4 Major Email Marketing Mistakes You Need to Avoid

2017-03-14 10:00:00 | Melissa Hultstrand | email marketing

“Email has an ability many channels don’t: creating valuable, personal touches – at scale.”– David Newman

Since it’s invention in 1972 (yep, older than you might think!), electronically sending messages from one computer to another has evolved into an incredibly valuable and common marketing tool. Thanks to email, marketers can now seamlessly transform databases of leads into interested and dedicated customers and brand advocates. With email, you can personally reach out to each human in your database and provide them with creative, relevant, fun, or interesting content. It’s a magical marketing phenomenon!

However, because email is so simple to use and send, it’s also really easy to make some major email marketing mistakes. Here at Radiant Marketing, we want you to avoid the pitfalls of these embarrassing, and potentially damaging email faux pas. We put together this simple list to help you continue to create and share killer content via email without the worry of “stepping in it”.

Here are 4 email marketing mistakes to avoid at all costs.

Email Marketing Mistake #1: Email Offers Little or No Value to Customer

“Personalisation – it is not about first/last name. It’s about relevant content.” – Dan Jak

You’ve worked really hard to get your customer to click on your social media post and go to your amazingly beautiful landing page and fill out a form with their first name, last name, and email address. So, what now? In the excitement of having an interested person give you their contact info, it can be easy to behave like a lovesick teenager and instantly send desperate, repetitive messages – “hey, are you interested in this thing?”, “hey you should buy this thing”, “hey seriously… buy this thing!”

But that’s maybe not what they’re looking for. If not, you’ve committed an unfortunate, and common, email marketing mistake. Instead, you should consider this new email flow a courting phase. Pay attention to how you got their email address in the first place (did they fill out a form because they were interested in learning more about social media?) and cultivate creative email content that will help them. The content will feel personalized if it’s related to what they were looking for in the first place. The more you send them content that they find valuable and informative, the more willing they will be to engage with you and eventually become a customer in the future.

Are you making these 4 success killing mistakes? Find out in our free ebook! Download our Guide to avoid these Success-Killing Mistakes today!

Email Marketing Mistake #2: Email Has None of Your Awesome Personality

One of the biggest email marketing mistakes you can make is not allowing your brand and your own shining personality to come through in the writing. People want to hear from other people, and not generic, robotic, computer-generated messaging. You’ve built your business, you’ve infused your brand with who you are and your passions – let those things shine through in your email marketing. Not only will it make your email marketing more effective and attractive, but it will also to help you find potential brand advocates, people who really feel aligned with the message or product you’re promoting.

As Ramsay Leimenstoll said, “A small list that wants exactly what you’re offering is better than a bigger list that isn’t committed.” Using your personality and brand voice in your email marketing will help you to draw in your best and most potential customers while also solidifying a fantastic brand foundation.

Email Marketing Mistake #3: Sending Emails Without a Test Run

This may seem a little silly – you need to test run an email? Are you NASA? But actually, you DO need to test them! Sure, maybe it’s not as exciting as a rocket launch, but it is incredibly vital to the health and well-being of your business and database. Not testing your email content and layout before sending it to potential customers can be a huge email marketing mistake.

When you send a test email first, you’re giving yourself an opportunity to make changes or catch mistakes before your leads ever lay eyes on them. It only takes a minute and it’s worth it. When you send a test email, you can check the following:

The links work
The images are loading correctly
How the message is displayed across different platforms (mobile, desktop, etc)
Any spelling or grammar mistakes

Taking a few extra seconds to test your message will make all the difference and help you to avoid any potential email marketing mistakes that could hurt your business’s image and reputation.

Email Marketing Mistake #4: Ignoring Your Email Stats

Last, but not least, one of the most hurtful email marketing mistakes you can make is to ignore how your emails are performing.

“That which is measured improves.” – Karl Pearson

Most email engines (at Radiant, we love HubSpot) provide you with statistics on how the emails you send are making an impact. Analysis is the only way to either ensure you’re on the right track or to improve on the marketing you are doing. Do you really want to put your heart and soul into email messaging that just isn’t converting? Not only would that be frustrating, but it would also have a negative impact on your business as a whole.

Here are some statistics that you need to pay attention to in order to monitor your messaging:

Open Rate: typically affected by mailing frequency, sender/subject line, and the relationship you have established with your customer. Are your subject lines interesting? Does your customer trust that you are a credible source?
Delivery Rate: tells you if your emails are even getting to the right people. What does the health of your database look like? Are you sending your killer content into thin air? Or is it arriving at a destination?
Click Rate: lets you know how awesome your content is, if your CTA’s are effective, and how relevant this messaging is to your audience. Are people engaging with the content?
Unsubscribe Rate: this is a sad statistic as you don’t want to see your people go, but it can also help you to understand the quality of your email database and how your overall strategy is working.

Now you have them – four solid tips on how to avoid making any email marketing mistakes. By using these tips, you’ll likely improve your email marketing strategy and maybe even have some fun along the way revamping your strategy. So go, be your beautifully branded self and make the most of your email marketing.