Email marketing is an extremely effective tool for reaching your target audience on a consistent basis. Unfortunately, there are also so many pitfalls in this world of email marketing that could easily ruin your campaign.
If you’re not careful then you may end up with a list of emails that no one opens or responds to and that would be the worst thing that could happen to your email marketing campaign.
This post will help you avoid those pitfalls and instead create a successful email marketing program for your business. Let’s take a look at some of the most common email marketing mistakes to avoid in order to unlock the true potential of your campaign.
Table of Contents
Not using logos in your Campaign
Always try to use your brand logo for your email campaigns. This helps your brand stand out from the crowd and encourages people to open your emails.
They are likely to see your logo in other places too and this will create an impact on their mind about your brand and help them associate with your brand closer. Your logo should be Unique, Memorable, and Simple.
It helps people recognize your brand easily. Visuals can retain in the human brain for a longer period than mere words. With your logo used in email campaigns, you indirectly make it easier for people to remember your brand better.
Not Including A Call-To-Action
This probably is one of the most important parts of your email marketing campaign. What do you want people to do when they receive your emails?
A Call-to-action is something that you must have in every single email, especially the ones that are driving lead generation. Integrating a call to action that encourages people to take some sort of action is mandatory.
It could be clicking a link, downloading an offer, calling a telephone number, completing a form, taking an action, etc. This is the most important part of your campaign and if you’re not including a call-to-action then you’re missing out on a huge opportunity for your business.
You may be sending out emails in bulk but without a solid call-to-action, you’re actually not driving any action from your readers.
Not having an Attractive Subject Line
This is another one of those email marketing sins that you may be committing without even realizing it. You may have noticed that a lot of emails that you receive have a short and sweet subject line.
What you may not have noticed is that these subject lines are almost always followed by a short and to-the-point call to action. Subject lines like these are almost ‘hear back’ subject lines.
As soon as you see the subject line of an email you should be tempted to open it. The subject line of your email must be Clear, Concise, and Short almost like a mini-call-to-action. Emails with great attention-grabbing subject lines are proven to increase the overall Open Rate.
Some examples of attention-grabbing subject lines include
Forgetting to Research your Audience
This is a big one. You have written a killer email and it hasn’t gone anywhere. This usually happens because you are not targeting the right audience for your emails.
If you target the wrong audience, then the chances of your emails getting opened are extremely low. Not doing proper field research for your email campaigns could cost you a lot of business.
You need to make sure that you do some prior research about your audience, and their interests and target them with the right email campaigns. Using A/B testing tools and Email Marketing Automation tools can greatly help you achieve this goal.
Not Having a Purpose in Your Email
This may sound a little bit weird but it is important. Writing an email that’s got a great subject line and a great call to action is essential. But creating emails that have a clear purpose has a great chance to be opened.
You have to intentionally put a purpose for your emails for people to open them. You need to make sure that every email that you send has an intention behind it.
The purpose will help your emails stand out from the rest because it will make them more likely to be read and opened.
Not Testing Your Emails
Some email campaigns might work great and some might not. There are many factors that drive the open rate of any email campaign. But testing your email campaigns will give you greater insights into what kind of emails perform well amongst the audience.
A/B testing your email campaign will help you understand better the timings at which your emails get a better open rate, subject lines that work better, and the overall format that convinces most of your audience into clicking on your email.
Tests like these will give you a better knowledge of your audiences, their interests, and what else you can improve to make your campaigns better.
Broken Link or Images
Sometimes when sending out emails, people forget to include the right links and images or misspell the links. Though this might seem like a small mistake, it can ruin your email campaign completely.
Getting readers to take an action or click on a link is an enormous task. And ruining it all by including a broken link can spoil the reputation of your brand. You have lost a lead!
Take utmost care while including links, images, logos, and any external resources. Double-check if everything works as expected before sending out your emails.
Not Choosing the Right Content Flow
You’ve written a fantastic email, filled with amazing content and a call to action so people can sign-up for your email list. But no one signs up. So what exactly are you doing wrong? Start by changing the layout of your content in your email.
Start with the call-to-action at the top of the email and then move on to the content.
Make sure that both the call-to-action and the content are positioned in such a way that they are likely to catch the reader’s attention. Your call to action should also be concise and direct so that the reader knows exactly what they need to do next.
And remember that emails are not just one-way communication. People are going to open your emails, read your content and then respond in one way or another. So don’t be shy about including links, asking questions, and inviting them to interact with you on social media.
Conclusion
It’s important to keep your email marketing strategy on point. Make sure you avoid these email marketing mistakes and deliver a successful campaign.
