Email marketing is essential for any business looking to grow its customer base and sales. If simply getting someone’s email was all there was to it, you wouldn’t be reading this article now, would you? Don’t worry, we’re here to help.
Email marketing can be an art form at times, with subtle tweaks and decisions that can be made to get big results. However, in the same way, small mistakes can have a big impact.
So, to help you get the most out of your email marketing activity, here are some of the most common email marketing mistakes, and how to avoid them.
First impressions matter, especially when it comes to email marketing. You’ve got a new subscriber – congrats! What’s your first move? It shouldn’t be sending them a generic welcome email immediately.
Your welcome email is a great opportunity to turn your subscriber into a customer. There isn’t one perfect way to do it, as it will depend on your brand, however, these are the key things to keep in mind:
The last thing you want to do is scare them before you even had a chance to get to know them.
Avoid being the company that spams your subscribers. Don’t bombard them with every bit of information that you think is exciting. Instead, try to understand your audience and their needs. Once you’ve done so, send content and emails that aim to serve your customers, rather than spamming them until they hit the unsubscribe button.
People get a lot of emails. From friends, work, notifications, updates, but mostly, from businesses. So, if you want people to read your emails instead of ignoring them, you need to make sure your content is as interesting as possible.
This again comes down to your audience. Look at your previous emails and understand what types of content have worked, and what pieces haven’t. Keep it interesting, and don’t send the same pieces of content over and over again.
The content of your emails is what will keep your subscriber list full of eager readers. However many email marketers make the mistake of simply thinking that the email itself is enough. In fact, the body of your emails is very important.
To do this, you need to understand who your subscribers are and what would be of interest to them. If you’re uncertain of this, you can always ask! You can always send your subscribers a quick survey asking what kind of content they’d like to get from you.
Be sure to thank anyone who responds!
Whilst content is important, your subject line is what will catch people’s eye, to begin with. Over 40% of people will open an email based on the subject line, so your word choice here is crucial.
Here are some of our top tips for your subject line:
Gifs, Memes, and Emojis are a lot of fun. Including them in your emails is a great way to spice them up and give them some character.
However, avoid going overboard. You want to appeal to your audience and entertain them and avoid coming across like you’ve discovered these things for the first time.
Many of your subscribers will come to expect your emails. Disappearing out of the blue can be damaging, can cause your emails to be forgotten or moved to the spam folder in future.
Try to be consistent without going overboard. Regular emails are better than sporadic emails.
People are using email more now than ever before. If your content isn’t optimised for mobile, you will be neglecting many of your customers. As you prepare your content, make sure to create a mobile compatible version and test your emails before sending them.
To ensure you’re getting the best results possible, make sure you’re paying attention to the analytics numbers. This will tell you what you’re doing well, and areas you need to improve on. The data should inform almost all of the decisions you make, so don’t overlook it.
There you have it! Everything you need to know to get the most out of your marketing emails and avoid some of the most common industry mistakes.
