The conversion process in e-mail marketing takes place in various stages. The first step obviously is the recipient opening your e-mail. The subject line, the sender and the content all play a significant role here.

What subscribers see in the preview pane and the value and relevance of your previous e-mails are also important. Many people automatically open e-mails from a sender of which they receive valuable content in every mailing.

Brand, reputation, customer experience and trust play an increasing role in the opening of your e-mails but content (subject line, e-mail) still prevails, despite other voices regarding this issue.

The conversion of an e-mail doesn’t end after opening your e-mail nor after doing what you seek to obtain by your call-to-action. The most important conversion steps take place after the e-mail subscriber arrives on the landing page when clicking a link.

This link depends on the objective of the e-mail campaign. In the case of a commercial e-mailing for existing customers (for example cross-selling and up-selling, special offers etc.) it is often better to concentrate on one call-to-action and thus hyperlink (be it repeated several times and, most importantly, clearly placed above the fold).

An online publisher, on the other hand, will often make various topics clickable in order to gain more traffic to the posts or messages he puts in a newsletter and often the ads of advertisers wanting to reach the audience of that e-newsletter.

Landing pages don't make recipients think: they reassure

Conversion after the click is about much more than only the landing page. Certainly in sophisticated, automated, triggered and/or scenario-based e-mail campaigns where e-mail forms a part of a cross-channel approach. Think about marketing automation and lead nurturing.

However, in practice the landing page is the key factor for most e-mail marketing campaigns and programs regarding post-click conversion.

And one of the most important elements in the further conversion process is consistency.

The user experience must be efficient and recognizable: when people arrive on a landing page that doesn’t clearly correspond with the e-mail, this causes confusion. Make it easy for the subscribers and make sure that they don’t have to search far or think about what they should do when arriving on your landing page.

Most e-mail marketers are well aware of this, but there are always possibilities for improvement.

The promised six post-click conversion tips:

1. Clearly summarize the offer on the landing page

If you send a mail with a discount for a certain product group, it is logic that you show this product group on your landing page. But also make sure that you include the mentioned discount. This eliminates all possible confusion.

2. Use the same ‘look and feel’ for your call-to-action buttons

The ‘look and feel’ of your landing pages should correspond with that of your e-mails. Strive for this as much as possible. You will also have call-to-action buttons on your landing page (for example for more information or to purchase). Give them a similar striking look and use the same ‘tone of voice’. Also make sure that, as with the preview window of your e-mail, they are located above the ‘fold’.

3. Repeat your subject line

The subject line of your e-mail is an ideal title for your landing page or any other content-section of the landing page. People mostly read the subject line of the e-mail before opening. If you repeat it on the landing page, this leads to reassurance.

4. Show the sender and don't forget the brand

This tip may seem evident, but it is often forgotten. It is certainly important with new subscribers and for companies with a less strong brand identity. People can see who sent the mails in the ‘sender line’ of the e-mail. Most often the logo of the sender also appears at the top of the mail body. Obviously you should also display this brand identity on the landing page. Branding still matters a lot, even in pure direct marketing activities.

5. Be relevant and test

We all know the need to be relevant in e-mails and that you have to offer valuable content. But the same applies for the landing page. Pay attention to this and test, in the same way that you test your e-mails. Test several versions of your landing page and change various content elements, looking at parameters such as positioning, color, content and more.

6. The balancing act of offering alternatives

Finally, provide options for the Internet user arriving on the landing page to move on through your site to relevant places, both for you and him. Although, certainly in commercial mails, the emphasis lies more on the direct conversion, alternatives ensure that you offer the visitors something else, thus including other conversion paths if the clicking recipient is not interested or ready for the primary conversion goal after all. However, make sure that you don’t place too many links and offer too many options on a landing page and that everything is in function of the direct and indirect conversion objectives. Too many options lead to confusion and clutter distracts the Internet user from what he wants or does. It is a balancing act.

The best landing pages are a perfect marriage between the user experience, ease-of-use, relevance and a reassuring feeling of consistency on one hand and clear objectives and conversion goals that guarantee the best ROI on the other.

J-P De Clerck is a content, conversion and social media consultant. You can connect with him on Twitter or via his blog.