Mailto link is important because it establishes a direct connection with the lead within email marketing.
In addition, the fact that the user clicks on the mailto link represents an engagement action, and this metric is important for the performance of a campaign.
But do you know exactly what this link means and how it can help your communication to produce good results?
Find out more below!
Table of contents
What is a mailto link?
You know when you click on an icon that opens a link to an email? That’s a type of mailto link.
It’s a link that directs the user to an email. It can be part of text or images.
For example: you create an e-commerce message containing several products.
You can add a mailto link somewhere in the message. This link will have the function of clarifying the lead’s doubts about how the products work, your store’s delivery times, etc.
Another example is using the mailto link in CTAs.
Depending on the platform you’re working with, you can manually configure a specific subject line.
Engagement: the upside of using mailto links
Like it or not, inserting links in an email promotes interaction with the user, and this represents engagement.
In this sense, the conversion rate can increase. The fact that there is a good engagement rate (and conversions as a consequence) is very positive for the reputation of the bulk email sender.
This is because emails that haven’t engaged for at least 3 months are hard bounces and are blocked by anti-spam filters, which in turn also work hard to find spamtraps, another very serious type of bounce that comes from emails that don’t engage.
Spamtraps are fake emails (which don’t get clicked on) created by the providers themselves with the aim of identifying lists built by buying addresses.
This is harshly penalized, first by blocking and then by sending the sender’s IP and domain to spammer blacklists.
Email verification prevents unengaged contacts from remaining in the database, keeping it clean and risk-free for those who work with email marketing.
In short, in order to achieve a good delivery rate and results, the sender must have its mailing list verified, which will guarantee the presence of contacts who are actually engaged.
The downside
At the same time as inserting a mailto link can improve the engagement of your email marketing, this element can distract the lead, as it draws them out of the piece.
When they are directed to an email, the lead will think about what to write and this can be reason enough to distract them from the message.
Another important precaution when using links in emails is that they represent a great danger when good practices are not respected.
Let’s analyze them one by one.
Good practices for using the mailto link
Targeting
You need to pay close attention to the veracity of the link in the email. If the link in the message is different from the destination, the email can be classified as a phishing scam.
And the results of this in email marketing? Needless to say…
URL shorteners
The insertion of shorteners such as bit.ly and others are part of spamming techniques because they mask the redirect to suspicious sites that are intended to carry out scams.
That’s why you should never use shorteners in your emails!
Domain
Whether you’re applying a mailto link or not, it’s recommended that all links inserted in your emails have the same domain as the sender.
In other words, if the sender’s email address is [email protected], all links should start with safetymails.com.
This signals the sender’s credibility, and in the world of email marketing, reputation is everything!
For users: how do you know if a link is safe?
Norton Safe Web – https://safeweb.norton.com – is a service that offers free link checking. If you receive an email containing a link you think is suspicious, simply paste the URL into the search bar.
Conclusion
The application of mailto links, like any other link in email marketing, can help campaigns because of engagement, but it can also harm them because it distracts the user.
In the event of a lapse in good practice, links can even ruin the investment in email marketing. Therefore, whoever decides to use them must have a very strong strategic motive that is capable of bringing great results.
FAQ
The mailto link can be applied to texts, images and also CTAs.
The address must be identical to the one in the message. Otherwise, the email could be classified as phishing. Shorteners such as bit.ly are considered suspicious by ISPs because they hide the real web address, and all links applied in the message must start with the same domain as the sender, to create credibility.
Inserting the mailto link or any other link promotes interaction with the user. This increases engagement rates and, consequently, conversions. This is good for the sender’s reputation, as it proves to the providers that the lists are made up of contacts who remain engaged. They are therefore real emails.
Spamtraps, or “spam traps”, are emails created by email providers with the intention of being found by the anti-spam filters themselves. A list that contains a spamtrap indicates that the addresses are not real and that they are made up of purchased emails. Purchased bases are penalized by being blocked by ISPs and included on international blacklists.