You have spent hours worrying about your subject line and your email message, but have you ever stopped to think about where your email links are taking your readers? It is important to make sure that these links are taking your email recipients to relevant places, otherwise they may not move forward with your offer or promotion. Let’s take a look at 4 possible places where your links may be going and what you can do to improve those pages:

1. Landing Page

Many email marketers like to have readers click to a specific landing page that promotes a certain offer. The benefit of doing this is that you can easily perform tests to see what is working and what is not. If your page doesn’t seem to be working, try switching the placement of your images and copy and see if results improve.

2. Home Page

Customers only want to be brought to your home page so many times, especially if nothing new has been changed. To improve this, add new content or images on your home page, or simply send them to a different page on your site that is more focused.

3. Your Blog

Say you put a portion of your latest blog entry in your email and added a link to read more. It is always important to make sure that the link is going to the specific blog entry page, not the blog itself. Why? If you have added new entries since your emails were sent out, your readers may have to scroll down before they can find the story they were reading.

4. Your E-Commerce Site

This is another instance where you do not want to just send readers to your home page. If you have an e-commerce site, send them to a very focused page that relates to your email message.

While some might say that good copy is key to a successful email marketing campaign, the specialists at ConsumerBase know there is more to it than just a catchy subject line and well-written content. There are also several design factors that you should consider when creating a campaign. All 4 of these design elements can have a considerable impact on the success of your campaign:

Branding

In the early days of email marketing, companies had very little concern for branding. These days are long gone. Email simply provides you with another way of developing a relationship with customers. It should be obvious to your customer who the email message is from before they even open it.

Pictures Paint a Thousand Words

Using pictures, a few quick lines of copy and a link is the best way to grab a reader’s attention. There is no better way to describe your offer than by showing an engaging picture of it!

Don’t Overload It

Readers of your email do not want to be bombarded with the same offer over and over again in your email. Readers also don’t want to be overloaded with numerous offers. Repeat the offer once or twice for impact and wait to see the results.

Analyze Your Customer Base

Have you had the same email design for years? It may be time to make a change and see if it impacts your results. Readers do not want to see the same design over and over. A new fresh layout or color theme can quickly affect the success of your campaign. After making the change, analyze your customers to see what worked and what did not.

Have you recently considered creating an email marketing campaign for your company? If so, you must first know and understand the essential strategies that can lead to a successful campaign. Before you get started with your promotions or email lists, you must devise ways to engage your email subscribers. By engaging your email recipients, you are informing them that you are a worthwhile source. This will encourage them to subscribe to your emails and read them on a regular basis.

ConsumerBase offers some general tips to catch and hold your subscribers’ attention:

Make Your Company Known:

In order to engage your subscribers, you must first gain their trust. Start off your email by using a “From” email address that they recognize. You can also entice readers by using catchy and creative subject lines. This can help to bring some recognition to your company and encourage recipients to open your email.

Remember the Significance of Images:

While images should not be the main priority of your email, they can brighten up and enhance your message. You must also remember that some ISPs will initially block your images, and your email should account for that.

Front Load Your Email:

When writing your message, try to use the inverted pyramid strategy of journalism. In other words, make sure to put the most important information at the top of your email. Many readers will view the email in a preview pane or will only read the first few sentences before choosing to continue or delete, so it is very important to wow them with your opening lines.