7 Email Marketing Mistakes You Could Be Making

Email marketing has long been used as an effective strategy in the industry. But regardless of how popular it has been, and continues to be, it’s still possible to go about it the wrong way. Whether you’re a seasoned marketer or a budding novice, you’re likely making at least one email marketing mistake that’s featured on this list. Let’s take a closer look at the things you could be doing wrong, without knowing it, when it comes to email marketing; it might help to explain why it’s not been working as well as it could be.

1. Keeping unengaged contacts

It’s a waste of your time and an annoyance to recipients if you keep sending emails to people who just aren’t engaging. If they’re engaging with your emails, then they simply aren’t interested. The recipient of the email will find it a nuisance and could even report you as spam for your trouble. 

Not only is this something that people will find irritating, but it’s also a complete waste of your time and effort. Stop sending marketing emails to people who just aren’t interested in your products or services and start shifting your focus to those who are engaging and becoming leads. Leads are likely to convert into sales, if you’re doing things right. This is when it becomes more worth your while. 

2. Sending emails at the wrong times

Unless you have a lot of overseas customers who live in different time zones, it’s no use whatsoever sending emails out at 3 or 4 O’clock in the morning local time. You want to be sending emails to your customers at a time when they’ll be awake and alert to read and process them. 

They’re unlikely to make a purchase in the early hours of the morning, but if you send it around the time they’ll be on their lunch breaks or whilst they’re eating their dinner, they’ll have the time to read your email, browse for what they want and then make a purchase. Think more carefully about your target audience, such as their demographics, and choose an appropriate time in which to send out your marketing emails. If you think you’ll forget, you could schedule your emails to automatically send at certain points throughout the day.

3. Failing to be consistent

Following on, somewhat, from the previous point, you need to make sure that you’re being consistent with the emails you’re sending. For example, you will need to send them at the right time of day, but not every single day. Instead, opt to send emails out about two or three times a week. This is frequent enough to make sure they don’t forget about you, but infrequent enough to ensure you’re not flagged as spam. 

Essentially, the aim with consistent emails is to make sure you’re always at the forefront of the customer’s mind, without being too overboard. It’s all about persistence and you will also have to be organised. Much like the previous point, you’ll be able to set up automatic emails that will be sent as and when you schedule them to. This will help take the pressure off somewhat and it will also free up some time for you to do other things that will help your marketing campaign.

4. Forgetting to send a welcome email

One thing you need to make sure you’re doing is sending a welcome email every time someone signs up or makes a purchase through your website. Forgetting to do so could make a customer feel as though you’re not too fussed about the fact they have just shown an interest in your business or that they have used their hard-earned cash to make a purchase through your company. By not sending a welcome email, you’re making the sales process more impersonal and they’ll be less likely to purchase from you again, or at all. Make your customers feel welcome and appreciated by sending them a welcome email.

5. Using misleading subject lines

Nobody appreciates a click-bait headline, much less a click-bait email subject. Don’t start your emails with misleading content and don’t use misleading subject lines, either. The recipient will see this negatively and might even report it as spam. Where you want to make sure your email recipients actually open the email, make the subject line catchy and attention-grabbing, rather than click-baity and, therefore, untrustworthy. Here are some tips for creating an effective email subject line:

• Be attention grabbing by adding the recipients’ name and using emojis
• Be as relevant as possible by giving a hint as to what they can expect
• Evoke curiosity by keeping the subject short and concise
• Include a call to action
• Personalise the subject line as much as possible
• Try to creative a sense of urgency
• Don’t use capital letters

6. Sending an email without proofreading it first

It’s not just the subject line that matters when it comes to sending a marketing email, it’s also the body of text itself. Make sure you’re proofreading every aspect of the email you’re planning on sending, including the subject line, together with who is CC’ed in it. What you don’t want to do is share anyone else’s email address with another person.

Make sure the body of text is well-written and doesn’t contain any spelling or grammar mistakes, either. It needs to sound as professional as possible, whilst still getting your points across and giving a clear call to action towards the end of the email. You can proofread it yourself, or you can ask someone else to do it for you if you don’t have the time. Either way, it has to be checked over before sending it to anyone.

7. Not personalising your emails

We’ve already touched upon this, but making your emails personal will help to increase the chances of them actually opening the email and looking at its content. It shows that you’ve taken the time to learn more about who they are and what they’ve been looking at. Personalisation isn’t just about including their name in aspects of the email, but it’s also about paying attention to what they’ve been looking at on your website. 

Was something in their basket that they’ve forgotten about? Do they keep coming back to one particular product without making a purchase? Send an email prompting them to continue with their purchase. Something that is effective is offering a discount code or money off the item they’ve been interested in for all this time. That might sway their decision to make a sale.

Kumo is a highly-experienced digital marketing agency with over two decades of knowledge and expertise to draw upon. We have a wide range of marketing services on offer, including SEO, PPC, content writing, website design and more. If you would like further  information about how we can propel your business into the spotlight, then get in touch with a member of our team today – we’re always pleased to hear from you.