Collaborative article: What is a common email marketing mistake and how to avoid it?

Email marketing is a highly profitable form of marketing. If harnessed correctly the ROI which can be created is large. We called to professional email marketers with long experience in email marketing to highlight the common email marketing mistakes which are often practiced. Read this collaborative article below and discover common email marketing mistakes made and how to fix them.

Simon Marshall

Founder

Get your subject lines right every time. Think about the intent and the audience. What do they already know? What do you want them to do or know? Draft your headline accordingly.

Like this:

“How does your firm rank against others on LinkedIn?”

Andy Harris

Director – A1WebStats

Using no-reply email addresses – sends out a message that you don’t care about making it easy for people to respond.

Dave Davies

Director

Email can be a deceptively attractive tool for reaching the widest possible audience.

But there are many ‘crimes’ committed in the application of this tool for sales and marketing.

Here are just 3.

1. Poorly considered subject lines.

The subject line is the ‘book jacket’ for your content. It needs to grab their attention and encourage the recipient to become the reader.

Asking a question in your subject line is proven to be one of the most effective ways to turn a recipient into a reader.

Think about the questions potential prospects for your business might be asking themselves.

Keep it short, keep it simple, make it specific.

Craft them, test them.

2. Digital monologuing

People are ‘busy’. Their Inboxes are ‘full’.

If you want a moment of their time, and for them to act, get to the point.

Try and answer these 3 questions for the recipient/reader as quickly as possible:

Why is this email being sent to me?

• The clear reason they are the “audience”
• Clear “PAIN” they have that your email addresses

What’s in it for me?

• What value do you bring?
• What outcomes could you help them achieve?

What do they want me to do?

• What’s the “call-to-action”?
• Make it easy to achieve, don’t give them “heavy lifting”

3: Timing is everything

You want your emails to hit the top of the recipients’ Inbox.

Not impossible, but probably implausible.

Pay attention to when your “audience” is paying attention though. Test and measure readership at different times, before you find the optimal timing for sending communications.

Studies suggest that the best times to send emails to Executives is early morning between 07:00 and 09:00, and later afternoon after 16:00.

Wednesday and Thursday are the best days to send communications. Monday and Tuesday tend to be clogged with internal meetings.

email can be a great tool in the right hands.

Learn all you can about getting it right with email and it will provide tangible results.

Email can be a great conversation starter, but don’t fall into the trap of believing it’s a “conversation” tool though.

Move those who engage with your email communication to valued, valuable, real-world conversations quickly.

John Storton

Managing Director, Yellow Spider Media

Email marketing is one of the longer-standing digital marketing techniques available to businesses today. It is a great way to get your brand, product, or service out there, and has the added benefit of going to people that are probably already interested in you in the first place.

Although easy to set up, email marketing can have its pitfalls, too. Avoid these three common mistakes to ensure that your email marketing campaigns hit the spot:

1. Keep it simple. Think of 2-3 topics, trends or products that are high on your priority list and keep it brief. You can always add links to longer-form blogs or articles but you don’t want the recipients being put off by huge paragraphs.
2. Don’t use large images. Big files can fill up people’s inboxes quickly and may cause issues. Crop, resize, or use thumbnails to get your message across.
3. Don’t forget to personalise (or not). No one like the “Dear [first name]” approach. And I still get dozens of emails directed to ‘Yellow’. Check that you have the correct information in your distribution lists, or just avoid personalisation altogether.

Happy emailing!

Melody Wigdahl

PLR of the Month.Club

The most common email mistake I see people make is also the easiest one to fix: Not emailing your list often enough!

I email my list at least 5 times a week – and often every day! Some days, I publish a list of good articles that have hit my inbox, or I kibbitz about something silly – or important! – that happened that day. Every day is different, depending on my mood and schedule!

But the bottom line is that I SHOW UP! My readers KNOW ME!

I know that there are marketers that only email once a month…but if I don’t remember who you are or why I am on your list…I am probably going to hit the unsub button!

• Don’t worry about having something to say every day! The more you write and get into the habit of “speaking” to your readers every day – the easier it gets 😉
• Don’t worry about people hitting the unsub button: it happens, and they aren’t your audience anyway!
• DO get in the habit of emailing regularly. Whether it’s twice a week or every day – email your readers often enough that they KNOW who you are when you pop up in their inbox
• Scared? That’s ok, that’s natural. It’s not easy to put yourself out there for possible rejection…but if you take an hour or so to map out the first month of content, along with a few freebies to give away…you will be amazed at the results.

The bottom line? With a bit of planning, your newsletter can be both fun and profitable!

Navigating email marketing requires an understanding of common pitfalls and adept strategies. Experts such as Simon Marshall, Andy Harris, Dave Davies, John Storton, and Melody Wigdahl have offered invaluable insights. Crafting purposeful subject lines, ensuring accessibility, prioritizing content essentials, embracing simplicity, and maintaining consistent communication emerge as pivotal elements for success. By heeding these principles, businesses can transcend common email marketing mistakes, maximising the potential of email marketing to cultivate lasting connections and drive campaign success.