Web retailers that are good at developing personalized email campaigns often lose potential business because of lackluster page optimization, according to a study from Silverpop Systems Inc., an email marketing service provider. The study examined email marketing campaigns of 150 web retailers.

The research revealed that most merchants fail to send shoppers directly to the page relevant to the marketing message. Additionally, 35 percent of the landing pages reviewed in the study did not have the same look or tone of the email that generated the response, and 45 percent did not repeat the strong promotional copy of the message.

"Landing pages with images and messaging matching the emails that generated initial interest are better able to reinforce the brand and move email recipients from clicking to converting," said Elaine O'Gorman, Silverpop VP of Strategy. "Email marketers spend a lot of time and energy creating targeted, relevant campaigns, but then fail to carry the ball across the goal line, due to lackluster landing pages."

Customers can end up at a landing page via a variety of routes, said O'Gorman. But 35 percent of the retailers didn't include an opt-in button on their landing page. To capture the email addresses of those who arrived at your landing page without being in the retailer's database, it's essential to ask them to register," she said.

"Home pages are most often created to appeal to the broadest spectrum of prospects possible, while truly successful email marketing campaigns are focused on segmented groups, based on their relationship to the company or product," said O'Gorman. "Using the home page as a landing page, therefore, can be confusing. It's much better to create a landing page unique to the email campaign whenever possible."