Email Marketing

11 Mistakes to Avoid in Email Marketing – And How to Excel

Did you know the first broadcast email was sent out in 1978? The sender was Gary Thuerk of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), mailing an advertisement to 400 recipients.

Well, his trick worked as he managed to bag sales worth $13 million!

That being said, the ability of advertising through emails does not give you the liberty of spamming inboxes. Apparently, that is one of the biggest email marketing mistakes of the hour! Doing this will only lead to a loss of potential and even current customers.

This is just one of the many mistakes marketing gurus (as they may call themselves) are making almost every day.

Do not worry, as this piece has got you covered. Walk through this extensive guide encompassing potential email marketing mistakes that you may be making. Also, find the most efficient practices of advertising through emails!

11 Email Marketing Mistakes You Got to Avoid

You can make significant marketing mistakes irrespective of your years of experience or your status in the firm. It is only human, and there is absolutely no need of denying or mourning over it. However, what is undoubtedly worth lamenting over is ignoring and failing to rectify. Even a minor mistake can drown the entire ship, taking along all your planning and resources. Therefore, your first step is to identify the potential email marketing errors. Explore this list!

1. Spamming

Did you know almost every has legal requirements regarding email spamming? The penalty of non-compliance may range anywhere between US$16000 per recipient in the US to CA$10 million in Canada. Yes, these are hefty amounts, so you got to remember the severity of this particular marketing mistake. As per Statista, almost 47.3% of emails were regarded as spam, and you certainly do not want to add to it! Besides, you may end up losing some of your most loyal customers through multiple unnecessary emails. Remember, in the long run, this may cost you even more than violating the spamming law.

2. Unattractive Subject

It goes unsaid that the likelihood of a user opening your email significantly depends on the subject line. Why would a reader invest even a minute in reading content that is unattractive or useless? As a result, your sales pitch will directly go to the user’s trash box.

Not only dull lines, but mails with hyped-up statements making ludicrous promises also tend to land in bins. Remember, you are halfway to your goal if you get a user to open your mail. The best way to do this is by crafting subject lines that are short, solution-oriented, and provide substantial value. Also, make sure it is professional enough and has a touch of personalization, sounding subtle yet sensational. Does that sound a lot? You got to be on point to stand out!

3. Drafting Unstructured Emails

Does your email look like a never-ending thesis? With the daily email frequency of around 320 billion emails and the ever-shortening attention span of readers, scannability takes the first seat.

You got to draft a mail that seems easy to the eyes at the first instance. Remember, no one likes statements shouting to them in ALL CAPS or uneven paragraphs. Make sure to include relevant subheadings when necessary, shorter paragraphs, and even more concise sentences. The best option is to hire a reliable content writer who will make sure your emails highlight your brand personality.

4. ‘Do Not Reply’ is A Marketing Enemy

The ‘Do Not Reply’ tag at the end of an email is equal to losing a customer. If you are not open to communication, your client will find a business that is more than willing to do so.

Yes, email responses can get overwhelming, but blocking your communication route is the worst way to deal with this problem. You got to let your customers clear their queries, only then will they trust your brand and move ahead in business. If you do not want to receive direct emails, integrate a ‘Contact Us’ option at the end of your mail. This way, you will get responses from only those individuals who are genuinely interested. Alternatively, leave a simple form for the user to fill in their information so you can get back to them.

5. Mobile-Friendly Interface

According to statistics, over 43% of users open their emails on mobile phones. You do not want to lose almost half of your potential audience due to a slight discrepancy like lack of mobile friendliness. Failure of email loading or inability to come out in the correct layout on small screens can result in lost customers. Make sure you design mobile-friendly emails, as these numbers are only bound to grow in the near future. Additionally, test your emails on different devices before broadcasting them to hundreds of recipients.

6. Failing to Target

Are you clear about the market segment your email is for? With the endless sources of customer information at your disposal, you are making one of the biggest mistakes by ignoring market segmentation.

Knowing the target audience can significantly help improve your email relevance and quality. You will not only receive more email opens but also get a higher rate of responses. Apart from considering demographics, you can also target customers based on buying behaviour. According to a report, about 68% of millennials agree that their buying decision was influenced by promotional emails. That is a massive number, so why not use it to your advantage!

7. Failing to Follow-Up

You have launched two successful campaigns. Congratulations! But wait, your job does not end here. Communication gaps are significant setbacks to your relationship with the customers. Worst case scenario—they may drift on to your competitors due to the absence of follow-ups.

Irrespective of how much your clients love your content, you cannot let the breaks be too long. The best way is to ask your customers about their desired frequency of emails. Another effective method is to automate the emails. This way, even if you are on vacation or leave, your customers won’t be left waiting for the updates.

8. The Wrong Timeframe

According to research conducted over 20 million emails, the best time to send out emails is 11:00 am. Additionally, users tend to open their emails mostly on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Therefore, these are the best days and timings to broadcast the most important messages. Do not think this is the best time for your business to send out emails? Well, then identify the one that is. The prime purpose behind highlighting this mistake is so you can realize the suitable timeframe for your audience. The period when they are significantly more active online or are expecting your mails.

9. Graphics Can Cram Your Mail

Yes, images and graphics make content attractive, but too much of anything can be harmful. If you load your email with heavy shots, your message might lose its value. Moreover, your email might end up appearing as a plain ad instead of a valuable addressal. Your best bet is to create a healthy balance between the visuals and the written content. Try to add fewer images and more words that reflect quality. Too many graphics can cram your mail and may also cease to appear attractive enough to be read.

10. Not Using Conversational Terms

Yes, fancy terms sound, well, fancy, but is your message easily understandable? You sure do not want your customers to keep a dictionary ready when they read your mail. Because they will not do so. Instead, they will choose to skip the email if it is too difficult to understand. Besides, you still got to sound professional enough for a new reader to trust your brand. The best formula for this is to create a blend of personal and professional and write in easy-to-understand words. That is it. Not rocket science, is it?

11. CTA Button

If you are not leading your client, you are making a huge mistake. Consider this — your customer is unaware of anything your mail is about to address. Therefore, it is your duty to make the message clear and guide your client to take action at the end of the email.

Apart from remembering to include the big Call To Action button, make sure you have only one of them. You cannot expect all your clients to fulfil multiple actions in a single mail. They will not sign up for mail and also tag your brand on their image. Moreover, adding multiple buttons can mislead your clients. As a result, your customers will get distributed. The right way is to add one CTA button and make it clear enough, directing towards a single action.

How to Do It Right – Email Marketing Tips 101

That was a hefty list of the potential email marketing lists you may be making. It is quite possible that you were making only 2-3 of them, or in an ideal world, not even one. Still, it is crucial to bear each of them in mind so you can avoid them entirely in future emails. Now that you are well-versed with what you should not do to blow out your marketing chances, here’s what you should!

Constructing A Spot-On List

The very first step that you got to accomplish is building an email list. After all, you can only send out emails once you have sorted through the current and potential targeted customers. One of getting emails is through forms on your website—a method that largely depends on customers. Another foolproof plan is using an email service tool to search the email addresses yourself within seconds and save time!

Offer Spurs – Lead Magnets

Your mail must provide value to your client, otherwise, do not expect an individual to invest their time in your message. That is even if it is a 1-minute read. Offering free resources helpful to customers is the best way to establish relationships and get them coming back. You can add guides, eBooks, and other attractive incentives.

Tell A Unique Story

Irrespective of the message length, your mail must tell a unique story to your customers. According to research, individuals spend almost 2.5 hours of their day checking personal emails. Make their time worth it and your story stand out among others by providing something others aren’t. Otherwise, get ready for your email to slip to the bin.

Consider the Buyer’s Journey

You cannot be flooding a brand-new subscriber directly with advertising mails. You must not pitch to the new entrants right away. Start by sending an introductory mail telling your customers what they can expect from you. Moreover, when 67% of the buyer’s journey lies on digital platforms, you need to make the most of it. Consider their current stage—awareness, consideration, and decision, and market accordingly.

Attractive Content Can Save the Day

Try to put yourself in the reader’s shoes, would you go ahead to read boring content? An email full of plain text without images or subheadings seems nothing less than an essay that no one has the time for. Divide your content into segments, highlight the important statements and do not forget to add life to it with images. On that note, do not flood it with graphics, too.

Use Automation to Its Advantage

Does the thought of keeping hundreds of subscribers in the loop seem overwhelming? Well, why not use email automation for what it exists. You can schedule emails in advance, and the automation software will automatically send them. Keeping up with a large audience is as important as acquiring it, and automation is your go-to tool for this very job.

Tip: Also know when to disconnect automation, and prevent achieved campaigns from reaching the customer after a software update.

Add A Customized Touch

When a customer sees your mail along with 10 others, what makes him NOT send it to the trash? A touch of customization can do wonders. According to a study, adding your recipient’s name to the subject line can increase the probability of its opening by 20%.

Testing and Analysis

Forgetting to analyze your email marketing campaign is like throwing coins in the well without caring about its effectiveness. The best way to do this is to incorporate practices like A/B testing—checking which type of email will perform better. Other approaches include keeping a tag on the open rate, CTR (clickthrough rate), unsubscribers, and other similar analysis reports. Testing and rectifying is as essential as creating (or even more).

How Can Email Marketing Benefit You?

Did you know email accounts for a 40x greater share of acquiring customers than Facebook and Twitter combined? Well, if you thought social media is your most powerful tool, it is time you reconsidered your strategy.

From the first step of building a relationship with your customer to nurturing it over the coming period, email marketing got your back. Here are a few unsaid advantages you can expect from this solid instrument:

• Boosting brand awareness
• Generating leads
• Marketing new and existing products
• Cost and time-effective marketing technique
• Testing strategies and measuring results
• Real-time marketing

Stay Prepared for Setbacks

The list of email marketing benefits may be never-ending (yes, it does not end here), but you cannot ignore the drawbacks. Though few, these snags may prove to be significantly drastic:

• Sending mail to an untargeted audience can lead to spams
• A few (poorly designed) emails might remain undelivered
• Outdated email addresses in your list lead to nothing but a waste of time and efforts
• Beating the cut-throat competition and convincing your customers to open your email is a challenge
• You need legit email addresses and a spot-on email design

Is Email Marketing Worth It?

Did you know there are over 3.8 billion email users around the globe? That means, despite the apparent hype of social media, email still holds the utmost importance. In fact, conversions can go Northward by 6.33% through shopping cart abandonment emails sent within an hour. Besides, most brands bag a return on investment equal to 38 times the amount they invested in the first place. With such eye-opening profits, email marketing is downright worth all your efforts, time, and dollars!

A Wrap-Up

Email marketing is one of the most reliable marketing techniques of the hour. Despite hundreds of social media channels, over 90% of customers thoroughly check their emails every day. Therefore, adopting this tool is automatically giving you the edge over your competitors.

That being said, it can prove to be utterly useless if not utilized correctly. You can outsource services and hire professionals to build the right strategy and design top-notch emails, but what about your email list? Building an inch-perfect list can take your game from 0 to 99 and even the other way round!

Except, with GetEmail.io, you need not think about the other way round. It is an exceptional service that can help you get (literally) anyone’s email within seconds (or even microseconds, with the right internet speed)! Yes, that is how time-effective this tool is. All you need to know is the first and last names, along with the domain name of your prospective customers. Full stop. GetEmail.io will do the rest, and in no time, you will have an updated list of potential clients. Isn’t that like a magic pill? Well, check out the wonders yourself!