Dodge these! – Common Email Marketing Mistakes

Technology is a pretty strange achievement. On one hand it gives us never-before-seen-luxury and power to accomplish the most challenging of tasks in the quickest of times and on the other it throws even more challenges in our ‘in’ box that greatly test our endurance levels.

Businesses today are fighting tooth and nail to stay afloat in an increasingly volatile and crowded market environment. Though technology has offered numerous ways for businesses to achieve set goals, impediments to incessant growth arise in the form of competition, power of choice for customers and overuse of technology itself. Product and service innovations aside, organizations have to come up with countless unique and catchy marketing campaigns that will help them stay ahead in the rat race.

Digital marketing has assumed great significance in recent times and is also incredibly effective and beneficial in lot many ways. Email marketing campaigns are one among the easiest to run, or so it seems. As with other campaigns, mistakes are made and lessons are learnt. Since time and financial constraints steer business ships, it becomes essential to find ways to avoid these mistakes. Though campaigns are specific to individual businesses, there are few common mistakes that can take away the shine from any email marketing. Here are a few you can dodge when planning for one.

Disregarding sender identification

Businesses should realize that people receive humongous amounts of emails in a day. Being bombarded with so much information, it is more likely that they will skip through the majority without even opening them. Unfortunately the one mistake that businesses shouldn’t commit is the one many do. Not identifying themselves as senders causes customers to drag the email right to the bin as it seems anonymous and untrustworthy at best.

Subject-content incongruence

Similarly underestimating the importance of the subject line is a strict no-no. A subject line should serve the purpose of telling the customer what to expect within the mail but in a catchy and alluring way. Incongruence between the subject and the content of the email might increase open rates but will ultimately end up diminishing the click-through rates. One should not be surprised if the unsubscribe rates hit the roof too.

Mass campaign without target segregation

In the over enthusiasm and quest for reaching out to the maximum number of individuals, businesses should not lose focus on the actual target audience. Segregating the enormous list in hand is a demanding task but a necessary one. Targeted email campaigns will not only ensure appropriateness in emails but also increased returns.

Missing Call to action and unsubscribe link

Patience isn’t a virtue anymore, so it is vital to capture the attention of the customer in the first few lines of the email. It is necessary to create a concise and lucid content which also includes a well-defined call-to-action element. Though unsubscribe links cannot be put under the ‘missing’ column currently, convoluted links requiring customers to go through multiple procedures will only end up racking their nerves. Negative word of mouth or mistrust is hard to erase.

Failing to monitor impact

Not all email campaigns will be successful. Some might fail due to irrelevant subject, others due to contents and still others due to lack of targeting. It is essential to effectively monitor the campaign and try out variations with respect to the different elements of an email to gauge the impact. Failing to do so will only result in utter waste of time and resources.

Inconsistency

Email marketing should not be restricted to specific events alone. Memories are not to be trusted. It is necessary to form unique and enduring bonds with customers over time through a series of well-thought-out campaigns on trending subjects just to stay in their memory.

Extremes in Personalisation

Too much or too little of personalisation can cause great losses. While including every other customer data collected, some of which might even be incorrect, can turn off potential customers; too little of the same can give an impression of spam. It is necessary to arrive at particular data that are accurate and that which can be used in the campaign.

Going back to the point of technology spawning luxury, smartphones have changed the way businesses operate. It is also vital for marketers to take into account multi-device compatible email campaigns to achieve a higher rate of success. Unsure of how to go about a campaign? Service providers and consultants exist just for this purpose; do not hesitate to utilize them when needed.