6 Things You are Doing Wrong in Email Marketing

March 4, 2020

You are relaxing at home, making some nice dinner, or perhaps you are at work, focusing on a project. Suddenly, your phone beeps. Oh!

A long awaited text? Instagram like? Facebook comment on your new update? Perhaps an important email from work? This instant excitement never gets old.

You unlock your phone…

“Hi! My name is Anna and I am going to tell you why you should stop whatever you are doing and read this and respond to this email and buy this product and order this serv… “

Uhm… no. You put your phone away and keep doing whatever you were doing.

However, what if you are on the other end of this?

What if you have recognised that email marketing is the way to go for your business to get more leads and ultimately generate conversions?

At the back of your mind you know that a lot of people may have the same reaction you had, when receiving a promotional email.

So, how to ensure you are not just bothering people but actually making a difference for your business using email marketing? Start with making the right choices and don't make the following mistakes.

#1 – Buying lists

It can be quite exhausting and annoying to receive a load of emails, especially if you are not that interested in the product or service offered.

On the other end of this, it can be quite exhausting and annoying to put the time and effort in email marketing when you don't see any solid results.

That is why, first rule is not to buy email lists! You don't know what kind of people they are and they don't know what they got themselves into.

Not to mention, that the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has reinforced strict measurements that go into “black box” decision-making processes.

Without going into much details, it is better to stay off the tricky deals.

Plus, building and sustaining your own audience has numerous benefits. It can guarantee you a creation of more meaningful and beneficial relationships with profitable outcomes.

#2 – Assuming you know your audience

This is something you probably already know, but it's an important reminder. Don't just assume you know your audience. Instead, do your research properly!

When creating any type of content you need to know your audience.

You must understand the target persona.

Look through social media channels, forums and other platforms – get to know your person. Consider everything, from the words you use in the first sentence to the added visual components.

At the end of the day, you will thank yourself if you invest the time and understand your target audience better.

#3 – No giving, just asking

By now I think we all know that sending repetitive and vague emails is not the way.

Any email you send has to have a substantial value. What this means, is that you should invest time to think about what kind of value does this email provide to the receiver on the other end?

This value has to be embedded in the information you provide, the way you approach the person, the words you use, what you offer, etc.

Think about the benefit/s this person would acquire if they opened and read through your email.

Most importantly, would you like to receive this email? Would you open it, read it through and respond to the CTA? At all be interested in this company?

It may be difficult to answer these questions by yourself, that is why asking someone else's opinion is key!

#4 – Losing the human factor

This point can probably go under creating meaningful content.

However, I want to point this out individually, because of the crucial impact it can make alone.

You probably know, when receiving a spam email, how it feels get approached by an automated system.

You don't want that for your audience.

What you want, is to make them feel like they are talking to a person next door. Here, your goal is to create a meaningful and beneficial relationship with your customer.

Keep that in mind and see in how many ways you can implement the 'human factor' in your content. This will take your emails to the next level.

#5 – Not testing

Every email you are about to send out presents a learning opportunity.

It is a possibility to test, test and again test.

Why?

Because every project and its processes require trials and adjustments. It is the only way to improve.

For instance, what you can do is a pre-run A/B test on the subject line, main image or anything else you would like to test. After you receive the results, you will be able to view and recognise which version performs the best. Consequently, you will send out the most effective version of your email to the whole list.  

#6 – Not doing your research properly

You probably have gotten many promotional emails or some type of newsletters yourself.

Do you ever read them through? Well, you should.

Sign up for a newsletter from your competitors and see what kind of content they are producing. What kind of titles do they use? How do they approach their audience? How often do they send out emails? Overall, what is their approach to email marketing?

All this information will be valuable to use, so you can learn and perhaps integrate some tips and tricks inspired by your competitors.

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