Email marketing is an extremely important factor in keeping your brand value in the minds of your target audience and ensuring successful customer acquisition and retention. However, due to the many variables that must be considered, this can be pretty complex. With so many things to consider when creating and sending an email campaign, it is inescapable that you will get it wrong from time to time. Email marketing mistakes range from “Oops” to absolutely catastrophic. Even the most knowledgeable email marketers are not immune from errors from time to time. Most importantly, how can you prevent an email marketing mistake from repeating itself?
Have you ever noticed that you made an error in your email a few milliseconds after sending it? Regardless of whether it is a grammatical error, a typo, a broken link, a broken image, or an incorrectly selected segment, something can go wrong even for specialists. Poorly designed email campaigns can not only damage your reputation but can also send your emails directly to the dreaded spam folder. But do not despair. There are ways to avoid mistakes in email marketing.
With a Return On Investment of 42:1, email marketing has proven to be one of the most effective weapons an email marketer can have in their marketing arsenal. But what can you do if your open and click rates are not what you expected? Are you beginning to wonder if your recipients have received your email campaign but not opened it? Or, they do not get involved or disconnect, which will break your email marketing KPIs due to an unforgivable email marketing mistake.
Email marketers are just people. Therefore, mistakes in email marketing are irresistible at one point or another. Instead of concentrating on that fantastic feeling that you made a mistake, make sure you address it directly and do your best to prevent it from happening again.
Common Email Marketing Mistakes one should avoid
1) Not welcoming your subscribers
You have got a new subscriber to your mailing list. This is fantastic news. Since they took the time to read your website, understand the benefits of subscription, and fill out their sign-up form, you can at least receive them. If you did not plan it, you are making a big mistake. Why? Because the first impression counts, and you do not want your impression to be that of an indifferent company, right? As an email marketer, this is your chance to make a great first impression. So please do not waste it. Ultimately, your first point of contact will set expectations for the entire relationship. So how you can do this is of vital importance.
2) Sending emails without personalization
You already know how essential email marketing is to the success of your business. But can you make it even more compelling? The answer is yes! All you have to do is modify your email campaigns, where email personalization comes in. The best audience is those who are engaging with you and your content more. Your subscribers are likely to receive tons of emails every day. So, to stand out from all the email clutter, make sure everything from your subject line to your email copy and call-to-action (CTA) is carefully crafted and personalized according to the customer’s personality.
3) Neglecting the interests of your target audience
Creating essential and engaging content relevant to your mailing list subscribers cannot be an easy task at times. You cannot keep asking them what they want to read, you look a bit irritating, and you may lose subscribers’ attention.
4) Skipping mobile optimization
Is your email campaign optimized for small screens?
Statistics show that 42% of all open emails come from a mobile device. Additionally, nearly 43% of recipients delete emails if they are not optimized for mobile devices. Well, we can only assume that you will be using a desktop to create these fantastic email campaigns because the screen is more significant. But while anything can look good on the desktop, the same cannot be said for mobile device screens. So before hitting the send button, make sure you have not forgotten to optimize your email for mobile devices.
5) Not using email marketing analytics
To understand how your email campaigns work and what interests your subscribers the most, you need to monitor your email marketing KPIs like open rate, engagement rate, clicks, delivery rate, conversion rate, etc. Once you have a better idea, you can identify the content that resonated best with subscribers to take action. Additionally, by having a comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of your email campaign, you can target the exact subscribers. They are most likely to act on and engage with your emails.
Ultimately, it would be challenging for email marketers to develop and improve their email marketing strategy without email marketing analytics. So be sure to measure your results and then adjust your messaging strategy accordingly to get the success you want.
So, how can you avoid making these mistakes?
At best, making email marketing mistakes and reaching hundreds or thousands of recipients is a bit of a shame; it all depends on the error, of course. At worst, it can cause irreparable damage to your brand, costing you not only customers (and followers) but also a bad reputation as a sender.
Making mistakes is unavoidable and acceptable up to a point, and as long as you are willing to correct them, your followers will forgive you. However, before they forgive you, you must first apologize. Yes, it is correct. Create a short, simple, and straightforward apology email template that explains what happened to your recipients and offers an “apology discount” or another benefit. As long as you treat them appropriately and respectfully and do not mind the mistake, they will understand and appreciate your consideration.