By 2022, it is expected that there would be 4.3 billion email users worldwide. With that kind of reach, it’s only imperative to consider and implement effective email marketing strategies for your business. Another good reason: it delivers high ROI, giving a return of $32 for every $1 spent on it. Also, it drives traffic and boosts sales.
However, it’s also relatively easy to commit mistakes when doing email marketing. This short email marketing guide can help you review and correct these errors quickly.
Table of Contents
Email Marketing Fails and How to Correct Them
1. Starting email marketing late and missing out on new leads
Despite the overwhelming statistics regarding email marketing as mentioned earlier, there are still businesses who don’t see the benefit from doing it early on and will instead put their efforts into other digital marketing disciplines like social media or search engine optimization. While both are no doubt effective and helpful, there’s still value in email marketing that you shouldn’t overlook.
To enjoy what email marketing has to offer fully—including a collection of new leads, deploy your campaign as soon as you launch your site. Gather leads with help from tools like the WordPress exit-intent opt-in plugin. In line with timing, you should also be wary of when to send out emails. Studies have shown that there are specific days and times when campaigns have the most impact.
2. Failing to segment subscribers
Sending emails to everyone on your email list every time is never a good idea unless you’re aiming to lose subscribers or end up in spam. A former marketer for Shopify, Tommy Walker, says that “Not all customers or readers are equal, so don’t treat them as such.” The right thing to do, then, is to segment your subscribers.
Organize them into smaller, more focused groups based on parameters like purchasing patterns, engagement history, geographic location, income, gender, or some other unifying characteristic. You can collect data through surveys, on-site forms, and other methods. Collect as much data as possible to better segment your list.
Segmentation is also useful when determining the kind of content you should send to a particular group. Content should be as targeted as possible, so “blasting†is not the key. Instead, consider using the AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action) formula and provide the right information to make the audience move through the sales funnel.
3. Not testing
Often, marketers tend to go with their gut feel. This can be dangerous—email marketing, as with any other discipline, requires research and testing. Sending emails without collecting and analyzing data can hurt your campaign’s performance.
You need to test different aspects of your email marketing and any new ideas you have for it. Running A/B tests is the most common way, and tools like Hello Bar and OptinMonster can help you with that. Build and test different elements like the subject line, preview text, forms, CTAs, content, promotional offers, and many others. Look at their performance to make the right strategies.
4. Non-responsive emails
Perhaps one of the most important emerging trends in email marketing (and other disciplines, for that matter) is the dominance of mobile. Chances are a majority of your subscribers would be reading your email on their smartphone or tablet, so you can’t pass up this opportunity. Don’t alienate any group based on the kind of device they use to read emails—consider all of them, most especially mobile.
Send out responsive emails—you can use tools like Litmus to see how it looks like when received by users of different email clients. In terms of design, avoid long blocks of text. You can use images. But don’t rely on it heavily as some email apps don’t automatically show pictures.
5. Using “noreply†email addresses
Several companies utilize the “no-reply†email address, but do limit it to emails that their customers don’t need to reply to (for instance, a confirmation email of account registration). But, for email marketing campaigns, using this address is a big no-no—this means missing out on engagement opportunities and not being able to address user concerns immediately.
Of course, these engagement opportunities may eventually lead to a sale, which further highlights the importance of using the right email address in your campaigns. Use a shared email address that users can reply to, and redirect their replies to your support team or any other department that can address it. As Drip founder Rob Walling states, “People want to interact with people, not mailboxes.â€
6. Too many or too few emails
The average person reportedly receives 121 emails in a day, so you can’t blame people for unsubscribing to a few when they feel bombarded. You don’t want to be one of those unsubscribed, but you still want to convert a user if possible.
It’s easy to underestimate or overestimate the frequency of your emails, which is why you need enough data about your subscribers. You can have them submit or set their email frequency preferences, then make a segment for it accordingly. You can also survey them, or look at the standard frequency as per studies, which is one every two weeks for subscriber engagement, or at least once a week.
7. Inconsistency in sending
In terms of schedule, some marketers send out emails sporadically, while there are those who send too often. Failing to set a schedule or being inconsistent with your sending times may result in readers not really knowing when to expect content from you, ultimately making them lose interest and forget about your business.
Like in the case of frequency, there should be a balance. The goal is to keep your brand relevant but without resorting to spam. Set and follow a strict schedule, and having an Editorial Calendar can be a tool for that. You can also consider email drip so you can stay in touch for some time.
These mistakes are just the common pitfalls you may encounter. There may be more out there that this guide was not able to cover, but don’t be discouraged if these have happened to your campaigns before. Learn from it, do better, and apply the necessary changes to make your email marketing efforts work for you.
Featured image source: Freepik