Increase your Destination visit rate

The visit rate measures how many of your Destinations are visited by prospects or customers. In this example, 5 out of 8 Destinations were visited, giving a visit rate of 62.5%.

Benchmarks

Visit rates vary depending on the stage of the buying journey when you share the emlen Destination. Here are the benchmark rates:

Aim for these benchmarks. If you’re meeting or exceeding them, you’re on track. If not, this article offers tips to improve.

In early stages, lower visit rates can be acceptable. In that stage emlen can help you qualify and prioritize leads.

Influencing factors

Factors that influence whether a prospect visits your Destination:

• Targeting: How well you reach the right leads (ICP fit)
• Timing: The buyer’s awareness of their problem (early stage) or interest in solutions (mid stage)
• Messaging: How you craft your message around the Call-to-Action to visit the Destination
• Qualification: Your ability to qualify leads and opportunities
• Relevancy: Your ability to create aligment between the prospect's situation and your solution

Remember, timing is often beyond your control. Instead, focus on optimizing other factors to increase the Destination visit rate

Here are 13 tips to improve visit rates: 

1. Prospecting: create a focused target list

To connect with the right contacts, focus on thorough lead and account research, prioritizing quality over quantity. Here are some valuable resources and tools:

• Clay’s AI Lead Generation Guide: This comprehensive guide explores how to leverage AI for B2B lead generation, covering topics such as building lead lists, enriching leads with AI-powered insights, and crafting personalized cold emails (Clay)
• Cognism’s Guide to Building a Targeted Marketing List: This resource provides insights into creating effective marketing lists, including tips on using double opt-in methods and segmenting your audience based on behavior and interests (Cognism)
• LinkedIn Sales Navigator Tutorials: Search for “Masterclass LinkedIn Sales Navigator” on YouTube to find numerous tutorials that can help you maximize this tool’s potential for lead research and prospecting

2. Avoid sending the emlen link in cold messages

The goal of your initial cold message (e.g., via an email campain or in LinkedIn) should be to start a conversation and secure a positive response. Once you achieve that, you’ll know the prospect is interested in learning more, and you can share an emlen Destination.

3. Keep your message short

Address your prospect’s pain points business goals. Explain how and why you are relevant to your buyer. Summarize this and aim for:

• Early stage: aim for 50-125 words
• Mid stage: aim for 125-200 words

4. Use a custom subdomain

Using a custom subdomain can boost trust in your Destination link. On average, custom subdomains see 8-10% higher visit rates.

• With a custom subdomain, your URL might look like this: https://showroom.hermiston.com/d/4mPDRy33o7
• Without a custom subdomain, your link will be hosted on an emlen subdomain, e.g., https://hermiston.emlen.io/d/4mPDRy33o7

The issue with using an emlen subdomain is that “emlen” and “emlen.io” are unfamiliar to prospects. This can lead to fewer clicks, especially in early interactions or with cautious audiences.

5. Consider showing the full link

Full URLs: Showing the full link can create a sense of transparency and trust, as recipients can see exactly where they are being directed. This approach might increase click rates if your audience is cautious or highly detail-oriented (e.g., in technical fields).

Hyperlinked Text: Links embedded in text tend to look cleaner and more professional. However, if users are wary of clicking on hidden links, this might reduce click rates.

Another problem (both for full URLs and hyperlinked text) can be that CRMs or email tools may alter the original link (e.g., for tracking purposes), which can potentially increase mistrust.

6. Customize the Destination link

• Without Destination link customization emlen will add a random slug to your link:  https://hermiston.emlen.io/d/4mPDRy33o7
• If you customize the Destination slug for your customer, the link can look like this:  https://hermiston.emlen.io/d/Parisian 

7. Include a single Call-to-Action (CTA)

Don’t overwhelm prospects with options. Provide one clear CTA and one link to avoid decision paralysis.

8. Personalize your message

In mid to late stages, personalization is easier with context. In early stages, avoid generic templates. Use this structure to personalize:

9. Consider disabling email verification

Disabling email verification can improve visit rates in early stages.

Note that you’ll see “Guest” visits only in the analytics section, so name Destinations clearly for tracking.

10. Mentally prepare your prospect for the link

During your call or meeting, mention that you’ll share the discussed documents in a “project hub” or “personal space” accessible via a link. This sets clear expectations.

If you’re screen sharing, show the documents in the hub during the call. This helps your prospect see it firsthand, building trust and familiarity before they receive the link.

11. Sell the emlen link

Communicate the benefits for your prospects and customers of the emlen Destination. For example:

12. Give a teaser

Provide a glimpse of what’s in the Destination, focusing on what interests your prospect. For example:

13. Multichannel follow-up

Emails can get lost, so use reminders. Follow-up through email, LinkedIn, and phone calls. After your first touchpoint, always send a LinkedIn request.