Tying an online ad or piece of email marketing directly to a customized landing page that acknowledges the communication and has a specific call to action can improve lift by 40% and is a necessity for marketers, according to a survey by CrownPeak.

The recently-released “Holiday PPC Ad Strategies” study found that 66% of holiday-themed online search advertising drives traffic to a home page or some other landing page that is not obviously tied to the online ad, thus confusing or annoying potential shoppers. Only 34% of the holiday-themed search-engine ads analyzed in the study directed traffic to specific landing pages that urged shoppers to buy, or were otherwise reflective of the original ad.

The study found that the majority of online ad campaigns and web content were not linked. Of the 66% of advertisers that did not tie specific, relevant landing pages to their search ad, nearly 13% went to the advertiser home page.