Common Email Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

With Email Marketing, there are a number of issues that may arise and cause your campaigns to fail. In order to have the most effective and profitable results, there are some mistakes you should avoid. Many businesses have built large, promising email lists only to see them go to waste because they didn’t take the proper measures to be successful.

Here are some common Email Marketing mistakes you should avoid:

Too Many Emails: People do not want to be bombarded several times per day with emails from a single business. This overload of information from a single source can cause people to unsubscribe, so keep the emails you send at a reasonable level. Many businesses tend to stick to one or two per week unless there is something special going on that may be cause for more.

Not Enough Emails: In order to keep people interested in your business, you have to stay in touch. Sending an email every few months is not enough to build meaningful relationships and remain top of mind of your subscribers. Therefore, send an email at least once per week so you can remain an important source for your subscribers.

Writing misleading content

Let’s say you send an email with the following subject: Get an exclusive 50% discount on our entire inventory!But when the reader opens the email, it’s a pitch to sign up for a webinar or free online class.Not only is this tactic dishonest, it also tends to backfire. No one likes to be deceived, especially when they receive an email that promises one thing and delivers another. You might get people to open your email initially, but this alienates subscribers and can hurt your open rates and spam rates in the long run.

Making Every Email a Hard Sell: It is fine to send advertising emails every once in a while, but it can be dangerous to do it all the time. People who subscribe to email lists want great offers but they also want useful information. Give them tips and guidance on whatever subject relates to your business. Make your newsletter an essential part of their week.

Using Spammy Words

Adding certain trigger words to your subject line can activate a recipient’s spam filter, even if the message you’re sending is legitimate.To prevent this from happening, avoid symbols like “$$$,” “100% free,” “cash off,” “cheap,” “weight loss,” and “serious cash”. Even if your email makes it to the inbox, it can come across as spammy to your subscribers.To ensure your readers take your emails seriously, choose the language of your subject line carefully by avoiding some of the trigger words and symbols listed above.

Not Repurposing Content: Save time and money by using the same content you post on your website, blog, or social media in your emails – and vice versa. Chances are that your email subscribers are not following your content anywhere else on the web, so use this to your advantage.

Expanded Subject Lines

Consider the environment in which your subscribers are reading your emails. Chances are, they’re on-the-go or quickly scanning their inboxes between work meetings.Since you have only seconds to capture their attention, you want to make sure your subject lines aren’t wordy or redundant.Long subject lines look spammy and get lost in cluttered inboxes, especially if readers are using mobile devices.

Unprofessional Tone: Always be professional in your emails; this does not mean you cannot also be friendly, but maintain the professional tone. It is also recommended that you keep your personal views out of your business email messages. Otherwise, you run the risk of losing subscribers who may not agree with your views.

No Way to Unsubscribe: Nothing is as frustrating as receiving emails you do not want to read. As a business owner, you also do not want to send emails to people who are not interested in reading them. So to make it a win-win for all parties involved, always make it easy for people to unsubscribe. This is as simple as making sure there is an unsubscribe link at the bottom of your email, which many email systems provide automatically.

Not Proof-Reading Your Emails: It is extremely important to check every email for typos, spelling, and grammar mistakes. Once every now and then, a mistake can be expected, but if it’s a consistent thing, you lose credibility with your subscribers.

Not Testing Your Emails: Always be sure to test your emails before sending them to your subscribers. In fact, it’s best to test it by sending it to various accounts set up for different email clients, such as Gmail, Yahoo, Comcast, etc. Also, check to make sure that all links in your email are working properly. If your emails do not open correctly or if the links do not work, many subscribers may be less likely to open your emails in the future.

Not Segmenting Your List: In many cases, it will be beneficial for you to reach some of your customers, instead of emailing all of them. For instance, if you may have a new product or service that is only relevant to a portion of your list; which means you only want to email them about it. This is possible if you segment your list based on specific customer behavior and preferences. As a result, you can increase your overall revenue potential.

Stop Building a List: Once they have a nice amount of subscribers, many business owners discontinue their list-building efforts for some reason. Don’t do that. Many of your current subscribers could unsubscribe or stop opening your emails. So you should always have a system in place that is working to get fresh subscribers who are interested in what you have to offer.

Not Being Mobile-Friendly: Millions of people open and read email on their mobile devices today. This means that your emails should be tested prior to sending them out to make sure they are compatible with mobile devices. You should offer the option of HTML text-based emails without any images, as well, since images could be a problem on mobile. You should also make sure that your subject line and email body are short enough and formatted properly for mobile viewing.

Not Tracking or Monitoring Success: As mentioned earlier, most email systems contain handy tools to help you monitor and track your email campaigns. However, many businesses fail to utilize these tools to their advantage and simply ignore the data altogether. This is a missed opportunity to improve their overall strategies for better results.

With only a quarter of small businesses advertising online, there is still time to establish your online presence before your competitors do.Finding the right verbiage for your subject line can be tough, especially with the sophisticated spam filters out today.To optimize your email open rates, be sure to review your emails for grammar and spelling prior to hitting send. No one will take the time to read your email if the subject line is loaded with grammar mistakes, but basic copy editing can prevent these errors from slipping through the cracks.Craft subject lines that sweep subscribers off their feet...The subject line is one of email’s most important components, so it’s important to get it right before you send your emails. And by avoiding the mistakes above, you’ll be well on your way towards improving your email engagement.

Good quality emails get to the point, create a sense of urgency and are relevant to the subscriber, but it’s easy to make mistakes when writing them. Committing these borderline sins can drastically reduce your open rates, but avoiding them is easy if you know what to look for.