As the technology is advancing it allows marketers to gather fresh leads online while also improving customer retention. But many marketers fail in their email marketing campaigns which damages their reputation to their customers or audience. Some errors are obvious and a major misstep could instantly negate all the hard work you’ve put into your email campaign. So if you’re ready to take your email strategy to the next level, review and correct these eight mistakes that should be avoided at all cost:

• Writing poor subject lines

Subject lines are often overlooked in the email drafting process, when in reality it is quite possibly one of the most important elements of marketing mail. Penning poor subject lines can lead to lower open rates. So, write short, sweet, professional and personalized subject lines. With subscriber’s email inboxes getting flooded with a lot of enticing offers or info, it’s important to make your message stand out and get opened.

• Not having a clear call to action

Being engaging is important, but you also need to make sure that customers are given every opportunity to do business with you. So without a call to action, you’re leaving it up to your audience to figure out what you want them to do which sometimes is frustrating for them. So make sure all of your emails have a clear purpose, bring value and include at least one clear call to action (CTA). Don’t overwhelm your reader with tons of CTA’s which might turn them off to click on.

• Including too many stock images and graphics

While using stock images and graphics to make your content more interesting it can have a negative effect. Which might lead to some recipients to block email images. When you send too many photos, you’re pretty much sending a blank email. Users may delete such messages or even consider them spam. So go easy on images and make sure that all the truly important messages come through somewhere in a plain text, so your readers won’t miss them.

• Dismissing mobile optimization

Today half of all the emails are opened on a mobile device. Crafting an email from the computer, many marketers forget that most of their subscribers now have switched to mobile devices where the formatting might not be the same. Smartphones are by far the most popular device for all ages, which means that the majority of your customer’s base is primarily using their phone to research, browse, read, interact and purchase.  If you email isn’t optimized for mobiles, then you are losing potential opportunities and risking high unsubscription rates, so make your email mobile friendly by all means. Also one can use mobile -friendly HTML email templates and test the final copy on your smartphones before hitting the send button.

• Not letting your subscriber’s reply

No subscriber looks forward to receiving email from an organization that won’t let them reply. Emails that fail to let readers respond and ask questions is a turn off to the audience and they may look for a more personalized experience where brands are interested in hearing back from their customers. So make sure that you serve your newsletter through email that lets the reader communicate back.  Also make sure to always send emails from an email address your subscribers are familiar with and to which they can reply if needed.

• Overloading subscriber’s inboxes with too many emails

Some businesses make the mistake of sending too many emails to their customers. Sending your customers with emails after email leaves them annoyed and more likely to unsubscribe. Mailing your contacts too often frustrates them while contacting them after a long absence is equally bad for your business. So one should have a mailing frequency, consider the nature of your business and the customer’s expectation as primary factors.

• Neglecting to welcome subscribers

If someone signs up for your email list, it’s a mistake to not immediately welcome them. One can set things up so your email marketing platform knows to automatically send a welcome message right away. Welcome emails should be triggered immediately after sign-up. This is because they have highest open rates compared to every other email category, so if you are not sending them, it is a missed opportunity.

• Not segmenting your subscribers list and personalizing your emails

If you are not segmenting your contacts based on their unique preferences, it is a waste of a lot of money. The objective of email marketing is to maintain close contact with your customers. By segmenting your email list, you can make sure that you send emails that are relevant to your subscribers. To avoid such email marketing mistake, take advantage of email segmentation. Based on both the demographic and psychographic data you’ve gathered; you can ensure that the right people are getting the right message at the right time. Not all personalized emails have to be individually customized, but some level of personalization should be done to improve sales, open rates and click rates

CONCLUSION

Email marketing is still very effective and thriving everyone needs to make this a priority. Avoiding these 8 common email marketing mistakes will take time and experimentation. However, you can build better, more effective campaigns that will deliver on your goals.