Some marketing experts claim that:
Email marketing is dead!
I would agree that conventional, sales-driven, dry and poorly crafted email campaigns are done.
Over.
Kaput.
Folks are inundated with hundreds, perhaps even thousands of emails on a daily basis and most are sales pitches that simply don’t resonate with the recipient.
Just yesterday, in my email inbox, I received:
- An invitation to participate in a discounted salsa dance course
- A promotional flier for a great deal on a memory foam mattress
- A request to complete a survey about parenting style and food choice
- 22 freshly pressed blog posts (I subscribe to a lot of blogs)
- Several Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter announcements
- A shared Flickr album
- A nomination link for a B2B marketing contest (feel free to nominate me
)
And that represents but a small fraction of the volume of email received in one day.
If companies don’t wise up to email marketing best practices, they will be wasting their time and resources on campaigns that fall flat.
But because I believe that email still has its place, and when leveraged strategically can drive business results, I’ve decided to focus on the top 5 mistakes companies make in this realm, and how you can avoid them going forward.
Enjoy!
Launching your email campaign without a marketing strategy or goal
Regrettably, this is a mistake that is endemic to most marketing efforts (not just email campaigns). Knee jerk reactions to marketing generally fail. You need to start with a strategy. You need for your email campaign to work within the context of a broader marketing approach. What is your goal? Are you trying to:
- Urge the recipient to sign up for something?
- Bring the recipient to your website?
- Enhance your reputation within your industry?
- Collect information about your stakeholders?
Until you determine your goal, I recommend that you hold off on the email.
Failing to segment your email campaign list
Not every stakeholder will be interested in the same information. Understand your audience. Segment your list accordingly. Target your campaigns to the folks that will be the most interested.
And if you don’t have enough information to segment your list – send out a survey to learn more about your subscribers!
Not formatting your email campaign properly
Do you still send newsletters as attachments?
GASP!!!!
Email attachments notoriously end up being tagged by spam filters, which means that your emails may not even been seen by a significant number of your stakeholders.
Make sure you are using reliable, robust and flexible email supports. Format your correspondence strategically so that it is:
- Easy to read and scan
- Engaging
- Includes lots of white space
- Is integrated within the body of the email (and NOT as an attachment)
- Consistent with your brand identity
Using a crummy subject line
An email subject line, much like a blog post headline, is what draws the reader in. An empty and inauthentic sales pitch in your email campaign subject line will almost certainly guarantee you a big, fat DELETE.
Instead, consider your target client’s pain points and ask a question that they often ask of themselves:
Do you struggle to X, Y, or Z?
OR
Do you understand the difference between X and Y?
OR
Are you tired of wasting money on X?
If written well, a subject line should move the reader to continue. It should resonate, and really speak to their frustrations and challenges. It should suggest, in an instant, that this email will bring some relief!
Not linking back to your website or landing page
Ultimately, no matter your goal, you want the reader to continue engaging with your company on a deeper level. And that’s not likely going to happen in email Neverland.
You want to bring the reader back to your website, your home base, or a landing page, where they can engage more meaningfully and ideally, take action.
Don’t overwhelm your email campaign with dozens of links that direct the reader to generic pages on your website.
Be thoughtful!
If you’ve defined your goal with laser clarity, you can embed a link that will drive traffic exactly where you want it to go (your product page; to a document download page; to a contact us page, etc.)
Your Turn
Are you still using email as part of your marketing effort?
Have you been successful? Have you ever made any of these five mistakes? Share some of your best practice advice in the comment section below. And as always, feel free to tweet this post and distribute to your networks!
Twitter: bdorman264
says:
Like social, one thing you can count on being around is e-mail. There is a lot of clutter, but if you can break the code I imagine it can be very effective tool for you, huh?
Bill Dorman recently posted..When to walk away…
I agree Bill – that’s a good way to put it. If you can rise above the clutter, email can be very powerful. Good to see you! And thanks for stopping by.
Ruth Zive recently posted..The Top 5 Mistakes That Sabotage Your Email Campaign
Twitter: gonzogonzo
says:
Great post, Ruth.
I wrote a blog post last year on this very topic and was fortunate enough to give a keynote on this as well.
http://fredericgonzalo.com/2012/06/04/email-is-dead-not/
Truth is, email marketing is alive and well, but yes, the hurdles to getting your newsletter across to people’s inbox are getting bigger as well. And then there needs to be a compelling call-to-action, something that adds value, either in terms of privileged information or discount, or whatever.
One thing marketers will certainly need to embrace is email marketing for mobile. In other words, adapting content to ensure people can read and react to your content from a mobile device, be it a smartphone or tablet. But how many brands fail on this? Too many, in my opinion.
Oh well…
Cheers from Quebec City.
Frederic
Frederic Gonzalo recently posted..Comment on Social Media Jedis, Ninjas And Gurus: What’s The Fuss? by gonzogonzo
Hi Frederic – I checked out your post; I thought that your graph about the anticipated growth of email marketing was quite compelling! You are right about responsive the growing importance of mobile (I’ve written about that too) and in ANY marketing effort, there needs to be a meaningful and engaging call to action (written about that as well!). So you’ve hit all of the most important considerations. Thanks for your thoughts!
Ruth Zive recently posted..The Top 5 Mistakes That Sabotage Your Email Campaign
Twitter: adriennesmith40
says:
You are right Ruth, email will never die but the old way of doing things sure has and I’m for one very thankful for that.
I had to laugh at the emails you get because a good bit of them I don’t even read anymore. I’ve opted out of a lot of lists because their first few emails were helpful but none since then. Sell, sell, sell and they haven’t even taken the time to share good stuff with me.
Your tips are spot on and I think that’s where a lot of people go wrong. Let’s face it, we’re all being taught the wrong way to do things.
Great suggestions here and I’ll be sure to pass them on as well. Anything to help others right!
~Adrienne
Adrienne recently posted..How To Beat The Blogging Cliché Blues
Adrienne, other than sharing your blog post, do you leverage your subscriber lists for other email campaigns? I know that I’m ON your list – so I should probably know the answer, but I’ve noticed that unlike other prolific bloggers, you are pretty respectful of your lists and there doesn’t seem to be a huge volume of email coming.
Ruth Zive recently posted..Have You Noticed the New Web Design Trend That’s Shaking Things Up?
Unfortunately, i was unlucky to make all 5 out of 5 mistakes you described here((( Well, experience is always welcomed! At least now I’m reading your post and laugh at myself, How could i sent newsletters in attachment?? of course it was long time ago and now I’m smarter (I hope) but still… Hope this article will prevent some bad experience for newcomers to blogging area! thanks!
Evan recently posted..20+ Best Education WordPress themes 2013
Live and learn, right Evan!? I’m glad that this post has enlightened you and hopefully going forward you can integrate some of these best practices.
Ruth Zive recently posted..The Top 5 Mistakes That Sabotage Your Email Campaign
Twitter: timbo1973
says:
Hi Ruth
My email marketing strategy for getting people to my blog is getting better and I’m pleased with the results.
I’m really terrible at getting people to sign up to stuff though. I don’t do many of those campaigns in any case but for the few I’ve done, I don’t think I managed to get anyone to buy anything.
I think that’s because of a number of reasons: my lack of experience, lack of reputation, not offering a bonus, not segmenting my subscribers (and I’m not even sure how to do this on AWeber!).
Still, I can only get better at this stuff. Some great points for me to take away.
Tim Bonner recently posted..Optimize Website On Your CPanel
There is a learning curve Tim, no doubt. But I would suggest that you not try to get anyone to ‘buy anything’. At least not at first. Try to get them to download something for free, or sign up for a course, or watch your video. Get them engaged with your brand/blog at a deeper level. That should be your first call to action. It’s about building relationships – and to the extent that email is used as a tool along those lines, it is much more effective. Creating strong calls to action is a skill that you can hone. Glad you enjoyed the post!
Ruth Zive recently posted..Is Your WordPress Website Safe & Secure?
Rather, make sure your email content pays off the promise you make in the subject line. Don’t employ a grandiose subject line just to drive up your open rate when you’re delivering mediocre content. Readers get irritated when they don’t receive what they expect. And irritated readers quickly become former readers.
Berta G. Madden recently posted..No last blog posts to return.
Adding a personal touch to your email campaign really amps your chances of being read and not dumped straight to trash. When you do an email campaign, then it’s very important to talk with your reader, not just talk about your business.
Bravo Kelly! Very true.
That awkward moment where I think I have committed one of these ‘big’ mistakes. Oh well, we all learn. I’ll be sure to keep note of this. Thanks for the share.
It’s more awkward to not realize that you’ve made the mistake; then you run the risk of making it over and over again
.Thanks for the comment Sandra.
Email marketing is still very much alive. In fact we still use this method and with the help of CRMs we’re able to take note of hot leads. It’s just a matter of knowing the process.
Thanks for sharing this with us. I’ve been looking for something like this post to share with my marketing staff. We’re going to be launching big campaigns this week and we’d be needing to make changes on how we run things.