The 5 Most Common Mistakes in Email Marketing

Building an email relationship with your target audience is a limited opportunity that is extremely competitive, and there is only so much time available. Because of this, it is critical to get email marketing correctly. For that relationship to come to an end, all it takes is for your consumer to make a single simple click and select “unsubscribe” from your mailing list.

So, how can you ensure that your email contact with your target audience will survive for a long time? Let’s take a look at what’s going on.

1. There is a lack of individualization

Email marketing in the modern era does not necessarily imply the creation of additional content or the distribution of an excessive number of emails. Better results can be achieved by more efficient workflows and sending a reduced volume of email messages just to the appropriate segmented lists of subscribers.

Don’t send from an email address marked as “Do Not Respond” – When you send an email from a No-Reply or DoNotReply email address, you come across as unwelcoming, uninviting, and unfriendly. Instead of choosing the latter option, it is critical to send your emails from a customized address that your subscribers can respond to, rather than a generic one. Incorporating social media profiles, phone numbers, websites, and other relevant information into the email footer can also be beneficial to the end viewer and foster a more open environment for communication.

Create List Segments – Segmenting your list is another crucial factor to keep in mind. One of the most common mistakes made in the early days of email was the failure to split mailing lists properly. These days, individuals are tired with generic one size fits all marketing, and they are more likely to interact with content that is tailored to their specific demographics, purchase habits, and previous activities. Despite the fact that roughly 94 percent of marketers agree that customization is a key component of email marketing strategies, only approximately 5 percent of businesses take advantage of this possibility. List segmentation, to put it bluntly, is something that everyone knows they should be doing, but only a small percentage of people actually carry out this step.

2. A bad reputation as a sender

Email deliverability and sender reputation are critical metrics that must be evaluated on a regular basis to ensure that emails are delivered. You may swiftly build these up and optimize your metrics, but you can also completely demolish them in a single second as a result of a poorly executed email marketing campaign.

When it comes to email analytics and monitoring, things may get difficult, but having clear benchmarks that represent best practices makes it a whole lot easier to make sense of the information. For example, email service providers consider a 95 percent delivery rate to be satisfactory. In general, bounce rates shouldn’t be more than 3 percent, and the recommended “safe-zone” for spam rates is in the range of 0.8-0.10 percent.

When it comes to improving your sender reputation and maintaining good metrics, sending high-value and quality emails is the most effective method of ensuring that your subscribers actually open them. All of the other best practices for email, deliverability, and sender reputation are technical in nature, and they are designed to help you make your campaigns appear authentic to computers, email service providers, and spam filters by making them appear legitimate to them. Nonetheless, your ultimate goal is to appear trustworthy and authentic to your subscribers, and providing relevant and enriching emails is the quickest and most effective approach to retain a positive sender reputation in the industry.

3. Emails that are very complicated

When it comes to email marketing, the key is to keep things as simple as possible. Try to keep your content focused on a single, resounding message that is directly related to your subject line. If you intend to include more offers in the email body, you can do so at a later time; nevertheless, it is vital to remember that the header section and introduction should be the primary focus of the email. Another key consideration is the speed with which pages load and their suitability for mobile devices. Emails that are too long and do not adapt frustrate the recipient, which has a negative impact on return on investment (ROI), open rates, engagement rates, and sales.

Every email should have a call to action that is clear and succinct. There are many different types of calls to actions that are effective for email marketing. Encouraging subscribers to make a purchase or asking them to follow a certain social media account are just a few examples. Avoid sending emails that do not contain a call to action, as this does not provide value to your audience and may be interpreted as spam by recipients.

4. The message has been marked as spam

Any emails that are marked as spam or phishing mail by one of your subscribers are automatically moved from the recipient’s inbox to their spam bin. This rule will be applied to all future emails, resulting in your subscriber no longer engaging with, opening, or reading any of your marketing emails in the future.

Don’t use words or characters that have been banned – Time spent learning about default spam filters and their search criteria (keywords, symbols, and email habits) is essential to any successful email marketing campaign. For example, some commonly used words and symbols that are extensively used but are also known to trigger spam filters are the terms “free” and “exclamation mark (!)”, which are particularly problematic when used in the subject line of an email. When the word “free” is used correctly and appropriately in context, it will not raise suspicion or cause your email to be labelled as spam. Just make sure you’ve done your study on what words or characters would set off these filters, as well as how to utilize them efficiently while avoiding concerns with Bulk or Spam mail.

5. Obtain User Consent

Another common blunder is failing to obtain marketing permissions before sending someone emails, particularly newsletters, which is a common occurrence. Surprisingly, email is the only method of marketing communication that, according to the law, requires the end-user or customer to provide their agreement to receive email messages. (Under the Can-Spam Act.) It’s pretty simple: there is only one correct (and legal) method of obtaining an email address, and that is to just ask for one!

Employing a clear unsubscribe button is important since consumers who subscribe to your emails will occasionally decide to unsubscribe after getting a few of them. This is not a problem as long as they are able to locate the button with ease! It should be as simple and straightforward as possible for your customers to unsubscribe from your marketing correspondence. If someone no longer want to receive your offers and material, hiding the unsubscribe link will not magically make them want to purchase your product or become a member of your ideal audience, as you may believe. In reality, these email behaviors are more likely than not to result in your account being blocked or reported as spam at some point.