At teclan we are constantly encouraging our Digital Marketing customers to send out marketing emails for their online business. It is still by far one of the most cost effective forms of marketing available to online retailers.
We thought it may be valuable to outline some of the common mistakes we have seen companies and individuals making when performing their own email marketing campaigns.
Some common mistakes:
- Frequency – some companies sending five emails a week, or worse – one a month! It is critial that you monitor feedback from your email campaigns. Give different options on ‘opt in’ sections. Monitor unsubscribers, has this increased? Is there less engagement when they are sent out more frequently? Do you know your optimum send frequency?
- Poor grammar – ie your vs you’re – people’s eyes will be drawn to the mistakes, it looks sloppy and unprofessional. Check it and ask someone else to proof read it for you. Do not rely on the spell checker and read it out loud to see if it sounds right.
- Links that don’t work – Nothing frustrates a potential customer more than when they click on a link and are presented with a terrible 404/page not found error. Check your links again, check and get someone else to check by sending a test email to their computer. Give your customers a clear path to what you want them to see.
- Too much clutter – Do not overload the viewers eyes with visual noise. Emails with lots of graphics and loads of information will lose people’s attention quickly. Information needs to be seen at a glance for a person to decide whether they want to see more or just delete it. To avoid this, make your calls to action simple, big, bold and colourful. Keep the main call to action above the fold.
- No call to action – it sounds obvious, but there needs to be a clear, concise call to action, a purpose to the email. Be explicit, direct, tell them what you want them to do. This will keep people engaged with your message.
- Emails that are too long – again this goes back to clutter. Keep it short and sweet. A message where you have to scroll and scroll down to get the message looks unprofessional and people will lose interest. Assess responses from different lengths of email.
- No value – “a valueless email is the bane of all marketing” , Christopher S Penn, What Counts. How can you solve a problem for your audience, make it about them, not you. Create a relationship with your subscribers. Sending a valuable email is one of the best things you can do in email marketing.
- Not using an email service provider. People can tell if they have been BCC’s on a mass Outlook email. Using an email service provider will look more professional, have better deliver ability, help with SPAM avoidance, strategy assistance and will provide analytical data.
Following the above guidelines when you build your own email marketing campaign will help the success of your emails and increase your conversion rates.
Source:
teclan ltd send out up to 500,000 emails per month on behalf of their Digital Marketing customers and it is from analysis of the data provided by these volumes that quantified recommendations are made.