5 Reasons You Are Failing At Email Marketing

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17 October 2014

Email marketing is still a powerful tool for reaching out to new and existing clients. Over the years it has evolved and people have learnt to ignore things that don’t interest or seem irrelevant to them. Take a look at our top tips and find out if you can improve your email marketing campaigns (we know we are super helpful – you’re welcome).

Making the email really pretty and engaging is completely pointless if nobody can even see your email. Let’s face it, nobody can afford to ignore nearly half of their database through one simple mistake. 70% of users will immediately delete an email if it doesn’t display well on their mobile devices.

Nowadays everyone is bombarded with information, we are at a stage of information overload and it’s enough to drive a sane person mad. So what are we trying to say? In short this is why patience levels have plummeted, people skip reading content if it is going to take too long and the chances are that they can find a more concise version somewhere else. If it is not clear at the beginning of your email what the text is about and if the structure doesn’t allow them to do a quick skim read, you can kiss goodbye to a high percentage of readers. TIP: Try using different headings, add breaks and make really important information / facts bold. Most importantly, only include the useful stuff, don’t fill your email with unnecessary words.

Think of your own habits when it comes to reading emails. Do you check your inbox in the evenings, at all (be truthful we are not your boss)? Sending out emails at the right time is crucial, it’s not a random coincidence that you get bombarded with information from all of the things you subscribe to at exactly the same time, it’s because their data is telling them that that’s when you read the emails! That said it’s the not necessarily going to be the same for everyone, the best thing to do is to test and learn the behaviour of the people in your database. You should try the weekends as well – people might not be as active on their emails but less emails are being sent and you might find that your content is good “weekend reading material.”

We are going to take it as a given that you are trying to achieve something every time you send out an email (if not that’s a good place to start). However, don’t overdo it by trying to stuff in 10 different messages – you need one clear call to action per email. And when we say clear we mean clear, don’t hide it behind an image or use cryptic language, in essence tell it how it is! Another fact for yo, people who receive clear offers and coupons via email are very likely to forward that email to their friends.

Firstly, using someones email ID without their permission for a targeted email campaign is illegal and against the data protection act. Secondly, email providers filter unwanted messages. Your emails will automatically be filed in the junk folder and the user won’t even see it. Many people think that there is nothing they can do about this and it “just happens.” In some cases yes but these 5 steps are a good start to improving the performance of your emails. TIP: Some of our favourite email marketing tools (Mailchimp, SailThru etc.) provide a spam check before you send your email out, we suggest you use it!