How to Boost Click-Through Rates with Interactive Scratch-Off Emails

Reading Time: 4 minutes

How would you like to increase your click-through rates by up to 60%? Did you know that adding interactive elements like a scratch-off lottery ticket or a gift box to your email marketing campaigns can do just that (Omnisend, 2019)?

Adding these two elements to your email campaigns can make your emails more fun and less predictable, bringing a whole new level of engagement and excitement for your subscribers — ultimately leading to increased sales.

Let’s take closer look at how you can increase sales by incorporating these elements into your email marketing program.

The Main Benefits of Scratch-Off Emails

Interactive content can positively affect peoples’ engagement with your emails, making your brand more memorable and more visible in the inbox to your email subscribers. Scratch-off emails can help you with the following:

• Increase your brand’s inbox visibility
• Differentiate your emails from your competitors
• Provide a reason for subscribers to open your emails
• Increase click-through rate (on average, it’s about 60% more clicks)
• Increase sales

However, keep in mind that a single interactive email element won’t create a dramatic shift in consumer behavior. If you don’t combine it with smart customer segmentation, proper list hygiene, and email design best practices, the impact may be limited. By combining each of these elements you can effectively create an email marketing trump card to use when you need it most.

How Do Scratch-off Emails Work?

Scratch-off emails, or Scratch Card as we call it, is a flexible content block that can be incorporated into your usual email template. When email recipients open the email, they see a grey box with an invitation to “scratch” the boxed area — just like one might do with a scratch-off lottery ticket. The user scratches the card by clicking and dragging across the area, revealing the hidden offer that you’ve prepared for them.

How Can I Use a Scratch Card?

Because this type of content is created to delight your audience and increase sales, focus on offering special deals and rewards to your customers when using Scratch Cards.

Flexible settings allow retailers to use this element in multiple ways. You can easily define the number or percentage of winners, set up different messaging, etc. Here are a couple of examples to ignite your imagination:

• Announce a lottery with a defined number of winners and let your subscribers scratch for the prize – a discount, free shipping, something from your store as an addition to their purchase.
• Send the same prize for all your audience (this tactic generates the best results).
• Hide an inspiring quote that makes your subscribers smile, visit your store, and buy something for themselves.

Tip: if you send a scratch card within your email campaign, don’t forget to mention it in your email subject line. This will help you increase opens!

Scratch-off Email Examples

1. Go Bahamas+

2. It’s Hatched Handmade Crafts

A Scratch-Off Email Alternative

At Omnisend, you can find another great method of email gamification – the Gift Box. These have an effectiveness and functionality that is very similar to the Scratch Card. Gift Boxes allow you to offer an incentive to purchase in a more original way, and are a perfect add-on to welcome, anniversary, thank-you, and other special campaign emails.

See a few examples of a Gift Box emails below:

1. Mirror Mirror

2. Wild Purpose

Setting up an email with interactive elements is as easy as everything else with Omnisend. However, as always, you’re not alone! There’s a step-by-step tutorial on how to set up and define the number of winners for a Scratch Card. If a Gift Box is more to your liking, you can find that tutorial here.

Special thanks to our friends at Omnisend for their insights on this topic.