How to Make Your Web Landing Pages Effective

by Patrick Zuluaga, PMZ Marketing [Download Article]

Successful email marketing doesn't involve emails alone.  It usually includes a web landing page that your interested prospects land on when they click through from the email message to follow your ‘call to action’.  You can get a high open rates and a very impressive CTR (define), but if your landing page doesn't funnel the prospect through to your email campaign goal, it's pointless.

So how can you making those landing pages effective in working with your email marketing message?  Read and implement these valuable tips for more effective landing pages in your next email marketing campaign.

Send Your Email Recipients to Your Landing Page not Your Home Page

Sending email recipients to your home page is the easiest thing to do.  It is also the laziest thing to do and the most ineffective.  Especially when the product or service you're promoting in the email does not appear on the home page (I have seen it done so many times it is crazy!).  Absolutely do not make people search for what you have told them is there.  Take them straight to your landing page!

Avoid being a Broken Record – Do Not Repeat Yourself

We have all seen landing pages that tell you exactly what the email told you -- no more, no less.  Why prepare a landing page that does not add any value?  Get your interested prospects directly to the next step from your email!  If you would like them to register for a free report bring them to a register landing page or if you have made a special sale offer or promotion bring them to a landing page where they can purchase the special offer or register their interest in the offer.

Match Your Landing Page to Your Call to Action

A good email message engages your prospects by telling them about something important and relevant to their business, then setting an expectation for what they'll find when they click through.  If you're promoting a new product with a link to "learn more," your recipients expect to land on a page with more information.  If it's "order now," they expect to land on a page to begin the order process.  If it's "read the full article," they expect to land on a page with the full article.  Be sure you deliver on your call-to-action's promise.

Now your email may have more than one ‘call to action.’  It's fine to include several calls to action in your email.  With clients I often recommend "learn more" right next to "order now" to see if we have provided recipients with enough information in the email message to go directly to the sales order page.  Just be sure that all calls to actions lead down a path to your end email marketing goal.  You should not send your email recipients to an "About Us" page if there's no direct link there that they can order from.  

Use a Look and Feel That's Consistent With your Email Message

Have you ever experienced clicking through from an email and being brought to a web page that has not similarity to the email?  You feel lost and unsure what to do next.  Likely you will just abandon the page.  Do not let this happen to your interested prospects.  Make sure the landing page has a consistent look and feel.  Something as simple as having the same image on the landing page and in the email quickly lets your email recipients know they're in the right place.  Repeating the benefit-oriented headline is another way to do this.  You want the email to flow naturally to the landing page, so there's no disconnection for the email recipient.

Define a Clear Path

I like to think of the email message as a starting point.  The landing page is the next step toward the end goal.  You will need enough content to make your case, but do not create multiple pages that your prospects will abandon the path before they reach your end goal.  The more streamlined you can make it, the better.

Minimize Distractions

Once you have set your path, don't distract your interested prospects with other things.  You have to question why every piece of information is on each web page, and remove any distracting information that does not help your prospects reach your end goal.  This is especially true of links that take your recipients to other third-party web sites.  It is also true of any internal links to other pages within your own web site.

Use Daughter Windows for Ancillary Information

Sometimes you will need to include ancillary information to make a case.  If so, have it open in a daughter window, especially if it takes readers to a third-party site or off the path to the end goal.  This way they'll get the information without losing their way.

It's easy to read these tips and agree; it's much harder to implement them.  However it's worth the effort.  Practicing a little tough love with your landing pages is a quick way to increase the effectiveness of your email marketing campaigns.