Nine e-mail marketing mistakes that will cost your business

E-mail is an integral part of any digital marketing campaign.  Here are nine e-mail marketing mistakes that will cost your business:

Recipients

1. Sending emails to unwilling recipients amounts to spam. Maintain the integrity of your mailing list to improve email deliverability and performance.

2. Lumping all your contacts into one big “To:” list prevents you from increasing your click through rates. By cleverly segmenting your email list, you have the advantage of being able to modify your message to tie in with the interests of each list.

Subject line

3. This is where you make your first impression – and first impressions count. While you do want a strong subject line using excitement, humor, or anticipation to tempt your recipients to open; avoid spammy words and phrases such as “Urgent”, “Call Now!”, “Free”, or “Last Chance”.

Form

4. Including visual elements of your brand such as your logo, color scheme, and relevant graphics reminds readers who you are. Be careful to avoid too many distracting elements which may take attention away from your content marketing.

5. Don’t lay out your mail in too wide a format. Your readers do not want to have to use the horizontal scrollbar. You want to keep it as easy to read as possible; bearing in mind that mobile email is a rapidly growing channel.

6. Avoid losing your audience. Use sections and signposts to clearly escort them through your content in a logical – and convertible – way.

Content

7. Overly promotional, spammy, and demanding emails are a no-no. When it comes to email marketing, sharing bite-sized chunks of relevant information is what your prospects want. Ensure that your content is appealing, germane, and thought-provoking. Above all, keep your readers’ attention by fulfilling a need they have. It’s not about you, it’s about them.

8. Dull content is more likely to lull your prospects to sleep than get them fired up about your latest email. As part of your email marketing strategy, be sure to include visually engaging images. Always use the alt. tag to describe the picture in case the image doesn’t display.

9. More is not more, so steer clear of flashing GIFS and other animated images.

For more information and advice on how we can be of service to you, please contact us today.

WSI was founded in 1995 and is an innovative digital marketing agency with offices in over 80 countries. We’ve spent over 20 years helping more than 100,000 companies and large global brands unlock the full potential of their business by leveraging the Internet and its many unrecognized opportunities. We’d be happy to help do the same for you and consult on your digital marketing strategy.  Simply give us a call or get in touch with us at rknutsen@wsiebizsolutions.net to learn more.