When used correctly, email marketing can be a powerful tool to drive traffic, increase sales, and engage customers. However, when done wrong, it can be a major turnoff for recipients and damage your brand reputation. To help you avoid the most common mistakes in email marketing, we’ve put together a list of tips to keep in mind.
1. Create a Plan and Stick to It
It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of building your list and getting started, but remember that it takes time to build a relationship with each new subscriber or customer. The best way to do that is by providing valuable content consistently and managing expectations.
2. Focus on Relevance
Creating relevant emails is one of the easiest ways to increase your open rates and improve engagement. Use current events, personal details about your audience, or even a humorous anecdote to grab the attention of your subscribers and make them want to read more. Just be careful not to overdo it and come off as spammy or overbearing.
3. Use a Clear and Concise Subject Line
Use a strong, concise call-to-action (CTA) in your email. Email recipients are inundated with content and pitches from many different sources, so your email subject line needs to stand out and draw in readers. It’s also a good idea to include a clear and compelling offer in the subject line to boost your click-through rates.
4. Use a Personal Voice
Use your actual name as the from address and include a little bit of personality in your emails to further humanize them and make your messages more memorable. The voice and tone of your email should feel natural, as if you were speaking to each customer or reader individually. It’s also a great idea to use text-to-speech tools like Natural Readers to read your email out loud. This will help you catch any typos and ensure that it sounds conversational.
5. Stop Following Meaningless Stats
Don’t fall prey to the myths of optimal email length and subject line lengths. There’s no such thing as an average reader, and it’s important to focus on your content rather than just trying to hit a target number of opens. Instead, use your email to develop a real connection with your subscribers and readers so that they actually anticipate your emails and are happy to open them, even if the subject line doesn’t always sound perfect.
Be sure to follow all local and national regulations for sending automated emails. This includes the CAN-SPAM Act in the US, Canada’s Anti-Spam Law (CASL), and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe. If you don’t follow these guidelines, your subscribers and customers may unsubscribe or report your emails as spam, which can hurt your reputation and decrease engagement. To be safe, it’s best to hire an experienced email marketing agency or use an all in one CRM software that helps you comply with these requirements.