Email marketing is the most common and cost-effective way companies use to promote their products and services. However some companies don’t realise that sending newsletters or email publications is simply not enough. In order to achieve a high success rate, you have to have the right tools, strategy and marketing reports to go with your simple email.
Unfortunately, some companies still commit these five common email marketing mistakes:
Unsolicited Email
Nothing annoys people more than getting newsletters or advertisement emails without their permission. Make sure that you use an email service that allows you to have a double opt in for new subscribers. In this way, you avoid miscommunication with subscribers.
Weak Subject Line
As we very well know, first impressions last. So it is crucial to have a solid subject title in order to encourage recipients to open and read your whole email. This is where good marketing background comes in handy. It’s like creating a tagline for your new advertisement; it should be good enough to have an impact to the audience and encourage them to listen to everything you have to say. This does not mean the use of full capital letters, this, although more noticable in the inbox will actually reduce the chances of it ever reaching the recipient's inbox as it will potentially be identified as spam
Overly Showy Newsletter
While HTML email marketing brings life and color to your newsletter, it can also distract readers if not creatively and neatly done. Make sure to keep your design at a minimum level. A header graphic, bold headings and sub-headings, a sidebar with a few graphics is ok, but 100% images is overkill.
Ignoring the essence of Time
“…Sometimes, right thing at the wrong time is the wrong thing” an author once said. This especially holds true in the world of email marketing. Some people think that the more newsletters you send the more chances of getting the attention of the prospective client. But with bulk email marketing, most of the time, the opposite happens since people usually get annoyed at receiving advertisement on a daily basis.
Your ultimate goal is to give your customers the right message, and this means giving it to them when they have the time to read and understand your message.
If you feel you have something interesting to say to your subscribers on a daily basis then offer them the option to subscribe to the frequency of mailing that they prefer - daily, weekly, bi-weekly or just monthly
Quality over Quantity
People subscribe to newsletter and other email publications to get viable information on things that are relevant to them and of great use. Therefore, it is important to provide up-to-date, unique information that entices them to read your emails.
It’s okay to commit mistakes as long as you realise it soon enough to correct them. Like anything else in life, practice makes perfect. So as long as you stick to your goals, you will be able to create a good email marketing campaign.
