Email marketing can be your business’ secret weapon, grabbing customers’ attention and generating leads and sales—if you do it right. When emails fall flat, they clog inboxes and go unopened, wasting precious marketing dollars.
In marketing (as in life), it helps to know what not to do. Here are eight of the biggest and most common mistakes in email marketing, why you should avoid them, and the solution.
Sending Too Many Emails
Your customers’ inboxes are personal spaces that users carefully guard. If they are frustrated, annoyed, or feeling spammed, they’ll delete emails, leave them unopened, or—at worst—unsubscribe. Be respectful of their time and space and limit the frequency of your messages.
Solution: Pick a regular cadence, such as weekly or monthly, and deliver your emails consistently. If you send additional emails beyond your schedule, limit yourself to only the most critical of marketing messages.
Not Emailing Enough — Or Ever
When customers provide their email addresses, it’s marketing gold, giving your business a direct line to their phone, tablet, and/or computer. Too often, we see businesses collect email addresses and then put them on a shelf (digitally speaking). Don’t waste your best assets and forget to email!
Solution: Email your customers regularly with news, information, and offers, and you’ll stay top of mind and boost conversion. Pick a regular cadence to keep yourself on track. Start slow with monthly emails, and increase your frequency from there.
Repeat Messages
Too often, email marketing takes a back seat to other platforms and tools. Marketers sometimes play “set it and forget it” with emails and recycle the same messages several times or simply update a previous email. If you repeat yourself (especially often), customers will tune out and hit delete before they even read it.
Solution: Keep users engaged by varying your messages with promotions, highlights, features, and offers. Stick to one key message per email.
Expecting Immediate Results
Email marketing is a long game, so keep your expectations in check. Some of your messages may not get opened, and that’s okay. Remember that email marketing is a long game, and it may take time for your efforts to pay off.
Solution: Send regular emails and analyze your open rates, conversions, and engagement regularly. Make adjustments after you have some steady data in hand.
Missing The Welcome Workflow
When a customer signs up for your email list, you should have a workflow that sends several messages on a regular schedule.
Depending on your email platform and website, you can enable other workflows based on user behavior, including when they haven’t opened several emails in a row or if they leave something in their online shopping cart.
If you skip the workflow, you miss opportunities to increase conversion and stay top-of-mind.
Solution: Configure your campaigns with advanced workflows to stay in touch with users and boost engagement.
Skipping Drip Campaigns
If you’re sending the same emails to all of your customers, it’s a big mistake.
Digital marketing allows businesses to utilize “drip marketing,” where pre-written messages go out to a group of customers based on their activity. You can follow up with a special offer, extra information, and product suggestions.
For example, if you are running a contest or giveaway, registrants should receive a “thank you” email that confirms their entry. A few days after that, you can send another email with a special offer. A few days later, you can send another email with a different offer or marketing message. When the contest is over, you can send an email to non-winners that contains a coupon for a product or service — which can increase conversions.
If you skip drip marketing, your campaigns can feel generic and have limited impact.
Solution: Send personalized follow-ups based on users’ activities and preferences to maximize responses.
Missing Or Confusing Calls To Action
When customers open your emails, you have a few precious moments of their attention. Use it wisely. Too often, emails are rambling or unfocused, leaving readers thinking, “What’s the point of that?” Effective marketing needs a simple message with a call to action so users understand your intent and their next step.
Solution: Every email should have a singular, direct call to action that leads readers to take the next step. The email’s message should be simple and focused on leading to that CTA.
Email Blasting Your Entire Audience
It might be tempting to blast one singular message to your entire database and call it a day. Don’t do it! Generic emails are ineffective and a waste of your marketing dollars and efforts.
One of email marketing’s superpowers is the ability to deliver targeted messages to particular audiences. If you have an effective program for collecting first party data, you can use that information to create segmented audiences based on behavior and demographics. You can then customize the marketing message for each audience.
Here are a few examples:
- A business with multiple locations can send an email about a sale at one location to users who live in the closest zip codes
- Categorize users based on their last purchase date, if possible. Send emails to audience members with special offers when they are close to the re-purchase phase of the buying cycle
- Categorize users based on previous purchases, and offer deals or messages for similar items
- Send emails to recent buyers encouraging them to leave reviews on your Google Business page, which helps other consumers find your business when they’re searching online
The trouble is that many marketers skip that step and miss out on quality engagement opportunities.
Solution: Dig into your first-party data, create segmented groups, and send them customized emails to maximize your efforts.
The Bottom Line: Email Marketing for the Win
Email marketing is a tried-and-true option in your marketing toolbox when used correctly and strategically. Your customers will be more responsive, and you’ll get more bang for your buck.
Federated Media’s team of marketing experts can help design a comprehensive multimedia marketing strategy, including email marketing, that generates high-quality leads and boosts business. Reach out to us to get started.
