Adding links to email messages helps your campaign in two ways – guide and track. Guiding subscribers to websites and product landing pages increases your chances for a sale. A lesser known reason involves tracking subscriber movements. Since most email service providers allow you to track the number of click-throughs, open rates and other marketing analytics, you can monitor subscriber activity to determine which information results in the most sales.
Guiding Subscribers
Use links to get people to your website and other online properties. Include links directly in the text or create icons to place at the top or bottom of your message. Make sure links and icons don't detract from the information provided. Also, don't overcrowd messages with too many links. Keep it to two or three links and icons maximum.
You can use links to get subscribers to visit:
· Your websites
· Affiliate websites (when partnering with another business)
· Social media pages
· Blog pages
· Landing pages
· Forums
· Specific product pages
Track the success rate of links by monitoring how many subscribers click though on each message. Test link and icon placement to determine the ideal spot to place them in your message.
Tracking Subscribers
Instead of providing subscribers with all the information upfront, entice them by writing a paragraph or two and adding a link to your website or blog. Make sure the link sends them to additional information (or article continuation) about the same topic and not to a sales page. The idea is to determine which types of information gets the most click-throughs. Monitor which links people click on and how often. Use this data to create quality content subscribers will want to read. You can quickly determine which topics the majority of subscribers want to know more about and those they could care less about.
You can also track which website or social media pages subscribers click through most often. Place your best offer, product or service on these pages to increase sales.
Links to Surveys/Polls
Create a survey or poll and invite subscribers to fill it out. Provide a link to the survey with an estimate of how long it will take to complete.
Track how many click throughs the survey receives against how many people actually complete it. If the number of click-throughs exceeds the number of responses, your survey may be too long or not of interest to subscribers. Encourage subscribers to respond by offering a small discount or free gift.
Use the information gathered from those that respond to improve business operations and other aspects of your business.