8 Email Marketing Mistakes that are Costing You
Building a profitable list is more than just the size of your
list. It’s more than just numbers. It’s about the connection and
relationship you build with your subscribers that make or break
your business. Here are 8 email marketing mistakes that may be
costing you.
1. You’re too boring. This is number one because I honestly feel
that it is the most common mistake. When you finish your email
just read the darn thing. If you find it boring, then you have a
problem. Reading anything you write and describing it as boring
means the person reading the email would be ready to fall
asleep. It might take a lot of work but try to take the boring
email and completely redefine it. Make it compelling,
interesting, funny, etc… When you master this, the email will
manage to embody several of these. It is usually better to just
shoot for one.
2. Burying the message: In journalism, the most important or
most interesting aspect of an article is referred to as your
“lead.” When you write an article and put that “lead” at the end
or somewhere other than the top, it is referred to as “burying
your lead.” Do not “bury your lead.” Put it as close to the top
of the article as you humanly can. By doing this, the reader
will continue reading and continue to follow you as you progress
through your work.
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3. Personalization failure. If you have received an email saying
“Dear _______ “ then you know exactly what this feels like. Each
and every email you make for an important client should be
directly tailored toward them. Showing your interest in them
invites them to do the same.
4. All the solicitation emails. Perhaps the most frustrating
thing in the world is to constantly receive emails telling you
to buy the same product or purchase a product that has no
special deal attached to it. Never do this to your clients. Send
them interesting emails, emails that tell them about current
deals, or emails telling them about things to come in the
future. Sending them solicitation emails will annoy them and
make them feel that you are only after their money.
5. Stating the obvious: You are wasting your time when you send
out an email that includes basic knowledge that everyone on your
list or in your niche already knows. It is fine if it is going
somewhere or pointing them to some elaborate point, but reading
boring information they already know is likely to frustrate them
and encourage them to delete the message.
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6. Not being precise: Connecting several points in an email and
putting them together to spark interest and promote excitement
from the reader is fine, but when it comes to selling the
opposite is true. Do not try to push two separate products in
the same email. Each product deserves its space and description
so pushing them together can be more trouble than it’s worth.
More importantly, it creates an unneeded battle in the reader’s
head as to which product they need more or which product they
deserve at this point in time.
7. The wrong time vs. the right time: It is always a good idea
to explore the responses you receive at different times. For
example, you might send an email every Thursday at 9:00 a.m. and
receive very little feedback, while your email at 9:00 p.m the
same day gets tons of feedback. The amount of feedback depends
on your audience, and you will only find the perfect time when
you gradually shift from hour to hour.
8. Inspire some action. A huge problem for any business comes
when they fail to encourage an action based response from their
audience. For example, saying “click here” to “learn more” is
like telling someone to act for an unknown reason. Saying “click
here to fix the problem” is better than using the words “learn
more.” The goal is to make sure they know what they are getting
when they click.
To Your Success,
Erlend Solvberg