This is second part of the article series; you can read the first part here. In this post, we will continue to look at the remaining email marketing mistakes one could have made but without realizing it while sending out their email messages or campaign.
6. Send Images-Only Email
Many of you might have made the mistakes of sending your email marketing messages in one big piece of image rather than breaking them up into several and smaller pieces. A big piece of un-optimized image will usually cause slow downloading of email which will result in end users’ frustration. The best way is to optimize the image as much as possible and make the image size less than 25KB.
If possible, try to use as few images as possible as some recipients have their email system set to block out emails that contain big images. Hence, your stunningly-looking email message may unfortunately end up in your recipients’ trash folder without them even seeing it. In addition, do not embed images in your email as they will add more weight to the email. Save the images in your server and link them in your email and provide your recipients an alternative version if they have problem viewing your email.
7. Sending Too Many/Too Few Emails
Be consistent with the number of emails you send to your recipients. No recipients will be happy if their inbox are flooded with large amount of your emails daily or weekly. Give your recipients prior notice when and how many emails will they expect to hear from you so that they are mentally prepared and will not view you as a spammer.
In contrast to sending too many emails, sending too few emails may break the connection between you and your recipients. Your recipients may have forgotten they have subscribed to your email list or totally forgotten who you are. In order to keep your visibility in their minds, sending enough emails to keep their awareness is important. So be sure you send your email messages on schedule and in the right frequency.
8. Avoid Hard Selling
Do not be too pushy and hard sell in your email marketing otherwise your recipients will easily get annoyed and may eventually unsubscribe from your list. Offer something in values in your email for example tips, solution to their problems, what products they are looking to alleviate their pains and some practical advices from the experts.
Take time to craft a compelling and useful email copy and occasionally reward them for your subscribers’ loyalty. Your subscribers will reciprocate by being more responsive with your offer in future because you have now gained their trust and appreciation.
9. Be Creative in Your Subject Title and Email Copy
Many of you must have experienced this – once you see a boring subject title, you will ruthlessly delete it without a second thought. Similarly, an email with a boring or lengthy copy will end in the trash folder immediately and mercilessly.
Therefore, it is important to be creative in your subject title and email copy. Do not just put “Promotion” in your subject title when you can say “Exclusive Offer to Save You 30%”. In addition, avoid lengthy email copy, in this age of instant gratification; nobody has the patience to go through long email. This is especially so when the recipient has many emails flooding in his/her inbox. Be short and precise and, don’t forget to check your spelling and grammar as they can affect your opening and click through rate of your future email.
10. Utilize Auto-Responder Feature
What do you do when your visitors sign up your mailing list? Do you welcome them or just leave them alone until the next email message is scheduled? This is a common mistake when there is not enough follow-up when your new visitors sign up for your mailing list.
Nowadays, there are many email marketing systems offering Autoresponder feature where you can set up a series of email messages to welcome your new visitors when they signed up. This automatic feature will not only reduce the manual task but increase the retention of your subscribers. The series of messages will make them feel welcome and give them assurance that the company is making effort to following up with them. At the same time, you can inform them of your email marketing schedule ahead so that they can add you to their legitimate mailing list. This will help to reduce the risk of ending up in their trash folder.
There might be more email marketing mistakes that were made that are not covered here. But the most important thing is once you realized you have made such mistakes, you should take corrective actions immediately so that you can reap the real benefits of email marketing.
Did you make any email marketing mistakes before? If yes, how did you overcome it? Please share your experience in the comment box. Thank you.