Leads from Email Links - Not so good
January 27th, 2007 by 
Chris
Many of you - maybe most of you - already know about this but I heard a few questions about it lately “around the water cooler” and decided I could cover it quickly and maybe help a few souls too.
It is still fairly common to see a “send us an e-mail” link on a website where you can click on that link and your email client automatically opens with “To:” address and the subject line filled in. All you have to do is type the body of your email and press “send.” Email might be useful if you are requesting long answers to specific question or if you are fishing for stories and anecdotes. Email links are exceptionally simple to add to your website but they are not very good for attracting qualified leads. The main reasons not to use email links for leads are:
- They leave you vulnerable to spammers because your email address is on the site
- Are too open ended to qualify the lead’s needs or project
- They require no lead information other than email address
- Many visitors’ emails clients are not set up to open email from a link
To close this subject: Leads by email links are an option but aside from being very simple to add to a site, they are full of negatives. If you want leads from your website sent to your email use a short contact form that hides your email address and requests only an email address and comments field.
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Posted in Uncategorized | 
June 12th, 2007 at 10:49 pm
Yes, I would have to agree that these types of links are not the best way to get solid leads. The issue of spamming alone is enough to avoid this kind of vulnerability as the risk most definitely does not outweight the benefits. If only there were insurance available to avoid spamming the world would be a better place.
Jerry