What to Avoid on Your Email Marketing

Email can be a powerful tool by which to market your products if done right. Some common mistakes can mean that it fails in its usefulness however.

Below are some of these mistakes when and some advice on what to do about them.

Sending the same content to everyone.

Make sure you are not just sending the same content to everyone over and over hoping to get a good response. People get bombarded with retail emails constantly so don’t just become part of this clutter. Content needs to be adapted based on who you are targeting, and based on response rates of previous campaigns.

• Use segmentation strategies to target content effectively.

Different people have different needs so when it comes to email marketing make sure you target your emails to different types of consumers. A CEO of a large company in London is likely to have different needs from a salesperson on the ground in Scotland, for instance, so target email content based on their needs. Similarly target your content based on whether the contact is already a loyal customer or someone who has never heard of you.

• Change content based on response rates

If you just send out the same content all the time hoping it is effective you are missing an opportunity. The effectiveness of your messages needs to be measured and changed based on how well they work. Try out different content and other variables by split testing and adapt your message and timing based on response rates.

Forgetting to make sure the technological aspects of the email work

The content may be great but if people cant read the email on their mobile device and if  there are not working links to your website for more information about your products then it is likely you are wasting your time. Potential clients will be frustrated and delete rather than engage. It is vital that your email is technologically up to date.

• Make your email mobile friendly.

More and more people are conducting business and doing their shopping from their mobile. If your email is not adapted and optimised for mobiles then you will be missing out on clients.

• Have links in the email to your website.

Your sales will be increased by getting more people to go to your website so make sure the email has links to this website.    And make sure these links work.

Sending out too many emails

There will be an optimum number of emails that potential consumers will be happy to engage with before they feel overloaded and decide to unsubscribe.

• Do some research and see if there are times when you have had an increase in unsubscribers. Does this time coincide with a time when you were sending out a lot of emails? Maybe you overdid it. Work out what is the optimum number of emails to be sending out and stick with that.