Email Marketing Mistakes to Avoid
Most of us have been sending and receiving emails for years and allthough almost everyone understands how to use email that does not mean it is the same as understanding email marketing. In fact email and marketing via email are not at all related. As you are thinking about how to improve (or start) your email marketing efforts here are some common mistakes:
1. Trying to Email Market Without an ESP (Email Service Provider)
So what is wrong with signing on to your email account with AT&T and loading your “To” Field with all of the contacts you want to reach out to? For starters this violates the CAN-SPAM Act and can quickly get you blocked or your account cancelled by your Internet Service Provider but it can also get your domain blacklisted by the number of blacklisting services to prevent SPAM. This means your customer or potential customer will never even see your email and even worse – you may NEVER reach them!
2. Not Knowing Your Recipients Gender
If your product promotion targets a specific gender you need to know who you are sending the email to. There is nothing worse than sending an email targeted for a women’s product to a man and having them subsequently unsubscribe from your emails or worse disengage from your company all together.
3. Too Many Images/Receipients Don’t See the Images
A big no-no are image based messages. Where the entire text and graphics are combined into an email renderable image type and sent out. MANY email recipients block images initially by default of their email client, which renders your marketing completely innefective.
Remember one little rule email marketing rule: Images should add, not dominate.
4. Not Having an Unsubscribe Option
Did you know that it is the LAW for you to have a clear way for people to unsubscribe from your email list? If not you also didn’t know that not having this is also a very fast way to get you blacklisted. Now while you probably don’t want to make your unsubscribe option too inviting this doesn’t mean that you can avoid the unsubscribe option.
5. Landing In Spam/Junk Folders
There are a lot of ways that emails can end up in Spam/Junk folders here are a few ways to avoid them:
- 1. Don’t get blacklisted
- 2. Images should add, not dominate – usually images lead to lower quality scores in the eyes of email firewalls
- 3. Have a text only option of your email
- 4. Do not include an attachment – anything that looks like a virus will be considered one
Marketing Takeaway
At the end of the day effective email marketing should drive valuable traffic back to your website. You cannot convert readers into leads and customers just by using an email, can you? No, they have to come back to your website and fill out a form or some other way of connecting. Sure, someone could respond to your email saying that they are ready to buy today, but let’s be honest, how often that will that really happen? Instead focus a sending compelling articles or offers to relevant groups of your e-mail list and provide clear opportunities for them to convert into leads and customers.
EMAIL MARKETING THAT GETS THROUGH TO YOUR CUSTOMERS- CONSTANT CONTACT
Don’t get blacklisted. Go with a reliable email marketing provider that works every day to insure they are whitelisted and helps you stay out of SPAM folders – GET CONSTANT CONTACT!