Starting out in the email marketing field can be daunting and there are many common errors made that you need to avoid. Think of this scenario, you’ve created your email, you think it looks and reads perfectly, but what happened? Only 3.1% of people have opened your email. Shock, horror, your email campaign has just fallen way below the 16.92% industry average. What went wrong?
Stop worrying, we are here to help solve your email marketing mystery. Email marketing is made up from several different components, each piecing together like a puzzle. If you are missing one of these pieces, then your puzzle may never come together just right. Luckily for you we have collated a list of the most common pitfalls found in failed email campaigns. If your open rate has fallen or your click through rate is non-existent then you too may have fallen victim to the top 8 email marketing pitfalls.
There are 8 main errors made in email marketing campaigns, including:
No-Reply Email Addresses
Send Timing
Buying Email Lists
Sender Score
Unsubscribes & Opting Out
Subject Line
Personalization/Email Design
Mobile Optimized
1. No-reply email addresses
It seems the ideal thing to do, you don’t want 10,000 people clicking reply to your email campaign so why not use a no-reply email address? There are two reasons why you should reconsider using no-reply email addresses. Firstly spam filters just love no-reply email addresses meaning your emails are not even making your customers inbox, and secondly, even if the email makes it to the right inbox, the no-reply status secretly screams, ‘attention, warning, this is an ad of some kind, do not open’ in the head of the recipient. If you are sending a ‘I’m not going to listen to you so do not respond to me’ email then why should someone take their time and bother listening to you?
2. Sending at the wrong time
If I ask you if you have time to open your emails at 6am you are likely to just laugh. Timing of an email is crucial to its success. There are different times, and even days that will help endorse the email’s effectiveness. Timing is also related to the frequency in which an email should be sent. Build a consistent relationship with your customers and maintain a communication link by testing frequency. An overkill will increase your unsubscribe rate.
3. Buying email lists
Buying a pre-populated email list will only serve to gather a list of unqualified leads for your eCommerce website. A qualified lead is one that has willingly requested to open a channel of communication with your brand. Marketing industry statistics show email lists are the most likely cause for high unsubscribe rates, and worst still, the recipients from this list are more likely to flag your emails as spam and report your site which will lead to your ESP being blacklisted.
4. Having a low sender score
Mailbox providers identify email senders and place them into categories according to their sender score. ‘A sender score is a number between 0 and 100 that identifies your sender reputation and shows you how mailbox providers view your IP address. Sender reputation is an indication of the trustworthiness of an email sender’s IP address’ Having a low sender score will place your emails at risk of being placed into the spam filter. Low open rates contribute to your score. It’s time to start clearing up your email lists.
5. Unsubscribes and opting out
Customers often opt out of email marketing when they initially sign up, once a decision has been made by the customer to opt-out this line of communication has been closed. Unsubscribes is another issue faced by email marketers. Customers unsubscribe due to irrelevant emails. Reduce your unsubscribe rate by focusing on the importance of the first few emails and the relationship which you need to build with the customer. Build loyalty by providing relevant content that offers them something extra. Give your customers a reason to open your emails and not unsubscribe.
6.Subject lines
First impressions count. If you are not grabbing your customer’s’ attention in the inbox then you are sending emails that will never be opened. You need to be creating a “link bait” styled subject line that will catch attention and will lead to relevant content. Subject lines must be unique and direct if you want your email to stand out a crowded inbox and capture the reader’s attention.
7. Personalization
Building a relationship begins with responding directly to the needs of the customer, personalization failures will cause distress to your email marketing campaign. Personalize emails include static information such as name and purchasing behavior including: purchasing history, order size, revenue spent etc, allowing you to target them with relevant discounts or product recommendations. Personalization provides a powerful message showing you are relating to the customer as an individual. ,
8. Mobile optimization
Over 48% of all people access their emails on their mobile device, if your email can’t be viewed on mobile devices your email will be deleted. Scrolling back and forth to read content on mobile is a complete failure. You can solve this problem by creating a responsive email that will automatically respond to the dimensions of the mobile device. Many email marketing platforms, such as Remarkety will provide you with responsive emails, however not all platforms do. Always test your email prior to distribution using a tool such as Litmus to ensure that the email is responsive.
The great news is Remarkety is here to help you with your email marketing set-up, management and automation to ensure great delivery, open rates and conversion rates! Go ahead and schedule a 1-1 demo with an email marketing specialist today!
Starting out in the email marketing field can be daunting and there are many common errors made that you need to avoid. Think of this scenario, you’ve created your email, you think it looks and reads perfectly, but what happened? Only 3.1% of people have opened your email. Shock, horror, your email campaign has just fallen way below the 16.92% industry average. What went wrong?
