5 Killer Email Marketing Mistakes to Avoid
1. Sending From donotreply@yourdomain.com
No-reply@ or DoNotReply@ sender email addresses are uninviting and unwelcome. If you send an email from one of those email addresses, don’t be surprised if your open rate is low. Always send an email from an address your customers can reply to and be sure to include phone numbers, and links to your social profiles as well to let the customer contact you in any channel they want to.
2. Sending Image-only Based Emails
Only 33% of email subscribers have images turned on by default. This means that your email will display as one long empty box and cannot be read by up to 67% of your email list (see example below). There are times when image-only emails make sense. If you sell visual products such as clothing, or travel then going with an image only based email might be the most obvious choice.
3. Not Linking to Your Website
The average number of links within an email marketing campaign is 23.3 links – That’s a lot of links!
At the other end of the scale, you have marketing campaigns with zero links! The goal of the email is to get people to click through to your website, but if your link sends subscribers to your home page they are less likely to scroll through your website to find the offer.
4. The ‘One Size Fits All’ Approach
The most effective form of marketing is relevance. The one size fits all approach no longer works (did it really ever work?). Your message needs to be relevant to the reader. A CEO of a Fortune 500 company in New York does not have the same needs as a small business owner on a farm in the middle of England. Being relevant shows you care and as only 11% segment their email lists, relevant marketing is a competitive advantage.
5. Ignoring Mobile
43% of people check emails on their smartphones every day and more than 40% of mobile email users check email four or more times per day. Whether you use mobile for reading emails or managing customer contacts, mobile is here to stay. If your email is not optimized for mobile devices, regardless of how relevant your message is, people will not be able to read it.
1. Sending From donotreply@yourdomain.com
No-reply@ or DoNotReply@ sender email addresses are uninviting and unwelcome. If you send an email from one of those email addresses, don’t be surprised if your open rate is low. Always send an email from an address your customers can reply to and be sure to include phone numbers, and links to your social profiles as well to let the customer contact you in any channel they want to.
2. Sending Image-only Based Emails
Only 33% of email subscribers have images turned on by default. This means that your email will display as one long empty box and cannot be read by up to 67% of your email list (see example below). There are times when image-only emails make sense. If you sell visual products such as clothing, or travel then going with an image only based email might be the most obvious choice.
3. Not Linking to Your Website
The average number of links within an email marketing campaign is 23.3 links – That’s a lot of links!
At the other end of the scale, you have marketing campaigns with zero links! The goal of the email is to get people to click through to your website, but if your link sends subscribers to your home page they are less likely to scroll through your website to find the offer.
4. The ‘One Size Fits All’ Approach
The most effective form of marketing is relevance. The one size fits all approach no longer works (did it really ever work?). Your message needs to be relevant to the reader. A CEO of a Fortune 500 company in New York does not have the same needs as a small business owner on a farm in the middle of England. Being relevant shows you care and as only 11% segment their email lists, relevant marketing is a competitive advantage.
5. Ignoring Mobile
43% of people check emails on their smartphones every day and more than 40% of mobile email users check email four or more times per day. Whether you use mobile for reading emails or managing customer contacts, mobile is here to stay. If your email is not optimized for mobile devices, regardless of how relevant your message is, people will not be able to read it.