Email is an important marketing tool but it’s not always easy to get it right. Even the most veteran marketers make costly mistakes with their campaigns. Whether it’s something as simple as spelling and grammar errors, to larger problems with unsolicited emails, it’s important that you identify and resolve the issues before all your hard work ends up in someone’s trash folder.
We’ve put together some of the most common mistakes that marketers commit, along with a few tips on how best to avoid them:
It should go without saying that every single marketing campaign needs high-quality copy. Unfortunately, even the most seasoned marketers make the simplest mistakes.
From misspelling marketing phrases to muddling the placement of commas in a sentence, these kinds of errors may be common but they can cause big problems. Attention to detail and dedication to your craft are the qualities of a great marketer, so anything less will not only affect your campaigns but the credibility of your company.
Obviously no-one is perfect and mistakes do happen, but don’t let it become a regular feature. Before you send the email out, give it a read through. Better yet, give it a couple of read throughs. Try leaving the email overnight and returning to it with fresh eyes. You’d kick yourself if you lost a customer because you spelt it “markting”.
Need help with your copywriting? Contact our marketing wordsmiths today and see if they can help.
Images are a key part of any email campaign. If used properly they can enhance your campaign and the reputation of your company; if not, you risk ending up in the spam folder.
If your copy is well written, the last thing you need is to be let down by the images you choose. It is worth spending a little extra on high resolution stock images to avoid sending out blurred or inappropriate images to your customers.
Take the time to review your output. Are they relevant for the email and your company? Are they accurately sized? Are you sending too many? Too many promotional images may make you look like a spam email and you may make it to the spam folder without your customer even laying eyes on it.
Your tone is how you communicate who you are and what customers can expect from you. When it comes to your email campaigns, it’s important that this tone is clear and consistent.
Whether you’re a gaming company or a funeral directors, your company’s tone of voice and personality are important in shaping your relationship with customers. For example, a funeral directors’ website and print campaigns will likely assume a formal tone in line with the nature of the business. So it would be a bit confusing and a little disrespectful to adopt a tongue-in-cheek sense of humour in emails. This change in tact may put customers off and even lose the company subscribers.
When it comes to your tone of voice, consistency is paramount. Your email campaigns are an extension of your company so show off who you are (not who you’re not).
This was an issue before GDPR, and now it’s fundamental. Put simply, sending unsolicited emails is a losing strategy.
In addition to the legal repercussions on the back of GDPR, sending out unsolicited emails is terrible for your company’s reputation. People who have never shown interest in your company or have opted out of communication with you are highly unlikely to buy something. An average person who works in an office receives 121 emails each day. They won’t waste time checking unwanted messages.
Instead of focussing on people who don’t want you, focus on those who do. Grow your email list through an email sign-up form on your website. Talk to our marketing experts for help.
It doesn’t matter how much time and effort you put into your email campaigns, some people will want to unsubscribe. As frustrating as that is, it is important that you let them.
Many marketers believe that delaying the unsubscribe process will retain subscribers. This is not only incorrect but hugely damaging to their companies’ reputations. If your contact says “no”, it’s important you respect their wishes. By all means, ask for feedback. Asking unsubscribers to fill out a brief survey will help you determine what went wrong and how you can do better.
Hiding the unsubscribe button or harassing them with even more emails will not change their mind but instead lead to more ill feeling in the long run.
The best practices for email marketing are those which put your customer first. Keep this in mind when creating and sending your email campaigns and you will not only avoid the spam folder but continue to grow your subscription list.
Enjoyed this blog? Check out part 2 as well as these others from our vaults:
