By Ronald Kimmons
Email marketing is one of the most powerful marketing channels available. It is highly scalable, responsive, and cost-effective. However, in conducting an email marketing campaign, there are some big, fat, ugly blunders that neophytes often commit. These can waste your time and resources, and harm your business—and you should do your best to avoid them. They are:
1. Buying a list
There was a time when email marketing meant buying a list, spamming that list, and hoping someone on that list was in your target demographic and would buy. Thanks to the government and email providers, such things are no longer done by legitimate marketers.
If you intend on purchasing an email list and sending out unsolicited mass marketing emails to that list, you need to know that:
- Your conversion rate will be low. Those selling such lists will often cite “industry standards” by promising 3% conversion or something like that, but even that is pie in the sky. Those are the kinds of numbers seen by email marketers who have legitimate lists of people who chose to receive marketing emails because they were interested. Even if these people see your emails, the leads from purchased lists will not have the same conversion rates as more legitimate lists.
- Many recipients will not see your emails anyway. Email providers have gotten very good at spotting spam. That being the case, do not be surprised to find that your emails are going straight to the spam folder. Also, note that in Gmail there is now a “Promotions” tab where promotional emails go. Even if your emails do not go to the spam folder, they will likely go here. Though this email is technically still in the inbox, people often ignore the contents of this tab.
- You could get fined. Sending unsolicited mass emails like this is illegal in many countries. In the United States, according to the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, you can be fined up to $11,000 per violation.
- You could get sued. That’s right. People who receive spam email from you can actually take you to civil court. A lawyer named Daniel Balsam actually makes a living by suing spammers.
In short, don’t buy email lists to send unsolicited marketing emails. It’s not worth it.
2. Failure to comply with other CAN-SPAM policies
Even if your list was collected legitimately, with people who requested your emails, you still have to abide by certain other legal rules. For example:
- Include identification information. This means your company name and address. Most marketers include this in the footer, and email marketing tools like MailChimp and Constant Contact make it easy.
- Include an “unsubscribe” or “email preferences” link. This makes it easy for people to unsubscribe from some or all of your marketing emails.
- Follow up when people do unsubscribe. If people change their preferences or unsubscribe completely, make sure to remove them from your list. Again, if you use an email marketing tool like MailChimp or Constant Contact, this is automated and easy.
- Write clear subject lines. The subject line of your email cannot be misleading. This is (ironically) one of the more inexact requirements, so there is a little flexibility, but try to play it safe. As a marketer, it may be tempting to write whatever grabs people’s attention and causes them to open the email, but do not lose control. (More on this later.)
- Information in ads should be clear and unambiguous. It is very good practice to include advertisements in your emails that are visually similar to what people might see in magazines or on posters. However, whatever you write there, make sure that it is easy to understand. Do not make statements that are intentionally vague and then rely on fine print to clarify them.
- Make sure anyone working for you is compliant. Anyone sending out emails on your behalf—whether an employee or a contractor—is legally connected to you, and you are also liable if they fail to do what they are supposed to do.
Again, if you fail to abide by these rules, not only is this bad business, but you can actually get fined and/or sued for that failure.
3. Failure to be mobile-friendly
Google has now openly embraced a mobile-first philosophy. This is because the majority of internet activity now occurs on mobile devices. This is especially true for emails; it would be a big mistake to ignore mobile users when you draft your marketing emails. To optimize your emails for mobile, consider doing the following:
- Make the text big enough to read. None of your text should be smaller than 14 point.
- Make buttons easy to tap. Simply adding a link to your text may not cut it for some mobile users. Instead, try to use an actual button.
- Use a layout that is responsive to different screen sizes. Again, email marketing tools like MailChimp and Constant Contact are usually good for this.
RELATED: 5 Ways to Test Mobile Marketing in Your Small Business
Being mobile-friendly may seem like a small thing, but it can actually have a big influence on the conversion rates of your emails.
4. Writing clickbait subject lines
For those unfamiliar with the term, clickbait is any headline or image that is intended to encourage the viewer to click at all costs, even if it means being sensational, irrelevant, or dishonest. Even when your subscribers are not specifically cognizant of the fact, over time, clickbait subject lines will cause them to lose trust in your brand. For this reason, try to avoid subject lines such as:
- Anything containing the words “You won’t believe…”
- Anything pretending to be something it is not. For example, to fake a transactional email, you may put in your subject line: “Your order has shipped!” If the subscriber did not order anything, he or she will often feel a strong inclination to open the email, but that does not mean that the subscriber will react well to the contents of the email. (Of course, real transactional emails are fine.)
- “Last chance!” This may be okay in some cases, but don’t overuse it.
- OVERUSE OF CAPS. It’s just annoying!
While all of these examples will probably significantly increase open rates, the net effect that they have on your business will often not be good. That said, there are still some moderate “clickbait” subject lines you can use that will increase open rates without harming your credibility. For example:
- Use numbers. “7 Reasons You Need…” People respond to numbers because they are tangible, concrete images that interrupt one’s conscious thoughts. (Note the title of this article.)
- Use the recipient’s name. “Chris, we noticed that you didn’t sign up for…”
- Ask a question. People see a question, and they have a psychological need to give or see an answer.
- Make a shocking claim. “Scientists prove chocolate cake is GOOD for you!” However, if you do this, you had better deliver on your claim.
5. Failure to deliver value
Some email marketers, feeling the pressure of their ultimate mission, often find themselves composing email campaigns that, to recipients, sound like this: “Hey, you should buy our stuff! It’s great stuff! Click here and buy our stuff! Give us money! Hey, have you bought our stuff yet? You know what you should do? You should buy our stuff!”
This type of email gets tiring, and people do not want to look at them.
As an email marketer, you have the responsibility to deliver real value to subscribers in the emails that you send—even if they never buy anything from you. They subscribed with the understanding that you would send them emails with valuable or interesting information about things they care about, so if you don’t deliver, you are not fulfilling your promises.
To ensure that you are delivering value, each of your emails should do at least one of the following:
- Delight. If your email can make people feel happy or validated or laugh, you have succeeded.
- Educate. Provide valuable information in an understandable format on a subject that the recipient cares about.
- Provide a meaningful offer. This may be a discount, a bundled offer, a limited offer, an event, etc. The key word is meaningful. Simply offering 10% off on one random item one day and 15% off another random item another day is not going to cut it.
To deliver value, instead of focusing on your needs and desires, focus on the needs and desires of your subscribers. Value is determined based on what they want, and not based on what you like or what you want.
6. Sending too many emails
Even if your emails have a high level of value, most people just do not have the time to read emails thousands of words long coming from you every day. If they find your emails overwhelming, many people will unsubscribe, even if they note that your emails were of value to them in the past.
There is no universal limit to the number of emails you can send. It can be useful to email every day for several days if you are following up on some recent interaction. However, a good rule of thumb to go by is to average between one and three emails per week, and if you are emailing every day, go easy on the long-form content.
7. Being inconsistent
The key to trust is consistency. If you want to create and maintain a relationship with your subscribers, you need to make sure that you send your emails on a regular basis. Don’t send them sporadically, or with a cluster of emails followed by months of silence. Use your email tools to establish a gentle but firm presence and establish your business as a business that believes in stability and continuity.
8. Being nonresponsive
Before you go live and start pulling in contacts, make sure that your email drafts are ready to go. When people sign up for your mailing list or request that free offer, they expect to receive an email promptly. This is why you need to use good automation tools. If you fail to respond promptly, you will find that the open rates of your initial emails will not be very high, as the recipients have already moved on and the feeling of anticipation is gone.
This need for responsiveness does not only apply to the first interaction, either. Anytime your subscribers interact with you in some way and you fail to respond promptly, this will hurt the trust you have built with them, and it could cause you to lose them altogether.
9. Failure to include a relevant call to action
Every email should have a call to action. This doesn’t have to involve money, but it should be something—anything—that causes people to engage with you in some way. The call to action should be relevant to the content of the email, and it should be something that your subscribers can do right then and there.
Here are some examples of non-monetary calls to action:
- View a video.
- Install a free mobile app.
- Take a quiz.
- Start a free trial (especially for SaaS).
- Register for an event.
- Interact on social media.
- Give feedback by email.
- Rate your business on an online rating site.
Your call to action should be briefly stated at the end of your email. All of the content of your email should build up to it. If you are using an advanced marketing automation tool, you can track whether or not people take certain actions and use that to determine which emails they should receive in the future.
10. Failure to automate
If you fail to automate, you will inevitably fail to be adequately responsive, you will waste massive amounts of time, and you will fail to reach as many people as you should. There is no good reason not to use an automation tool. MailChimp even has a limited free plan for people who are just getting started. Even if you don’t get a premium plan, the more basic services are quite affordable.
RELATED: Marketing Automation Solutions Are Now Affordable for Your Small Business
About the Author
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