If people never made mistakes then how would we ever be able to learn from them? To save you from making any we’ve researched the 10 most common email marketing mistakes. Sometimes it’s just as important to know what not to do as it is to know what to do.

Underestimating the power of the subject line

Too many people bung in a subject line at the last minute in an effort to meet a deadline and underestimate just how vital it is. The subject line can make an email campaign sink or swim and is THE most important part of a campaign, if this doesn’t draw recipients in then it doesn’t matter how good the body copy is – they’ll never get to find out!

Using spam triggers in the subject line

Seeing as the subject line is so important don’t use spam keywords and risk getting your email filtered into spam folders. This might sound obvious but ‘spam keywords’ are changing all the time and if you’re selling something for example avoid using words like ‘Clearance’ and ‘Buy direct’.

Missing clear call to actions

Some emails get so bogged down in detail that they forget to actually ask for what it is you want your audience to do. If you want them to go to your website, call you or email you then ask upfront and don’t bury it in the body copy. If a recipient just skims your email and only reads the first paragraph, if your call to action is in the third or fourth then they’ll miss it.

Sending from generic email addresses

Who is donotreply anyway? Avoid sending emails from donotreply@, info@, sales@ addresses. It’s impersonal and doesn’t go any way in building the trust you are trying to establish with your audience by sending the email in the first place. If it is from the sales team just pick a dedicated person from the sales team to handle each campaign.

Relying on images to upload

So many inboxes block images initially until we click to download them. Images are still great in emails we’re just saying make sure there’s enough copy for the email to make sense without them.

Ignoring the WIIFM rule

That’s the ‘what’s in it for me’ rule. Unless it’s some really great news or you’re donating millions to charity then recipients don’t want to hear you talk about you or your company. They want to know what something means for them. So, use ‘you’ instead of ‘I’ or ‘we’ Instead of ‘We’re offering…’ use ‘You can have…’

Not testing your email 

You wouldn’t eat your food before its finished cooking so doesn’t send your email before it’s finished. If you haven’t sent a tester email out it’s not finished. Sending emails with mistakes, typos or links/images etc. that don’t load can be embarrassing and costly to the business. Check it works on different platforms like Outlook and Gmail.

Ignoring A/B testing

You should, at the very least, test things like subject lines to see which worked best to use this as a guide for future campaigns. You can get a sense of what worked and what didn’t and of course focus your efforts into what did.

Not setting up analytics

You’d be surprised how many businesses send off an email into the abyss and just hope they get a few bites. Make sure you’re looking at your analytics and learning from it. If particular features are popular carry on, if people are ignoring certain sections look into why this might be. You can even see who’s clicked through to your site and email them with a follow up nudge.

DIY

We’re not saying that all DIY email marketing is bad but you wouldn’t try to fix your own car, you’d take it to a professional mechanic. So, turn to the experts for your email marketing too. Expert and trusted providers like us have a track record of creating and sending effective email marketing campaigns that are most likely to result in a good return on your investment. Get in touch today for more information.