The basic principle of digital marketing and email marketing is to bring content and share value and useful information to others. The greatest expectation we have about email marketing, is to be opened, read and eventually engage our prospects in a variety of different ways. The purpose of email is to build and grow relationships with the prospects that eventually may be transformed to leads and advocates.
There have been a number of posts about why your email marketing campaign is not working, or even it “sucks”. Following, you may find a list of the most common mistakes that you have to avoid and if already done, to fix them.
1. Wrong Customer Base
You want to send a segmented list to the right group of people. You don’t want to aim in the dark and email your entire database. You also need to make sure you are not emailing people that have unsubscribed from receiving any content from you and be sure to include a hard bounce list when sending out emails.
2. Email Marketing is not about you
It doesn’t matter if you’re sending out the last email in your lead nurturing campaign to bottom of the funnel leads that have downloaded multiple case studies. You want to continue to show your readers the value of what you are offering them in your emails. Don’t make it all about you. Concentrate on the reader and what they would be interested in reading.
3. Your emails are little ugly
Try to use different email templates for featured emails when sending out new advanced content, when sending out monthly newsletters, and when sending lead nurturing emails. Remember people use different operating systems and web browsers, so be sure to include a plain text email version.
4. Your emails have no goal
If you don’t have a goal when sending your email, then how do you even know if it was an effective email or not? Set a goal of a certain click through rate, be sure to include a call-to-action or a next step for your reader, and be sure to analyze your email after it was sent to see what worked and what didn’t.
5. Your emails are boring
It really doesn’t matter what industry you’re in or who you work for, you want to speak to your buyer persona and keep the reader interested.
6. Your emails have spelling and grammatical mistakes
Before you send anything out, double check for grammatical errors and also verify that links are correct.
7. Your emails aren’t that personal
Don’t write like talking to a robot. People appreciate directness and personal messages. You want them to know they are reading an email sent from a real person, and that they are receiving a personal experience.
8. Your emails are way too long
Normally your customers have about few minutes to read lots of emails. Statistics have shown that you have a number of few seconds to gain their attention. So keep your emails short, relevant and up to the point.
9. Your subject line are not catchy
The subject line is the first thing your reader will see. If you aren’t clear about what is inside the email, and the subject line doesn’t grab the readers attention, chances are your email is headed straight for the trash bin.
10. Your emails are sketchy
Try to send emails from a personalized email address and not through a general, corporate one ([email protected]). Also think about the time of day you’re sending your emails. Don’t be that creepy person sending out emails at 3:00 am. Remember to keep your emails personal, real, and relatable.
If you have any other reasons why – and for sure you may have many about – may be you would like to share them with all of us here. 🙂