7 E-mail Marketing Mistakes to Avoid
October 21, 2009 By Joe Boland, Assistant Editor, Target Marketing
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Virtually every marketer uses e-mail, but not everyone uses it well. In fact, there are several common mistakes marketers make in their e-mail communications, and in its white paper, Top 20 Mistakes Made by Email Marketers and How You Can Avoid Them this Holiday Season, e-mail marketing solutions provider Listrak tackles ways to combat these mistakes.
• Batch and Blast
“If you’re still batching and blasting your e-mail messages to every member of your list,” writes author Megan Ouellet, Listrak’s director of marketing, “it’s time to put that bad practice to rest.” She suggests using event-triggered messaging to build automated e-mail conversations or dynamic content to ensure the messaging is relevant and of interest to recipients.
• Not Sending a Welcome Message
Sending a welcome message immediately after recipients opt in has two major benefits, Ouellet says:
“Stop thinking of email as a cheap way of blasting out whatever new message comes to mind and start planning strategic email campaigns that work together to deliver the right offers at the right times,” writes Ouellet.
• Putting Important Messaging and Calls to Action Below the Fold
Design your e-mails so the most important messages and your calls to action are visible and prominent without scrolling, otherwise, they risk going unseen.
• Sending People to the Wrong Landing Page
Consumers look to e-mail for its ease of use, and they expect you to make the offers in your e-mail efforts easy to find once they click through to your site. That means sending them to the right landing page, because if consumers have to work to find your offer, chances are they’ll simply click elsewhere.
• Not Including Social Links
A great benefit of e-mail is that it easily can be shared with others. Adding “Share with Your Network” links for social media sites gives recipients the chance to pass along your messages, thus reaching a wider audience.
• Treating E-mail as a Separate Channel
E-mail should be part of an integrated marketing strategy that works in concert with social media, direct marketing, Web site, search and all your other channels. Use a consistent strategy and messaging across every touchpoint, e-mail included.
• Batch and Blast
“If you’re still batching and blasting your e-mail messages to every member of your list,” writes author Megan Ouellet, Listrak’s director of marketing, “it’s time to put that bad practice to rest.” She suggests using event-triggered messaging to build automated e-mail conversations or dynamic content to ensure the messaging is relevant and of interest to recipients.
• Not Sending a Welcome Message
Sending a welcome message immediately after recipients opt in has two major benefits, Ouellet says:
- It validates subscribers’ e-mail addresses, in case false addresses were given—hard bounces negatively affect your reputation.
- It reaches subscribers when they’re most engaged with your brand; it’s a missed opportunity if you don’t send one.
“Stop thinking of email as a cheap way of blasting out whatever new message comes to mind and start planning strategic email campaigns that work together to deliver the right offers at the right times,” writes Ouellet.
• Putting Important Messaging and Calls to Action Below the Fold
Design your e-mails so the most important messages and your calls to action are visible and prominent without scrolling, otherwise, they risk going unseen.
• Sending People to the Wrong Landing Page
Consumers look to e-mail for its ease of use, and they expect you to make the offers in your e-mail efforts easy to find once they click through to your site. That means sending them to the right landing page, because if consumers have to work to find your offer, chances are they’ll simply click elsewhere.
• Not Including Social Links
A great benefit of e-mail is that it easily can be shared with others. Adding “Share with Your Network” links for social media sites gives recipients the chance to pass along your messages, thus reaching a wider audience.
• Treating E-mail as a Separate Channel
E-mail should be part of an integrated marketing strategy that works in concert with social media, direct marketing, Web site, search and all your other channels. Use a consistent strategy and messaging across every touchpoint, e-mail included.
Companies Mentioned:
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