Sometimes your email marketing will flop, but why? Well, a few small changes can make all the difference, and disappointing results could be avoided.
Of course, not everyone can be marketing trained or have experience in copywriting, so mistakes are bound to be made. But when you know the common email marketing fails that could cost you subscribers and sales, you can avoid them.
Whether it’s your emails going to spam or simply because your unsubscribe rate is rising, this blog post should help you understand what you're doing wrong and why your email marketing isn’t what you had hoped.
Over-sending
No one likes to feel bombarded by communications, not even loyal customers. In fact, a survey by Adobe found that 40% of respondents would unsubscribe from an organization's email list if they received too many emails. If your clients are opening their inboxes to find multiple new emails from you every day, they will quickly get bored of seeing your company name. It’s a surefire way to end up on their blocked list.
But how many are too many? It’s been suggested that two to three emails per week is the sweet spot. It’s enough to provide a continuous reminder of your products and services without overstepping the mark.
No links or call to action (CTA)
Consider the purpose of your email. Do you want people to click through to your website, sign up for a webinar, check out a sale, or download a whitepaper? Whatever the purpose, you need to clearly direct your customer to what’s next.
CTAs are simple and effective, often consisting of just a few words (such as: ‘discover more’ or ‘buy now’).
If you’re unsure of where a CTA should sit in your email campaign, you can read more in our ‘Where Should CTAs Go in Your Email Marketing Campaign?’ blog post.
Using aggressive sales language and spammy keywords
Have you ever enjoyed being aggressively sold to? I can imagine that your answer is no. In fact, you probably got put off the product and brand altogether. Well, your customers likely feel the same way.
There’s nothing personal or human about aggressive sales, the customer is made to feel unimportant and unvalued, which won’t lead to sales. The overuse of keywords is also off-putting, with customers unlikely to feel any emotion from these sales techniques. Marketing should elicit some form of emotion if you want customers to part with their hard-earned money.
Typos
Typos look unprofessional and make the email seem rushed. If a customer can’t trust a brand to spell correctly, how can they trust you when it comes to your products?
Email marketing should be high-quality and purposeful, not packed with errors. An easy way to get around this is to have a colleague proofread your copy or write on a platform that will highlight any spelling mistakes, such as Grammarly.
Hiding the unsubscribe button
What a cheap trick this is!
If a customer wants to unsubscribe from your emails, they should be able to do so easily - for data compliance reasons too. Therefore, by hiding the unsubscribe button, you’re refusing them this freedom of choice and possibly landing yourself in legal hot water. Not only will this likely frustrate your customers, but it could also result in lost sales as they’ll lose respect for your brand.
Sending Outlook emails with all your contacts copied in
There are many reasons why businesses should not be sending emails on Outlook with all contacts CC’d. First, it’s unprofessional and a bad look for your business, second, you could be in breach of GDPR.
With every recipient able to see the contact information of those who have been CC’d, you aren’t protecting client data. It also looks messy, with the top of the email filled with email addresses and drawing away from the content.
Instead, you could create contact groups in Outlook on BCC (blind copy), or better yet, use an email marketing platform.
Poor subject lines
64% of recipients decide whether to open or delete emails based on the subject line alone (according to Finances Online).
If over half of your customers are making a snap decision on how they’ll interact with your email, after only reading your subject line, you must think carefully about the few words you use.
You should pique the attention of the recipient, so that they feel compelled to open your email.
If you don’t succeed here, then your open rates won’t be high and you’ll fail to get readers to consume your content.
Getting your subject line right is crucial.
Find out how to write a great subject line by reading our Get Your Customers Hooked - Nailing Your Subject Line blog post.
Not personalizing your emails
Personalized email content is a proven way to boost engagement with your subscribers. If a customer is addressed personally, they’re more likely to feel valued by your company.
Transpond uses merge tags, which are clever little snippets of code that you can insert into your email copy - both the body and the subject lines - to personalise your email for, or to, your reader.
Using merge tags allows email marketers to include details that are unique to each recipient, such as their name or a discount code.
Find out more about merge tags in our blog post ‘What are merge tags, and how do I use them in email marketing?’
Not using an email marketing platform
Email marketing platforms are designed to help you communicate with ease and grow your business through emails that are aesthetically impressive and packed with information.
With Transpond, you can design beautiful emails with speed and ease. With tools like our Brand Analyser, capturing your branding couldn’t be easier. Plus, your emails will look great on any device.
Email marketing platforms enable you to see what’s happening. You can monitor analytics and make decisions in real-time as recipients engage with your emails. Insights such as open rates, click-through rates, and unsubscribe rates give you control and growth opportunities - something you may otherwise miss out on.
Minimize your email marketing mistakes with Transpond
Making mistakes can be a thing of the past. By actively avoiding the email marketing failures mentioned in this blog post, you’re one big step closer to sending emails that perform as well as you hope. They may seem small in isolation, but mistakes can make more of an impact with your clients than you know.
With Transpond, you gain the insight you need to get the marketing results you deserve. When pairing these insights with emails that are fault-less, you’re onto a successful campaign.
Get started with Transpond for free today: https://app.transpond.io/