We all know that a home page is the window to a company, but why, when you receive an email from a brand you trust, do they dump you back at this window from a link in their email and expect you to find your way to the information on the Web site? You wouldn’t go into a supermarket or department store and be expected to find your way to your chosen destination without any signage or point of sale.

We've all received an email like this, with a snappy subject line, even personalised, introducing the product that you must have, so you click on that link and guess what - you're back onto the home page having to fight the maze. Maybe it made perfect sense to the brand managers, product managers and marketers, however as a normal buyer of this product you are left on your own.

It could be seen as a challenge, but surely marketers want and need people to enjoy the journey through to purchase without forcing people to endure the journey through the Web site. Understandably you're very proud of your home page - and we are too - they help your SEO, they bring together your brand, services and offerings. They also bring together your staff and customers. But home pages are for the window shoppers who may or may not end up buying your product. For the brand connoisseur who needs to find information on their chosen product, this is not the place to ‘dump’ them. Email marketing campaigns build brand trust and this trust has to be earned.

Recently, for example, I received an email from a prestigious vehicle manufacturer. I was looking at buying a new car and the email was beautiful – rather like their cars. The email had thumbnails of each of the vehicle models with some captions around each type of car. I liked one car in particular so I clicked through to find more information on that model. I was not impressed to find that I had been dumped at the home page of the Web site. Not even the home page for passenger cars, but of the corporate Web site. My journey then started over – first working out by the powers of deduction that as I was neither "fleet" nor "heavy", so I had to be "passenger". (How often does the average person see a car on the road or in a car park and say ‘What a wonderful passenger car?’) Needless to say, this naming took me as a little odd. After clicking through approximately 10 pages I found my chosen model, with a couple of pit stops to refer back to the original email, and voila the information I wanted was there. If I hadn’t been committed to buying this brand of car, then like most other people I probably would have given up when I landed on the home page.

In such a competitive market place it is a shock that so little attention is paid to the email and landing page. Is it the case that some marketers see email marketing as a cheap tool, therefore little effort needs to be made? Or is it that the importance of relevant communications has been missed? That I cannot answer. However, to avoid the curse of the home page these very simple rules can be followed:

• Your email is the envelope to carry your message – so make sure that your message is where they click through to!


• Landing pages should be used to provide more information about the products/services featured in your email.


• An email should definitely include a link to the home page so the recipient can find out more information about you if needed. Put this link behind your logo and at the bottom in your contact details.


• Keep to the 3 clicks rule: if it takes people more than 3 clicks to get to the information you are enticing them with - then expect that they will leave.

Remember: if you only send people through to your home page, then it can be game over...they will unsubscribe and your brand will be damaged.

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