Email marketing is (still) the most effective type of marketing ever invented.
Unfortunately, it’s also an easy place to make mistakes or even overlook the obvious. The point of email marketing is to build relationships, educate your audience, and convert them to customers.
If they’re customers already, the point is to educate them and then convert them to buying something else. Here are ten mistakes you’ll definitely want to avoid.
- Using Sensational Subject Lines
People don’t like being tricked. You know it’s true. When you click on a headline and it has nothing to do with where you go, how do you feel? Tricked? If you want your email list to be healthy, be transparent in what you’re telling them, and never trick them.
- Not Taking Advantage of Message Previews
Many email programs offer the customer the ability to preview part of the email before they open it. That means your main message should be at the top of the fold. It will make them want to click to open and read more if you ensure this part is right.
- Using “No Reply” as the “From” Name
You need to make it easy for your list members to contact you, and replying directly to an email is the best way. Also, people want to get emails from real people. Therefore, using your name may be more effective than using the name of your business, depending upon your niche.
- Not Making Each Email Valuable
No one wants to open an email and have to buy something to get anything of value. Plus, they probably won’t click through to your sales page if what you offer in the email is not valuable. Show them your value by giving them something that matters, making them want more.
- Losing the Focus of the Email
Each email should cover one small subject and not encompass too much information. Be friendly, be informative and get to the point. Your audience will thank you for not going off the point of the subject line in the email.
- Not Finding Your Voice
Your email should have a personality, and your business should have a personality. More than likely that personality will be a lot like you. Think of Apple; even after Steve Jobs was gone his company has a certain personality and reputation that matches his. You don’t want to be robotic in your delivery – make it interesting and informative.
- Not Including a CTA
Each email should include a call to action. It’s best to only have one call to action per email. The reason is that your audience will get confused if there is too much to do. You want them to click through. You can always add more CTAs in your landing page and upsells.
- Writing Emails That Are Too Long
People do not have time to sit and read a long email. Stick to the point and keep them short. Emails should be about 300 words long, no longer than 500 words, and focus on one topic of interest to your list members.
- Using Personalization Incorrectly
Technology enables you to personalize all emails, but if your technology fails it looks bad. Test out each email before you send it to ensure that the personalization is working. Make sure that your sign-up forms include the information you need to include personalization. No personalization is better than messed-up personalization.
- Using Too Many Images in Emails
The truth is that for most niches, sending text-based emails is going to be better than sending HTML emails with a lot of images. But in some niches – such as graphic design, for example, a beautiful email is important. However, ensure that you compress images properly to avoid problems with delivery.
Finally, not sending emails is a huge mistake.
No matter what anyone says, the money is still in the list – and you still should work hard to build a solid, targeted, and effective email list full of hungry customers.