Since the dawn of the internet era, email has quickly become one of the most efficient and economical means of reaching potential clients and promoting brand awareness. Although a lot of information exists online about how to use email marketing, many businesses still encounter issues that could hinder their potential for new sales or customers.
In this article, expert marketer Christopher Lee, WNY Holdings LLC Marketing Manager, details ten common email marketing mistakes that businesses often make and tips on avoiding them.
The Hard Sell
One common mistake found in many email marketing campaigns is bombarding potential clients with sales emails. A business may lose customer interest if every interaction with them is only about selling products, so it is a good idea to balance this out with other content that is still relevant to your brand and service offering. This balance is essential in encouraging customer engagement with your email marketing campaigns.
Lack of Mobile Optimization
More and more customers are opening emails from their mobile devices instead of their desktop computers or tablets. While an email campaign might look good from a standard email format, not every email looks the same from a smaller device, so bear in mind that you may need to optimize your email templates to work for various screen sizes.
Terms of Service Violations
If your business uses a third-party platform to deliver email campaigns, make sure your business reads the fine print in the Terms and Conditions. Some companies have skipped over this step and have had their accounts locked, shutdown, or even blacklisted due to failing to adhere to service agreements.
Failing to Segment Customer Base
While it may be tempting to cut costs and deliver one message to your whole customer base, it is ineffective and may be a turnoff to potential clients. Customers want to feel like their needs are catered to and that they matter, so segmentation can go a long way in accomplishing that need. That said, look into divvying up your clientele and send different emails based on particular services or products they are more likely to be interested in.
Lack of Purpose
Emails need to have a clear and concise purpose. Is the purpose of the email to educate more on a specific issue, or are you trying to promote a new product on sale? Whatever the goal of the email message is, it always needs to be concise and easily understood. In other words, the emails shouldn’t read like spam.
GDPR Issues
While GDPR legislation does not apply to U.S. based recipients, following these guidelines may save you a future headache. One way to avoid any legal issues is to ensure customers have opted to receive communication from your business and have a straightforward way to opt-out.
Ignoring Analytics
Most businesses utilize analytics to identify trends, click-through rates, and conversions from email campaigns. Using this information to inform future decisions is essential in building upon your email marketing efforts.
Bad Subject Lines
A study by Mailchimp showed that the average open rate of emails was around 20.81%. Subject lines should be short and sweet and exciting enough to grab the receiver’s attention. Not being creative enough with a subject line can be the difference between your email being seen and immediately sent to the trash.
Email Timing
Another study showed that emails sent around 11 a.m. usually had the highest open rates. An email sent in the middle of the night can get lost amid spam and other junk that fills a mailbox. That said, understanding the behavior of your audience can go a long way. If you find your emails get the best open rates at another time of the day, adjust your campaigns accordingly.
Personalization
Always add brand-specific personalizations to your email campaign, including logos, slogans, and company fonts and colors. Uniform branding will help your emails appear more professional and legible to the client.
About Christopher Lee
Christopher Lee is the Marketing Manager at WNY Holdings LLC, a digital marketing
company that serves to provide modern and cutting edge marketing solutions for small businesses.
Christopher Lee goes above and beyond for clients and helps them make data-driven decisions
that will increase their keyword rankings and visibility so that they can attract and convert more customers. WNY Holdings LLC offers content marketing, web design, graphic design, media creation, SEO, and Facebook advertising. They focus on creating an excellent user experience that keeps customers coming back for more. Throughout the process, ongoing data analysis and custom reporting help clients track and understand how their digital marketing efforts help their businesses thrive.
