No Email Marketing Strategy is Complete Without These Two Tactics

Here’s why segmented emails and landing pages are conversion soul mates. Image by Kelly Keeton via Flickr.

Conversion rate optimizers make landing pages. Email marketers send 
emails. The problem, however, is that the two departments aren’t always in sync. And if your marketing strategy isn’t unified across all channels, 
chances are you’re leaving conversions on the table.

Email marketers must work hand-in-hand with conversion rate optimizers to create dedicated landing pages for specific email marketing campaigns. So what
are the elements of a successful, unified email marketing strategy?

1. Each email marketing campaign should have a corresponding and
   dedicated landing page.
2. To serve this targeted approach, marketers should segment their
   email lists to drive the right customers to the right landing pages
   at the right time.

Sound simple enough? Let me explain each point in detail.

Create specific landing pages for specific email marketing campaigns

The internet is full of articles about how you should send your ads to a 
dedicated landing page – and while not everyone is following this advice, 
it’s still widely accepted as a best practice.

So far, so good. That’s nothing new.

Let’s contrast this with email marketing. Here’s an example that I
randomly snatched from my email inbox. The email is a typical
once-every-week-or-so promotion from an ecommerce retailer:

This page is nothing special. And it’s not targeted.

The email is essentially a template for their website. If I click on the
“men” panel, I get a page that shows me a bunch of pants.

Where is the focus? (There isn’t one.) Where is the specificity? (There’s
none.) Where is the goal? (Lacking.) In other words, this is the
mud-on-the-wall strategy of marketing. Throw an email to a few
thousand customers, get a few click-throughs and hopefully score a
few conversions.

Let’s take a look at a better example:

This email is targeted, specific and focused. Its goal? To get
click-throughs for their promotion. And this is where the click-through
takes me:

I can’t help my conversion rate optimizing self from quibbling just a
tad at thelack of visual continuity and absence of a single coherent
offer.

Nonetheless, the example still suffices. This type of email marketing
experience will drive far more conversions than the “Ooh, let’s send an
email!” approach to email marketing.

Why?

Humans respond positively to clarity. If you address the right people at
the right time, and send them to targeted pages with one clear and
continuous goal, you create delightful marketing experiences that
people will naturally want to follow.
To improve the efficiency of your email marketing, you should:

• Create a single goal for each and every campaign email. (Focus!)
• Develop a landing page for the email that continues the
  conversation about the same, singular goal.
• Drive customers to the dedicated landing page and then optimize
  the heck out of it.

That’s the first part of combining email marketing with landing page 
optimization. But there’s more…

Develop segmented email lists and send focused emails

This strategy — create dedicated landing pages for emails — is just
the beginning. There’s much more you can do to refine your approach.

In order for your marketing efforts to be laser-focused and successful,
you should also create segmented email lists.

Your email list is made up of contacts who are at varied stages of
interaction with your business. And at each stage of the buyer’s journey,
your prospects will respond to different types of content and language.

Email segmentation has a proven track record of value and profitability.
An eMarketer study cited by Hubspot showed that “39% of marketers
who segmented their email lists experienced higher open rates, 28% 
experienced lower unsubscribe rates and 24% experienced greater
revenue.”

When you create a segmented email list, you are able to:

• Develop highly relevant and specific offers.
• Optimize the landing pages from the email marketing efforts to
  exactly match the motivations of the segmentation group.
• Align your marketing strategy with each contact’s needs, thereby
  creating awesome experiences and increasing conversions!

We’re applying one layer of strategy (email segmentation) upon
another layer of strategy (a dedicated landing page for every
campaign).

Now, how do all these pieces fit together? Let’s walk through the
process of segmenting our emails and targeting customers.

An example of the process, beginning to end

From this list, let’s take just one segment: repeat customers. These
people have had multiple touch points with your business and are
educated about your solution. You already know that these people are
likely to buy. Now, you simply need to create a targeted email and landing 
page that will increase that likelihood and get them purchasing.
Based on this data and the selected segment, here’s what you’d do:

1. Create a targeted email that speaks to your prospect’s emotions

Since you already know that you’re sending this email to repeat
customers, you want to praise them for their loyalty and wise decision 
making. Basically, you want to flatter them. You can say something like,
“You know how to buy great products” Or, “You do a great job choosing 
products.”

When you make statements like this, the customer is likely to undergo
an experience of “self-verification.” When a customer hears themselves
described in a positive manner, they begin to believe this about
themselves and then become more likely to act on that belief.

If you were addressing new customers, then you may want to approach
it differently. You may want to use a technique that advances the
psychology of curiosity, rather than self-verification.

The point here is that you’re trying to elicit feeling and emotion, not
just  a raw display of stuff for the customer to buy.

Let me show you an example of this.

The marketing email above is inviting women to attend a conference.
The message reminds prospects that they are loved and creates a warm
and inviting atmosphere. The call to action resonates with this emotion
and is focused and clear.

2. Create a focused call to action

Next, you’ll bring the email to a powerful conclusion. In other words,
you want to focus persuasive power, data, argumentation, or any other 
elements of the email to a final call to action.

To bring the email to a climax, create a final paragraph that sums up
the email and inspires the user with a sense of urgency and emotional 
interest. Don’t lose your readers in this paragraph. It’s the most critical 
paragraph for them to stay engaged.

After this paragraph, insert your CTA button. It’s important to create a 
compelling and inspiring button text that continues the conversation
from the final paragraph and explains what the prospect will get after 
the click.

As a good example of this, check out the marketing email below.

Notice how the email builds up, bullet-by-bullet to focus on that one
central CTA: “GET CASH.” There is a direct connection in the reader’s
mind between what she reads (build your business, make it work, etc.)
and what the outcomeof clicking (“Get cash!”). Since the target audience 
consists of small business owners, this is a highly-focused and effective
email.

3. Develop a landing page that corresponds to the email

If you want to avoid cognitive dissonance (the ultimate conversion
killer), the “one goal” from your email marketing should extend to your
landing page.

Beyond that, the aesthetic of your email should carry across to your
landing page.

Additionally, you need to ensure message match from one channel to
the next. This is all about creating a unified experience that will indicate
to prospects that they’re in the right place after the click.

Let’s look at a couple examples.

The first one comes from Airbnb. Even though their marketing email is
simple, it is effective. Here’s why. The intriguing and wanderlust-
provoking question is all that they need to inspire their target audience —
inveterate globetrotters — to click, click, click:

And here’s the corresponding landing page for the first CTA:

I love the way that the CTA is tied to the landing page. Not only is it 
targeted, but it even answers a question. “Where is this? It’s on the
Canary Islands.”

Plus, the landing page makes it easy for the visitor to book his request.
All it takes is a three-form entry and a big pink button. Airbnb wins.
Connecting the dots

When you separate email marketing from landing pages, you lose out
on precious conversion potential. A disconnected marketing approach
produces fractured results.

Next time you set out to improve your email marketing campaigns,
look beyond personalizing your greeting or subject lines.

Ask yourself what kind of experience you’re creating both before and
after the click.

Connect the dots. Create focused and segmented emails. Tie those
targeted emails to a specific landing page.

I think you’ll find that a unified email marketing strategy leads to 
long-lasting relationships – between departments and with your 
prospects.

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