When Landing Pages Break Promises

How often do your landing pages break promises made in your ads or newsletters? Here’s an example that may hit home.

This is a tale of two companies who can’t afford to blacken their reputation any more than they already have.

It is the story of one letter, one landing page and a broken promise.

Experian doesn’t have many friends in the public domain. Their main job is to prevent people from getting homes, cars and frozen pizzas. Their second job is to make it hard for victims of identity theft to redeem themselves.

Adobe is a company who gave 2.9 million of their customers’ account information to thieves.

I love my Adobe software, so I was philosophical about the security breach. I got a nice letter saying that they’d hired Experian to make sure I didn’t fall victim to identity fraud.

The letter gave no hint of irony.

“You have until February 28, 2014 to activate this complimentary credit monitoring membership by using the following activation code: XXXXXXXX. This code is unique for your use and may not be shared. To enroll, please visit http://www.protectmyid.com/adobe, or call …”

I visited the link in the letter. The letter made a clear promise and this link contains a promise by including the word “adobe” in it.

The link sent me here:

This landing page broke a promise made in a letter.

No blank for an activation code.

No mention of Adobe on the page.

A broken promise.

I took the time to try to sign up. They wouldn’t take my activation code.

The best brand experience is giving visitors what they expect. These companies are pissing on the people they have already let down.

How many times are your ads making promises that your landing pages are breaking?

When Landing Pages Break Promises UPDATE

The landing page has changed. Now THIS is a promise kept:

This landing page from Experian keeps the promise.

This is a landing page that keeps Adobe’s promise. My only criticism of this page is the use of stock photography, which we call business porn.

Related reading: What Keeps Visitors from Converting on your Site?

Now, where did I put that letter?

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Brian Massey

Conversion Scientist™ at Conversion Sciences

Brian Massey is the Founder and Conversion Scientist™ at Conversion Sciences. He is the author of Your Customer Creation Equation. His rare combination of interests, experience and neuroses were developed over almost 20 years as a computer programmer, entrepreneur, corporate marketer, international speaker and writer.