnisend, open rates are increasing year-on-year for the last 5 years.
Bad news - the same report says click rates are declining.
More good news (this is quite the rollercoaster, isn’t it?) - click-to-conversion jumped 53% last year.
In other words, fewer people are clicking, but those who do click are more likely to buy. That indicates people are opening emails, but only clicking through to your website when they have a higher intent to purchase.
This mirrors what’s happening on social media, as online shoppers become more intentional about what they click on and buy.
So if you’re relatively happy with your open rate, but feel like your click-through and conversion rates need attention, here’s what you need to be asking yourself…
Are your emails relevant enough to move customers closer to a sale?
Relevance is what turns attention into intention
You might be tempted to think that the sheer volume of emails people receive these days means fatigue sets in and maybe that’s what causes a drop in clicks and conversions. And it’s true that in retail the main reason people unsubscribe is because emails are being sent too frequently.
The plot twist, however, is that frequency alone is not the issue.
Optimove’s Marketing Fatigue Report 2026 says “Marketing fatigue isn’t caused by too much marketing. It’s caused by marketing that ignores context, intent, and timing.”
The problem is emails repeating the same offer, emails that sound like they could have been sent to anyone, or emails that show no understanding of the recipient whatsoever. These are the types of irrelevant emails that cause customers to tune out.
The report showed that sending frequent relevant emails increased engagement - relevant emails being ones that are in alignment with the customer’s needs and behaviour.
So if your open rate is healthy, great, you’ve got your audience’s attention. But if nobody’s clicking it’s because your emails aren’t relevant enough to convert that attention into an intention to purchase.
Relevance isn't just segmentation. It’s a strategic combination of timing and context. Some of the highest-performing emails we work on aren't campaigns at all. They're triggered flows that arrive exactly when a customer needs them, such as a replenishment reminder timed for when a product typically runs out, or a tailored discount code sent to someone who added a specific product to their basket. The email doesn't have to work hard to be relevant because the moment already is. Irish retailers sending high-frequency campaigns with no personalisation or context are essentially guessing, and subscribers can tell.
Relevance is part data, part human understanding
Making your emails more relevant starts with understanding the customer well enough to always send something useful at the moment they’re most likely to need it.
Part of that is technical. The data you collect and the tools you use to act on it. What people browse, abandon, click on, or buy, and the segments, triggers and flows that help you respond.
But part of it is deeply human. Understanding what the customer might be unsure about, what they need to feel confident about a purchase, what language they respond to, and what kind of relationship they expect from your brand.
That’s why relevance is not a quick fix. It’s built through better data, better timing, better messaging and (most importantly) a better understanding of the person behind the email address.
So where should you start?
Four reasons your emails may not be earning the click
1. You’re treating different customers like they’re the same
A new subscriber, a first-time buyer, and a loyal customer are all at different stages of their relationship with your brand, so the same message is unlikely to resonate with each one. Despite this, many brands still send broad campaigns to customers they already know are at different stages of the journey.
Segmentation allows you to divide your audience based on data such as engagement, purchase history, and demographics, so you can craft campaigns specifically designed to resonate with different groups.
HubSpot says segmented emails result in 50% more clickthroughs, and yet fewer than half of marketers say they’re using it.
And in our experience, even when brands are segmenting, many are still relying on basic email engagement data like opens and clicks.
If you want to explore other ways to segment, have a look at this Shopify guide to segmenting based on analysing customer behaviour based on their most recent purchases, how often they buy, and how much they spend.
2. You’re not responding to your customers’ signals
Customers give you useful signals all the time. For example what they view, search for, add to cart, abandon, or buy. Many of these signals can be acted on automatically, triggering highly relevant emails based on the customers’ behaviour.
Omnisend’s 2026 Ecommerce Marketing Report found that automations made up just 2% of email sends, but drove 30% of email revenue, earning 16x more per send than scheduled campaigns.
At a minimum, you should make sure you have the following automations set up:
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Welcome series: for people who have just joined your list. This is your chance to introduce the brand, build trust and give them a reason to take the first step.
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Browse abandonment: for people who viewed a product multiple times but did not add to cart. They may need help choosing, comparing or understanding why the product is right for them.
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Abandoned cart: for people who added something to basket but did not complete the purchase. They may need a reminder, reassurance, or an answer to a hesitation around delivery, returns, price, or product details.
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Post-purchase flow: for people who have just bought. Use this to reassure them, improve their product experience, and guide the next useful action, such as leaving a review.
If you already have these automations running, you might be interested in Omnisend’s guide to automation triggers that includes some less common ones.
One quick word of warning for Irish retailers: a lot of automation advice online is written for the US market, where privacy rules are different. Be especially careful if your list includes previous customers who have not actively opted into email marketing. Automations can be powerful, but they need to be set up with consent in mind.
Relevance isn't just segmentation. It’s a strategic combination of timing and context. Some of the highest-performing emails we work on aren't campaigns at all. They're triggered flows that arrive exactly when a customer needs them, such as a replenishment reminder timed for when a product typically runs out, or a tailored discount code sent to someone who added a specific product to their basket. The email doesn't have to work hard to be relevant because the moment already is. Irish retailers sending high-frequency campaigns with no personalisation or context are essentially guessing, and subscribers can tell.
3. You’re making the click harder than it needs to be
Sometimes the customer’s interested, but the email makes them work too hard.
A lot of retail emails are packed with competing links: shop the sale, browse new arrivals, check out bestsellers, read the blog, join the loyalty programme, follow us on social, use this code before midnight.
If you’re not careful, you run the risk of making the next step feel very unclear.
You want to make sure your email has a clear purpose and makes it easy for your reader to follow through.
MailerLite looked at more than 317,000 campaigns and 2.9 billion emails and found that emails with 2 to 5 links had the highest click rate and conversion rate. They also found that orders per click decrease the more links you add, and emails with over 20 links have the lowest open rate.
We always recommend testing for your specific audience. But if your emails are packed with links, banners, and product blocks without getting clicks, it’s worth testing a more focused design.
If you want to go deeper into designing emails that get clicks, check out Omnisend’s 17 email design best practices for ecommerce.
4. Your emails don’t sound distinctive enough
What would you say is one of the strongest predictors of brand growth?
Kantar’s research indicates that it’s differentiation. Brands that are noticeably different from their competitors are four times more likely to grow. They’re not just being different for the sake of it, but establishing meaningful differentiation. The strongest brands are the ones meeting real customer needs in distinctive ways.
Differentiation that drives growth needs to show up across the entire brand experience. Email is part of that experience, potentially creating many touchpoints. That’s why a distinctive brand voice in your emails is critical.
Hootsuite define the traits of an effective brand voice as:
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Distinctiveness
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Consistency
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Audience alignment
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Authenticity
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Adaptability
Knowing your customers is key, you have to understand how your customer speaks so you can speak their language and send emails that truly resonate.
Check out the full Hootsuite guide if you want to define or refresh your brand voice.
What happens when email feels relevant
Making your emails more relevant to your audience is a commitment, but can deliver impressive results.
For example, when we worked with Kitchen Kit, we helped strengthen their entire email experience as part of a larger strategic project.
We helped set up the right email flows, implement more useful segmentation, develop clearer messaging, and refine a brand voice that spoke directly to their busy trade customers.
The result was an 80% increase in click rate, and email revenue grew by over 800%.
That’s the kind of improvement possible when you make email more relevant from end to end: who receives it, when it arrives, what it asks them to do, and how it sounds.
So if your customers are opening but not clicking, ask yourself whether your emails are giving them a clear, relevant reason to take the next step.
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This post was inspired by a talk at our annual Excellence in Ecommerce conference by Zara O’Dowd, Senior Marketing Executive at StudioForty9.
