Avoiding the disconnect between e-mail campaigns and landing pages
Online retailers are getting very good at developing personalized e-mail campaigns that contain snappy copy and images, but losing potential business because of lackluster page optimization, says a new study from e-mail marketing service provider Silverpop Systems Inc.
Silverpop studied the e-mail marketing campaigns of 150 web retailers and others. The research shows that most merchants have a disconnect between the message and the page retailers want shoppers to land on once they’ve clicked through the message. The strong marketing language in an e-mail blast also often doesn’t correspond with the text and images shoppers see when they click through to a retailer’s designated landing page, the study says.
The research found that 35% of the landing pages reviewed by Silverpop didn`t have the same look or tone of the e-mail that generated the click-through. 45% of landing pages also didn`t repeat the strong promotional copy found in the e-mail message.
"Landing pages with images and messaging matching the e-mails that generated initial interest are better able to reinforce the brand and move e-mail recipients from clicking to converting," says Silverpop vice president of strategy Elaine O`Gorman. "E-mail marketers spend a lot of time and energy creating targeted, relevant campaigns, but then fail to carry the ball across the goal line due to lackluster landing pages.”
Customers can end up at a landing page via a variety of routes, says O`Gorman. But 35% of the retailers included in the Silverpop study didn’t include an opt-in button on their landing page. “To capture the e-mail addresses of those who have arrived at your landing page without being in your database, it’s essential to ask them to register,” she says.
Retailers also need to select the right landing page to match the specific marketing message they want to convey in an e-mail campaign. “Home pages are most often created to appeal to the broadest spectrum of prospects possible, while truly successful e-mail marketing campaigns are focused on segmented groups based on their relationship to the company or product," says O`Gorman. "Using the home page as a landing page, therefore, can be confusing. It`s much better to create a landing page unique to the e-mail campaign whenever possible.”
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