5 Biggest Mistakes Email Marketers Make

Did you know that email marketing is 40x better at acquiring new customers than social media? It’s true. As Research Director at Litmus, Chad White writes, “[email marketing] is the channel where people want to receive communication from brands. Consistently for many years now, the number one channel where people want to hear from brands — it’s not Snapchat, it’s not Twitter — it’s email.”

Therefore, a top-notch email marketing campaign is essential for growing any business. We’ve compiled a list of the five biggest mistakes that email marketers make so that you can avoid them and derive more revenue out of your email campaigns.

#1 Sending emails too often

One of the biggest mistakes that email marketers make is sending too many emails. A survey found that the #1 reason why people unsubscribe from emails is that they are emailed too often; moreover, it shows that people prefer receiving less frequent emails that include valuable and informative content. In fact, a survey from Marketing Sherpa shows that subscribers prefer receiving emails at least once a week or once a month; therefore, f you’re sending out emails daily, you’re probably going overboard and may risk alienating your customers. Don’t  give them a reason to categorize your emails as spam. Instead–put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Think about the vast number of emails they are probably receiving every day–they are not just from your company.

#2 Neglecting a call-to-action link

Another one of the biggest mistakes that email marketers make is neglecting to include a call-to-action link. Every email you send should include a call to action.  It should include links to a landing page that continues the message within the email. Without a call to action, your email viewers won’t know what to do next. After all, the whole purpose of sending the email is to get them do something else, whether it be purchasing your product or setting up an appointment. Campaign Monitor provides a good list of call-to-action examples and offers a few useful call-to-action tips.

#3 Taking the one-size-fits-all approach

Customers are humans, which means they are not all the same, and therefore, cannot be treated the same way. The mistake that many marketers make in email campaigns is sending the same blanket email to all their customers. Personalization is always the way to go when it comes email marketing campaigns. According to Campaign Monitor, marketers who use personalization in their subject lines see 26% more opens. So, the next time you send an email, try to get personal.

#4 Sending lengthy emails

We’ve all received an interminable email that instantly makes us want to dump it in the trash. It’s another big mistake email marketers make – they send out emails that are too long. Marketing emails should make the point quickly and should be easy to read. It should not take your readers several minutes to read your email. If you want to provide your customers with more information on a topic, consider directing them to a specific page on your site where they can read the information in its entirety.  That also means that they might take the time to explore your site further, which can only help your business.

#5 Forgetting to optimize emails for different platforms

There is another big mistake that email marketers make – they forget to preview their messages on different devices and browsers before pushing the send button. According to Nate Kristy, the vice president of marketing at Automational, “Outlook, Gmail, Yahoo, etc., all display emails slightly differently, and all look different on the desktop.,” A study by Litmus in 2015 showed that the greatest number of emails were opened on mobile devices. To avoid the dreaded trash folder, make sure that your emails render correctly, Kristy suggests using an “Email service or marketing automation provider that has responsive design technology built in.” It will definitely help your email campaign in the long run.

This is the age of the customer, and you need to tailor every marketing effort toward keeping your customers interested in your brand. Sending personalized, thoughtful, optimized emails is one way to do that.

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