Emails and landing pages make up a team to help you reach your goal. Whatever that goal is – a download, sign-up, or purchase – there are some rules you should follow to get people to perform the desired action, first in the email and then on your landing page. Here are a few of them.
Before I go on with the 10 things that can kill conversion on your landing page, there's one thing I'd like to point out.
You're not making the sale in the email.
The sale (or any other conversion) takes place on the landing page. The email is just a springboard that lands your subscribers on the landing page. So there's no point in trying to recreate your landing page within an email, which some marketers tend to do.
The goal of the email is to convince the reader to click through to the landing page, and to do that, it should be as simple as possible and concentrated around a single, compelling call to action.
A lot has been said about that over the past couple of years, but still a lot of marketers fail to acknowledge the importance of mobile-friendly email design. Even though right now more emails are read on a mobile device than on a desktop computer (!).
The answer to that one is simple: responsive design. Your emails should work on all major devices your readers might use, even if they switch from one to another. You should make sure your email looks great at full resolution and at half size and be smart about what goes inside your email, what is highlighted, making sure that functions are easy to access.
Make it easy to click. Don't expect readers to pinch or resize the screen to access your content. Clickable areas should be approximately 44 x 44 px to allow for easy navigation. Don't forget to add 10-20 px of extra space around clickable areas to keep from frustrating mobile subscribers. I guess one of the most convincing examples would be when someone accidentally clicks Unsubscribe instead of a "Buy now" button, simply because they're too close to each other.
Make it easy to read. Wording should be concise and powerful, for the short focus of mobile readers. Use larger fonts than usual, so subscribers don't need to pinch to read; try 14 px for regular text and 22 px for headlines.
Always test your emails on various devices to see how they display and if anything should be corrected or changed.
Making your emails uninteresting, using boring copy like the good old "Buy Now" button, may not be enough to convince your subscribers to take an action.
So whenever you're writing copy for your emails, think whether there's a more exciting, compelling way of putting what you want to say in writing. There are tons of ways of saying "Buy Now" in a different way to get your readers' attention and make them want to click to see what's beyond the CTA button. (Watch the recording below for some real-life examples, and make sure you read this ebook!).
One other thing regarding copy is also wasting your preheader text with the usual "View online" text. The preheader is one of the most underrated elements of an email. And this is a bit unfortunate as it can reinforce your subject line a lot and give much more specific, interesting information to your readers that will make them want to open the email.
Also, as I said at the very beginning, copying content from your landing page in your email is not the best way to go, as it makes the landing page simply a repetition. Remember, email is just a springboard. Include enough information to get your readers hooked – and then take them to the landing page where you lay out all the details (instead of boring them with the same content).
Always make the purpose of your email clear. Focus on one CTA and make sure it's clear what you want your reader to do. If you need to include more CTAs because for example your promoting various products in your email, make sure each is very specific and doesn't leave any doubt as to what will happen when the subscriber clicks the button.
4. You're sending everyone the same content.
Meaning: you don't segment your audience. If you're guilty of that one, you're actually among 42% of marketers who don't use segmentation to diversify their offerings and tailor them to individual needs.
But if you're targeting your PPC ads or Facebook posts, why wouldn't you want to do the same for your emails?
There are a lot of possibilities: from simple segmentation such as based on location, gender or interest, to more complicated automated emails such as based on their activity, what they bought, how much they spent in your online store, when was the last time they opened an email from you, or clicked through to your site.
Collect as much data as you can from your subscribers and you'll be able to send them content that's more personalized and tailored to their needs and interests. Hence, content that's more likely to convert.
Don't get me wrong I don't mean sending tons and tons of emails to your readers. What I do mean is creating a consistent plan and using your email marketing to build a meaningful relationship with your subscribers.
You're not doing that when you're sending them just unrelated promotional newsletters every now and again, that when you look at them from a more general perspective, don't don't create a coherent story for your brand.
Send welcome emails (targeted, if possible).
Then follow up with a series that introduces your brand, your product or your company and make these email regular, so your subscribers know when to expect them and start looking forward to them.
Send emails based on what your subscribers do, so they make much more sense to them.
And, as always, test, check your stats, see what works for your subscribers and adjust your strategy.