Decorating Your Office: 4 Simple Ways

We spend a third of our life at work. While at the office, you’re expected to be productive, creative, and social. The design of your office greatly affects how you feel and think. 

If you haven’t consciously noticed how your mood is affected in different settings, I’m sure you’ve tried to fight for the window seat or wish you could add some color to the walls. This is an outward display of your psychological need for a pleasant space.

This isn’t just important for workers. Employers should take note that millennials expect to be happy at work and are looking for an experience, not just a paycheck. 

By giving your employees the chance to decorate their office space, they will feel more fulfilled at work, which will not only create a better company culture but also save you money because unhappy employees are more likely to take more sick days and be less productive.

Whether you’re an employer or employee, you can make positive changes to your office space and help everyone feel happier to be there.

Here are four ideas for decorating your office to make it a pleasant place to be.

1. Own your space!

Bring in some picture frames, plants, decorative cup holders, corner sofas or even a lamp. Having ownership of what your workspace looks like will have you feeling more committed to your team and increase your productivity by as much as 32%.

As an employer, let your employees have some freedom in what their space looks like; maybe even provide a small stipend to allow them to purchase something that makes them feel “at home” at their desks.

Go-getters keep family photos, sticky notes, and healthy snacks at their desk. See what your workspace says about your productivity.

2. Take advantage of windows and plants

For 5 years, I studied as an engineer in the basement of a very bland building. We frequently came in before the sunrise and left after sunset. The walls were white brick, and there were no decorations of any sort.

Naturally, we wanted to be outside and found ourselves drawing windows looking out to beautiful landscapes on our chalkboards. Why did we resort to this solution? We were looking for relief and looking at nature relaxes the mind.

Don’t have a window? Bring nature to you! Having a plant nearby will help you to recover from demanding activities and lower your stress levels .

Nervous you’ll just kill it? Try some of these low hassle plants:

3. Pay attention to color, lighting, and shape

Different colors have different effects on how we perform. Blue and green help us with our creativity while red seems to help us pay attention to detail. Lighting is also an important factor. Dimmer lights promote freedom and therefore creativity, while brighter atmospheres help induce analytical and evaluative thinking.

Using the circle and avoiding the square can create an inviting space and trigger brain activity that is associated with reward and aesthetic appreciation. Sitting in a circle also fosters collaboration and team work. King Arthur seemed to be ahead of the game with that one.

4. Plan first

Can’t decide what you want it to look like? Don’t want to be patching holes or returning everything you just bought? I understand. 

My husband and I just started renting our first home, and we love it. The whole place is tan (walls, couch, carpet, and tile), and we wanted to make it feel more homey and colorful by putting in some shelves. Kudos to the landlord for letting us drill holes in the wall! 

Of course, we only had one shot, and I was filled with anxiety as to how my front room was going to turn out, especially when my husband started explaining his idea to me. In order to resolve the issue, we decided to use Lucidchart.

We uploaded a picture of our wall, created a rectangle, turned it brown like our shelves, and then changed their size and location until I proved I was right. Below are the actual diagrams we made in Lucidchart compared to a picture of our wall now.

You can also find a wire grid or use a pegboard to create a personalized space. This will allow you to move your decorations around without any consequences and change the arrangement as much as you’d like  

When faced with tight schedules, landlord restrictions, and a budget, it’s hard to make the design of your office space a priority. However, owning your office space, including nature, playing with lighting and colors, and creating a modular way to decorate are four simple steps that can go a long way in keeping yourself and your employees productive and happy.

Update your office space with our floor plan maker .

How To Improve CTR With Email Marketing

There’s no denying that email marketing is a powerful tool for businesses. You can use email marketing to educate, engage, and convert consumers. But with so many other forms of digital marketing — from social media ads to mobile push notifications — how can email marketing help you improve your click-through rate (CTR)?

This article will look at how to improve CTR with email marketing.

What Is The Email Click-Through Rate?

The email click-through rate is the percentage of people who click on the links in your email.

This is a crucial metric for marketers because it tells you how many people read your emails and act on the links within them. If you have a low click-through rate, it could mean that your content isn’t resonating with customers.

How To Calculate Email Click-Through Rate?

To calculate your own CTR, simply divide the number of clicks by the total emails sent:

How To Calculate Email Click-Through Rate

For example: If you sent out 1,000 emails and had 100 clicks on links within those emails, your click-through rate would be 10%: 100 / 1,000 = 10%.

12 Tips To Improve Email Click-Through Rate

Email click-through rate is one of the most important metrics you can track. It tells you how many people are clicking on links in your email, and it’s a great way to get an idea of how well your campaigns are working.

But what if you want to improve your click-through rate? Don’t worry—I’ve got some tips for you.

1. Make sure your subject line is interesting.

There’s nothing worse than getting a boring email with a subject line that says, “Hey.” If you want people to open your email, you need to make it clear what they will get out of it.

Make sure your subject line is interesting:

  • It should be relevant to the email’s content.
  • It should be short and snappy but still, contain enough information to pique the reader’s interest.
  • It shouldn’t have spammy words, like “free” or “win,” because that looks gross.
  • It shouldn’t be misleading, so ensure it matches what the reader will read in the email!

Tools like Klaviyo can personalize the email subject lines with tags. However, there is a learning curve to using these features. If you’re unsure how to use them, you can look for Klaviyo alternatives .

2. Add images and videos to your emails

Add images and videos to your emails

It’s no secret that images and videos are some of the best ways to grab someone’s attention in email marketing campaigns. But did you know that including these elements in your emails could increase their click-through rate?

That’s right! According to studies, including images and videos increases the click-through rates of emails !

That’s because humans are visual creatures, and we tend to respond better to visual stimuli than text-based ones. Images and videos help break up the monotony of reading long blocks of text, making it easier for recipients to understand what you’re saying.

3. Test different call-to-action buttons.

Your email should have a clear call to action, or CTA, that asks your readers to take a specific action. For example, “Learn more,” “Sign up,” or “Buy now” are all great CTAs.

Some CTAs may be more effective than others depending on your audience and the type of offer you’re promoting. To determine which CTAs work best, test out different ones in emails and see which ones generate the most clicks.

If you’re not sure where to start, here are some common types of buttons you can test:

  • The “secret” button—this button is hidden and only appears when a user hovers over an image or link with her cursor. It’s a great way to encourage users to explore beyond the main message!
  • The “call-to-action” button—this type of button takes readers directly from your email to another website. If you need this on your website, you should hire a frontend development team , and they will make it for you.

4. Make sure all your links are working properly.

When it comes to click-through rates, nothing is more important than ensuring that all your links are working properly. If you have links that don’t take users to the right page or if they take them to an error page, then this can have a serious impact on your click-through rate.

Make sure that your links work and that you’ve tested them. You can do this by sending yourself an email with a link, clicking it, and checking if you end up on the page you intended. If not, try using different browsers or testing from different devices.

5. Send emails at optimal times.

When you send an email, there’s a good chance that the recipient will see it on a mobile device—and studies have shown that click-through rates are higher when emails are opened on mobile devices than on desktops. 

It stands to reason, then, that you should consider when your readers are most likely to be using their phones and sending your emails at those times. 

If you’re sending an email blast to a large list of recipients and want to maximize your click-through rate, for example, sending the email during peak hours (when people tend to check their phones) will probably help get more people opening your message and clicking through to your site.

6. Create a compelling offer

Create a compelling offer

You don’t want to email your customers and ask them to “check out our new site!” That’s boring, and it doesn’t compel them to take action. Instead, you should create an offer that promises something enticing to the customer—a discount, a free trial period, or an exclusive product.

Your email will be ignored if you don’t create an irresistible offer. Your offer should include an incentive that makes your reader want to click and take action.

7. Keep your content short and conversational (this is important!)

This is a big one. The average length of an email is one of the biggest factors that affect click-through rate, so make sure to keep your emails short and to the point. Your content should be scannable so they can quickly scan it and get the necessary information.

This is especially important when you’re sending out a link to another site or a video—you don’t want your subscribers to lose interest before they even get there!

8. Includes social media icons

This is a no-brainer. Include social media icons in your email footer if you want more clicks.

It’s no secret that social media is a powerful tool and best place to advertise a business. So why not include social media icons in your emails? It’s a great way to encourage people to share your email with their friends and followers, which will help you reach more people without spending any extra money.

9. Create a sense of urgency

People are busy. They have a lot of things to do, and they don’t want to waste time reading your emails. That’s why you should create a sense of urgency in your emails: let them know that they need to act now, or they’ll miss out on something great, like an exclusive offer or limited-time opportunity.

Make sure that your subject line implies something important in the email, and make the first sentence of the body of your email as compelling as possible to start getting people’s attention.

10. Don’t spam people with too many emails each day.

Don't spam people with too many emails each day

One of the easiest ways to improve your email click-through rate (CTR) is not to spam people with too many emails daily.

It’s tempting, especially when you want to keep your business top of mind, but the truth is that no one likes getting bombarded with emails every day or hour. Your email clients may mark you as a spammer or unsubscribe from your list, making it hard for you to maintain a healthy open rate in the future. 

If you want customers to open and respond to your email marketing campaigns, stick with a maximum of two per week.

11. Make sure your content is relevant to the recipient.

When sending an email, it’s crucial to ensure that the content is relevant to the recipient. This can be challenging since so many variables are at play: you must consider your audience, their interests, and the time of day you’re sending the email. 

For example, sending an email about a new product release might be more effective during business hours when people are likely to be at work. If you want to improve your click-through rate, ensure that your content is relevant and timely.

You can also utilize email service providers for dynamic content. But services like Mailchimp don’t provide dynamic email templates. In that case, try these Mailchimp alternatives.

12. Use a professional-sounding email address.

If you want people to click on your emails, you must start looking like a professional. If your email address is something like “bob@hotmail,” then you’re not going to get a lot of clicks. You want people to click on your emails, so make sure your email address has some credibility.

Use an email address that is easy to remember, like your name or company name, and doesn’t have any typos or spelling errors. For example, like [first name last name]@[your business].com. If you are unsure of this digital marketing companies nj might be the right choice.

Wrapping Up!

Now you know how to improve CTR with email marketing.

Now it’s time to put what you’ve learned into practice! Start by evaluating your current email marketing strategy, and decide if it needs a revamp. If so, take the time to make updates to your strategy and test them out before implementing them fully. It’s a good idea to get help from an email marketing agency if you’re starting out.

Good luck!

Author Bio:
Janani H is a Content Marketer at TargetBay , an Ecommerce Marketing Cloud used by thousands of online stores across the globe. She enjoys writing about the power of emails in marketing, and when she isn’t writing, she can be found riding the Metro and trying out new local foods. LinkedIn