• by June 21, 2007

Email services company Silverpop studied the landing pages of 150 email marketing campaigns, and found that large numbers didn't match the look of the original emails, didn't repeat the promotional messaging of the emails, and didn't include opt-in options. In addition, a considerable number of the landing pages were in fact a marketer's home page.

The research report was titled "8 Seconds to Capture Attention," based on previous studies showing that up to 50 percent of visitors sent to landing pages after clicking on an email message will abandon the page after just 8 seconds. Among the findings:

" 35% of landing pages studied didn't have the same look or tone of the email that generated the click. For consumer campaigns, this figure was 29%, but increased to 41% for BtoB companies.

" 45% of landing pages didn't repeat the promotional copy found in the email. "Landing pages with images and messaging matching the emails that generated initial interest are better able to reinforce the brand and move email recipients from clicking to converting," said Elaine O'Gorman, vice president of strategy, Silverpop.

" 35 percent of the landing pages didn't include an opt-in option, considered essential to capture info on people arriving at the page without already being in a company's database. By including opt-in, noted O'Gorman, "the time and effort taken to optimize landing pages will be returned many times in customer loyalty, improved conversion rates and higher return-on-investment.""

" 17% of the email marketing campaigns studied actually sent recipients to the marketer's home page rather than a unique landing page. "Home pages are most often created to appeal to the broadest spectrum of prospects possible, while truly successful email marketing campaigns are focused on segmented groups based on their relationship to the company or product," said O'Gorman.