Running great email marketing campaigns is more complicated than it seems. There are many different types of email marketing mistakes that business owners and marketers keep making. However, sometimes the fixes are simple. You just need to pay more attention to one or two elements, and your campaign will take a turn.
In this guide, we listed the eight most common mistakes that are ruining your email campaigns. Moreover, you’ll find best practices and tips to be more effective. Let’s start!
Most Common Email Marketing Mistakes To Avoid
Avoiding the most common email marketing mistakes should be the starting point of any marketing campaign of this type. Unfortunately, though, most business resort to email marketing because they heard it works. Instead, you should always evaluate the tool you want to use. For example, comparing SMS vs email marketing might surprise you. Therefore, the first mistake is doing email marketing when it does not suit your marketing strategy.
However, even if email marketing might suit your business, you might still make costly mistakes. Let’s explore the most common email marketing mistakes and how to avoid them.
Email Marketing Mistake #1: Ignoring Regulations
Have you ever skipped reading the terms and conditions before clicking the “I Agree” button? That’s understandable in most contexts. However, if you are collecting contacts and sending emails, you want to ensure to comply with regulations. This is potentially the most expensive email marketing mistake you can make, so watch out for it. Depending on the location of your business, you need to understand the rules. For example, if you run a restaurant, ensure that your guest’s WiFi terms and conditions are comprehensive and clear.
Sometimes the rules are simply to follow and are just common sense. Here are the most basic things to look after:
- Use voluntary opt-in methods for collecting email addresses
- Include a clear unsubscribe link in every email
- Explain how you store and secure data in your Terms of Service
- Ensure your policy is compliant with the regulation
Email Marketing Mistake #2: Ignoring Metrics
Ignoring key performance metrics in your marketing campaigns is a recipe for disaster. This is one of the most prevalent email marketing mistakes, and it can prevent your campaigns from reaching their full potential.
What you should do is make data your friend. Track and analyze metrics like open rates, churn rates, click-through rates, bounce rates, and others. These statistics offer great insights into your campaign’s performance and your audience’s behavior. Most email marketing software provides intuitive dashboards that give you a clear look at these metrics. Don’t skip them, then. By understanding these metrics, you can hone your customer engagement strategies. Notice that, sometimes, there are solutions built for specific industries that might work well in those sectors. For example, email marketing software for restaurants is perfect for those operating in that industry but might not suit a cafe.
Numbers do not lie. Therefore, do not underestimate the power of numbers in letting you understand how effective your work is.
Email Marketing Mistake #3: Neglecting Personalization
Let’s talk about personalization. Effective communications are personal ones. Neglecting personalization is like trying to hit a target with a blindfold on. You lack focus, and you become irrelevant. In the realm of email marketing, thus, you want to personalize your messages. Blunt bulk emails are not going to help you achieve your goals.
Unfortunately, this mistake is very frequent. Such an impersonal approach is a common email marketing mistake and leads to low engagement and a high unsubscribe rate.
How to solve it? Begin with the basics, like using your subscribers’ names in your emails. However, true personalization goes beyond just this. You should tailor your content to each subscriber’s interests, behaviors, and previous interactions. In other words, you need to know your ideal customers. That’s why customer profiles are the foundation of effective marketing campaigns.
Email Marketing Mistake #4: Spamming Your Subscribers or Writing Too Rarely
Writing too often or too rarely are both email marketing mistakes. Nonetheless, balancing the frequency of your emails is not simple. You should not write too much, but you should not write too rarely.
The key here is to strike a balance. You don’t want to become background noise in your subscribers’ inboxes. However, you don’t want them to forget about you. Regular but thoughtful communication is the sweet spot. How often will depend on your business and your industry. Consider using email automation to ensure consistent communication and monitor your metrics to adjust the frequency. That’s another reason why metrics matter.
Email Marketing Mistake #5: Poorly Crafted Subject Lines
Get ready. This is probably the single most important email marketing mistake to fix.
Subject lines are the first thing people see in their inboxes. They will determine whether your email will get attention or not. Sadly, many businesses don’t give enough thought to their subject lines. It is not a surprise that many emails end up untouched or deleted.
What you should do is make your subject lines a priority. Even the best email will go wasted if no one reads it. Your lines should catch your reader’s attention. Consider using emoji, questions, or other strong claims. Also, state what is in your email.
Don’t shy away from trying different styles. Just make sure it’s relevant and matches your brand’s personality. In short, when writing your next email, give your subject line the attention it deserves. It’s your first defense against low engagement.
Email Marketing Mistake #6: Poorly Designed Emails
If your emails are cluttered, difficult to read, or just ugly, your subscribers might close them immediately. Also, don’t ignore where your readers will come across your email. Overlooking mobile optimization is a naive email marketing mistake. 62% of people read emails on their smartphones. Not optimizing for mobile is like making their life harder.
The takeaway is that your email’s design can make or break your message. Therefore, pay attention to it. This is particularly important for those operating in an industry where images and style matter. For example, email marketing campaigns for hotels require proper designs, or it might affect the customer’s expectations. So, take the time to design attractive, functional emails. Pay attention to email fonts, layouts, and images. On the mobile front, test your emails before sending them. To streamline your job, create a template that works. Most email clients offer this option, so consider it when choosing software for running email marketing campaigns.
Email Marketing Mistake #7: Failing To Include a Call-To-Action
Sending out an email without a visible call-to-action (CTA) is like hosting a party and forgetting to invite guests. Yet, many businesses still make this email marketing mistakes.
Your audience might read your email, but if you don’t tell them what to do, they’ll leave. This mistake can cost you money. A call to action (CTA) is fundamental to getting people to do what you want.
Therefore, ensure to include a CTA in every email you send. Whether it is about buying, reading an article, or taking action on something, just include a CTA.
However, it is not only about including it. You must also make it visible. Your CTA should be visually noticeable and placed at the beginning and end of your email. This way, whether your subscribers skim or read your email thoroughly, they won’t miss it.
Email Marketing Mistake #8: Not Regularly Cleaning Your Email List
You can’t make everyone happy. Sometimes people will get bored or lose interest. This is just normal, and you need to accept it. Therefore, you need to prune your email list. Not regularly cleaning your email list is a common email marketing mistake that leads to skewed metrics and ineffective campaigns. Moreover, you increase the chance that email providers consider your email spam. As a consequence, your email might end up in the spam folder. Email deliverability matters because if your emails aren’t reaching your subscribers’ inboxes, your carefully crafted messages are going to waste.
The solution is simple. Just implement a regular cleaning for your email list. You need to remove unengaged subscribers and eliminate invalid email addresses. Consider it as gardening but for your marketing strategy. After all, it’s not about having the longest subscriber list but the most engaged one.
The Most Important Aspects When Doing Email Marketing
After covering the typical mistakes of email marketing, let’s look at the best practices for doing it right.
While some practices might vary from sector to sector, the principles of effective email marketing are the same across industries. In other words, doing email marketing right for restaurants is different than doing it for a gym. However, the principles are the same. Let’s start with these important tips.
Being Personal
As mentioned, neglecting personalization is a terrible email marketing mistake. If you are a beginner with email marketing, this concept should be your starting point. The solution is to be personal. From a practical perspective, this means writing as you would do to a friend. Use the subscriber’s name. Bring in details about what they love about your brand or what is great about it. This will make your email stand out, pushing up engagement rates.For example, sending a correction email after a mistake shows you are human.
So, start adding that personal touch to your emails. It can take them from being just another email to something your subscribers look forward to.
Writing To Nurture and Sell
There’s a common misconception in marketing: every content must sell. This mistake is particularly frequent in e-commerce email marketing.
When it comes to email marketing, there are two important roles to keep in mind that your emails must play:
- Nurture your subscribers
- Sell your stuff
Nurturing emails means many things. However, it’s all about providing valuable content to your subscribers in any form. You can share tips, offer industry insights, or simply provide useful resources.
Sales emails, on the other hand, aim to convert your subscribers into customers. They might offer a new product, a discount code, or announce a special sale. These are important, but they shouldn’t be the only emails you send.
Finding the right balance between nurturing and selling can make all the difference in your marketing strategy. After you master these two approaches, you can consider other sophisticated strategies like email sequences. Pushing for sales only would be another form of email marketing mistake.
Following a Strategy
Launching an email campaign without a roadmap will lead you nowhere. Email marketing isn’t about shooting in the dark; it requires a strategy.
Your strategy is your guide. It should define your goals, the course of action to achieve them, and the metrics to measure your progress. Moreover, it should integrate with your overall business strategy.
The crucial steps to create an effective email marketing strategy are:
- Knowing your Audience
- Designing Engaging Content
- Setting Clear KPIs
- Analyzing the Metrics
- Keeping What Works
Lastly, building a list of contacts is fundamental to succeed. However, your contacts should be people who really care about what you have to say. Buying a list of email prospects does not make sense and is illegal. So, avoid this email marketing mistake.
Depending on the industry you are in, there are many ways to build a list. For example, on social media it might work to have a link in your Bio. Then, you need to direct your audience to that link. If you have a website, ensure to use pop-ups and other CTA to get people on your list. Finally, if you have a local business, you have two choices. You can ask your customers to leave your email or use tools like WiFi marketing solutions.
These tools allow you to build a list of contacts by simply letting your customer use your WiFi. While you can do that yourself, these tools streamline the task and spare you all the technical and operational work.
If you want to give a try to a WiFi marketing solution to improve your email game, try out Beambox.
With Beambox’s WiFi marketing platform, you can automate emails, gather contacts and evaluate the effectiveness of your initiatives. Most email marketing mistakes will be a thing of the past, thanks to the tools embedded in the platform.
You can also use Beambox to secure your network, manage your WiFi for maximum efficiency and improve your online reputation.
Beambox does not require additional hardware, has no hidden fees and can integrate with most internet systems. Start your thirty days free trial now!
Get Started With Free WiFi Marketing
Beambox helps businesses like yours grow with data capture, marketing automation and reputation management.
Sign up for 30 days free
