Have you tried email marketing for business with lackluster results? If so, that’s a common problem. Done correctly, email marketing returns a significant ROI. Avoiding the top 7 email marketing mistakes will put a smile on your face all the way to the bank.
1. Never Neglect a New Subscriber
The moment you learn of a new subscriber is the best chance you’ll ever have to connect with that person. They liked you enough to sign up to hear more from you. You’re already on their mind. If you wait too long, they’ll forget about you.
Your welcome letter needs to cover three points:
- A sincere welcome
- An introduction to you and your business or group
- Letting the reader know what to expect from you (frequency of emails, type of information you’ll be sending, etc.)
2. Emails Not Optimized for Mobile
Where do you read most of your emails? In all likelihood, you check emails on your phone or tablet. That’s what most people do.
Not using a responsive email template is a major mistake, one you can’t afford to make. Before emailing, make a habit of sending a test email to as many different operating systems and devices as possible. To see how your email looks on hundreds of devices, you can preview your email on Litmus, MailChimp or another email marketing platform.
You spend a lot of time and money on your emails. Make sure the reader is seeing exactly what you want them to.
3. Never Buy a List or Use an Old List
It’s tempting to buy a list, especially when you don’t yet have a lot of subscribers. It’s also a mistake to email an old list. You can email to an old list by mistake (a reason to be meticulous about organization and double-checking). You can also send to an old list because you’ve been too busy to maintain your list.
Purchased lists or old lists can cause you problems you don’t need. You can send to people who’ve unsubscribed, damaging your sender reputation when email is marked as spam by the unhappy recipients. Your deliverability stats will be adversely affected when emails bounce from invalid addresses.
Accumulate your own subscriber list, treat it like one of your most valuable possessions (it is!) and ensure your list is up-to-date.
4. Don’t Forget to Set Your Preview Text
You’ve spent a lot of time crafting the perfect email. If you forget to set the preview text, all that work and expense can be wasted.
Preview text is what the reader sees after the title when scanning their emails. If you don’t set it to say what you choose, enticing the reader to open the email, the system will automatically choose the preview – and it probably won’t be anything helpful.
5. Don’t Send Emails Without a Reason
You need a goal for every email you send. Purposeless emails annoy subscribers and encourage unsubscribes. When you sent your welcome letter, you should have stated an overall purpose for your emails. If you’re writing about plumbing or sending blogging tips, don’t go completely off-topic because you can’t think of anything else to say.
It helps to set up a calendar or list of email topics. When the time arrives to write the next one, you’ll have ideas to draw from.
6. Don’t Email Too Often, Too Irregularly or At the Wrong Time
Sending too often or not often enough are both mistakes. Over time, you’ll find what frequency works best. The most often-used intervals are once or twice a month, but that’s not set in stone.
You’ll also want to send at the best time. Tuesday morning is often a good time to send emails, but you’ll want to experiment. Change one variable at a time. After a few months, see if Tuesday night has more clicks.
Above all else, be consistent.
7. Don’t Forget a Call to Action
It’s surprising how many people forget a CTA. If you don’t let people know what action to take, it’s a guarantee they won’t do a thing. For tips on crafting a good CTA, check our blog.
Don’t let these email marketing mistakes sabotage your business. At BXP Creative, we live and breathe marketing. We know from experience how effective email marketing for business can be.
We’ll be your creative team behind the scenes with experts in email marketing, web development, SEO, ecommerce and much more.
How can we help you grow your business? Let’s connect today.
