Salesforce Marketing Cloud teams spend a surprising amount of time perfecting email buttons. Colours are on-brand, shapes are modern, spacing is neat, and accessibility boxes are ticked. On review calls, buttons often get praise.
And yet—when results come in—the button doesn’t perform.
Clicks exist. CTR looks acceptable. But conversions tied to the primary button remain flat. For many campaign managers, this disconnect is frustrating and hard to explain.
The problem isn’t the button design.
It’s the blind spot in Salesforce Marketing Cloud reporting.
When “Good Design” Doesn’t Translate to Clicks
Email buttons are designed with intention:
They signal the primary action
They guide users toward conversion
They anchor the layout
But visual appeal does not guarantee behavioural success.
In Salesforce Marketing Cloud, teams can see that clicks happened, but they can’t easily see whether the button was responsible. As a result, buttons that look effective often remain unclicked—without triggering any alarm in reports.
The Assumption That Masks Button Failure
A common assumption in SFMC teams is:
“If CTR is healthy, the button must be working.”
This assumption is dangerous.
Salesforce Marketing Cloud aggregates clicks from:
Buttons
Images
Text links
Logos
Footer links
All of these clicks roll into the same totals. So a campaign can show solid CTR even when the primary button is ignored.
The report looks fine. The button quietly fails.
Why SFMC Click Reports Miss Button Problems
Salesforce Marketing Cloud click reports do not show:
Which clickable element dominated engagement
Whether the button ranked first or last
If images or text links outperformed buttons
How attention was distributed across the email
Because of this, button underperformance blends into the background.
Teams respond by:
Changing colours
Adjusting copy
Making buttons bigger
Trying new shapes
But without behavioural visibility, these changes are shots in the dark.
The Most Common Reasons Buttons Don’t Get Clicked
1. Buttons Compete With Images
Linked images often attract more clicks than buttons—especially hero images near the top of the email.
When both are clickable:
Users follow the image
The button is skipped
CTR still increases
From a reporting perspective, engagement looks healthy. From a conversion perspective, the intended action is bypassed.
2. Text Links Feel Lower Commitment
Users often click text links because they feel “safer” or less committal than buttons.
If a text link sits close to the button:
It may steal attention
It may receive more clicks
It may dilute conversion intent
Salesforce Marketing Cloud doesn’t surface this competition.
3. Buttons Appear After Distraction
If users encounter other clickable elements before the button:
They may exit early
They may click secondary links
They may never reach the button
SFMC reports don’t show click order or attention flow, so this behaviour stays hidden.
4. Footer and Utility Links Inflate Metrics
Footer links—such as preferences, privacy, or unsubscribe—often receive clicks even when users aren’t ready to convert.
These clicks:
Inflate CTR
Mask button underperformance
Create false confidence
The button looks like it worked because the email “got clicks.”
Why Redesigning Buttons Rarely Fixes the Issue
When buttons underperform, redesign is usually the first response.
But without knowing:
Whether users saw the button
Whether it competed with other links
Whether it ranked poorly against images or text
…design changes are based on assumption.
This leads to:
Endless iterations
Inconsistent results
Button fatigue
Slower optimisation cycles
The problem isn’t creativity—it’s lack of behavioural insight.
The SFMC Blind Spot: No Click Hierarchy
Salesforce Marketing Cloud does not show click hierarchy.
You can’t easily answer:
Was the button the top-clicked element?
Did it lose to images or text?
Did it attract meaningful attention?
Without hierarchy, teams are forced to guess why buttons fail.
How CRMx Exposes Button Blind Spots
This is where CRMx Email Heatmaps bring clarity to Salesforce Marketing Cloud emails.
CRMx doesn’t replace SFMC reporting. It adds the missing behavioural layer.
Accurate Click Tracking by Design
CRMx tracks clicks only on linked elements:
Linked buttons
Linked images
Linked text
Clicks on non-linked areas are not recorded.
This ensures:
Only intentional actions are analysed
No false engagement hotspots
Reliable button performance insight
Seeing Button Performance in Context
With CRMx, teams can understand:
Exactly how many clicks the button received
How it performed relative to other links
Whether it truly won attention
In many cases, teams discover:
Buttons rank below images
Text links outperform buttons
Utility links quietly dominate engagement
This insight is invisible in standard SFMC reports.
Click Ranking Removes Design Guesswork
CRMx ranks clickable elements by engagement.
This answers critical questions immediately:
Is the button actually working?
Which elements steal attention?
Where hierarchy breaks down?
Design discussions shift from opinion to evidence.
Timing Reveals Button Visibility Issues
Button performance is also affected by when users click.
CRMx surfaces timing insights such as:
Time to first click
Engagement speed
Click decay behaviour
This reveals whether:
Users act before seeing the button
Urgency messaging is effective
Engagement fades too quickly
Salesforce Marketing Cloud does not make this timing behaviour visible.
Fixing Button Performance Without Redesigning Everything
Once behavioural insight is available, fixes become precise:
Reduce competing links
Move buttons above distractions
Align images and buttons to the same action
Simplify the click path
Small changes deliver measurable results—without constant redesigns.
Why Button Problems Persist Without Heatmaps
Buttons continue to underperform because:
CTR hides intent
Aggregated clicks mask hierarchy
Reports lack behavioural context
Teams keep polishing buttons that already look good—without addressing the real issue: attention distribution.
Final Thoughts: Good Design Needs Behavioural Proof
A button can look perfect and still fail.
Salesforce Marketing Cloud reports won’t warn you when that happens. They’ll show clicks and percentages that feel reassuring.
CRMx exposes the reality behind those numbers, allowing teams to:
Understand true button performance
Remove distractions
Align design with behaviour
Improve conversions confidently
Want to Know If Your Buttons Are Actually Working?
If you want to see whether your email buttons truly win attention—or quietly lose to other elements—it’s time to go beyond standard SFMC reports.
👉 Request a CRMx Email Heatmap demo and remove the blind spot from button performance.
