Email marketing is not an exact science. What works for some might not work for others. There are some things that are doomed to hurt everybody’s email marketing strategy. Here are three we still see committed with some regularity.
1. You call it a newsletter
Including the word “newsletter” in your email subject lines decreases the click-through rate by 30%. Do I need to say anything more? Your email program should be positioned as an invitation to become part of the solution. It is tempting to think everyone is holding their breath for your next email, but the reality is that most people don’t. Even people who love you. The reality is that the average person is being bombarded with emails from every direction.
What to do: Your email should be positioned as something that serves your audience. Example: “Sign up to receive our newsletter” should be “Join our club.” That is positioning. Be creative with your subject line, if that is hard just put a question in the subject line.
2. You are sending out too much at once
A trend I have been noticing is sending a weekly digest. There are two problems with this. First, it is essentially the same problem as above – different word than “newsletter” but still focused inward. Secondly, I don’t know about you, but I am already being bombarded with content. I get overwhelmed by emails with too many options or emails that are too long.
What to do: Start by looking at your own email. Would you wade through all the content you push out? Consider splitting the content up into more than one email. Currently the favorite email I receive is daily. Yep daily! One picture, two sentences. Less truly can be more.
3. Your emails have no personality.
People read personal emails so when you write with no personality you aren’t sounding more professional, but actually you are sounding boring.
What to do: Notice what emails you enjoy reading. Does your brand have a personality. Start defining it so that you can start writing emails with a voice. Also start using names in the from field instead of a business name. It makes a difference.
Hopefully these tips will help you avoid or correct some of the common pitfalls.
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