Common Email Marketing Mistakes

Updated: May 4, 2022

Common Email Marketing Mistakes

Email marketing is a critical component in your marketing strategy. Email marketing still outproduces every other marketing channel. Combined with SEO and effective social media marketing, you can create the perfect power combo. This article is going to look in to some of the more common email marketing mistakes and how you can avoid them in your marketing efforts.

Not Getting Confirmed Subscribers

Buying a list for email marketing purposes is a huge “no-go”. Harvesting and scraping email addresses is another big “don’t ever do it”. If you are going to be a serious email marketing and you want your business to be taken seriously, take the time to build a solid list of people that actually WANT to be on your list. Using the double opt-in method, you can know your subscriber list is filled with real humans who have personally expressed an interest in what you have to offer.

Writing Weak Subject Lines

Once you have subscribers in your list, your next goal is to get them to open your messages. If they don’t open it, they can’t read it. If they can’t read it, they can’t respond. So give yourself a solid shot at success by making sure you write strong subject lines designed to capture your readers’ interest. Personalize the subject line by adding the reader’s name. Personalization goes a long way toward building rapport and getting your messages opened.

Not Keeping It Simple

Keep your overall design simple. Stick with one font type. Add images and videos ONLY when they add value to your message. Overloading your messages with images and videos can cause your messages to get sent to the spam folder. Keep the most enticing part of your copy toward the top as your readers will most likely just be doing a quick scan to see if they want to even keep the message or delete it. Use the preview pane to your advantage here.

Not Taking Mobile Users In To Account

Test your messages on your mobile phone and/or tablet to make sure they look good. More and more people are checking their emails on their smart phones. Don’t let your marketing message get lost due to not looking its best in every available format.

Not Using The Call To Action

Never assume your reader will know how to learn more, visit your site, or place an order. Use the call to action (CTA) to let your readers know exactly what to do next. A good call to action can often be the difference between solid sales and flat results.

Not Checking Your Links

Test, test, and test some more. Proofread your emails. Click every link to be sure they are driving your subscribers to the correct place. We all can get in a hurry and overlook this. (We’ve done it here a time or two) A simple typing error can give you catastrophic results. If/when you DO make a mistake, consider sending out a correction to your readers. Let them know you discovered the mistake, make the appropriate apologies, and resend the corrected link.

Not Segmenting Your List

Segmenting your list can give you amazing results. Failure to segment your list can have your readers confused and disengaged. Segment your list by actions taken or actions skipped. You can segment your list by preferences if you are collecting the information from the shopping cart or capture form.

Not Staying On Topic

Your subscribers joined your list because of a particular offer or interest. Stay on topic for your readers so they know they can trust you to deliver the content they asked for.

Not Being Consistent

One one of the biggest mistakes we see is a lack of consistency. When you “forget” to follow up, you lose rapport. Be consistent in your promotions, your followup, and your support.

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