The worldwide use of email continues to grow at an unprecedented pace. According to Statista.com, in 2017, there were 3.7 billion email users. It further estimated an increase by up to 4.3 billion by 2022. Meanwhile, Radicati.com forecasts that by the end of 2019, one in three people in the world will be having an email and use them not just for correspondences but also as digital identities.
These very promising statistics and forecasts flatly negate naysayers who claim that “email marketing is dead”. On the contrary, email marketing remains a very effective and powerful part of digital marketing campaign. It connects businesses directly to their target audience.
Come to think of it: do you know anyone who doesn’t have an email address? I bet you don’t. Emails are a major part of our lives. We receive emails almost every day – from personal messages through work-related emails to advertisements. We read email messages and get inspired by them. Considering the ubiquity of emails, it certainly is a worthwhile addition to any business’ digital marketing campaign.
But while email marketing remains one of the most potent ways to reach and engage customers, many businesses fail to capitalize on it because they’re doing it wrong. If you’ve already launched email marketing campaign but still don’t get any benefits from it, chances are, you too are doing it wrong.
To ensure successful email marketing, here’s a list of the most common mistakes that you should avoid.
- Assuming that recipients will read through your emails hence stuffing it with overly technical topics
- Not paying attention to the subject line. Writing spammy subject lines would definitely lead your message to the spam
- Asking readers to do too many things, such as visiting a website, subscribing to a newsletter, or completing a form
- Writing generic emails that do not add value or provide any solutions to their target readers
- Using inappropriate language or words for your email content
- Not getting straight to the point or being too verbose that the email seems very long and boring for the reader
- Sending multiple emails to all contacts without regards to their unique needs and preferences
- Not regularly cleaning up your contacts list, for example by using an email validator
- No call to action in your emails; as such, the reader doesn’t know what to do after reading the email
- Sending emails every day or not having a consistent schedule for sending emails
- Failure to study and recognize analytics and reports (such as bounce rate) about your email marketing
- Not having any images, graphics or visuals in your emails
- Visually unattractive emails that appear unprofessional or spammy to their recipients
- Not taking measures to improve email sender reputation such as by purging your email list, sticking to a consistent schedule, checking blacklists, priming your domain, using double opt-in, and sending email with the right frequency
- Using email that is not responsive to different platforms such as mobile devices
- Sending emails without clear idea or purpose of the message
- Not staying up-to-date with the latest techniques and strategies in email marketing
Email marketing is tricky. While it provides you direct access to your target audience, getting them engaged and converting them into actual sales isn’t that simple. You have to continuously learn and understand the mindsets of your contacts for more effective email marketing campaign.
Furthermore, email marketing can be a double-sided sword: it can help increase your engagement but it can also hurt your reputation. So make sure you’re doing it the right way and avoid committing errors.
Hopefully, this list of common errors in email marketing can help you launch a successful email marketing campaign for your brand.
