Even today after a few years of e-mail many business are still making e-mail marketing mistakes. Lack of proper planning and small oversights can cause a campaign to fail. I have just gone through the last few days of e-mails I have received in my inbox here are some of the basic e-mail mistakes I came across.
You do not have permission
This is the biggest mistake you can make it's the fastest way to get on the spam list. It's a must for a successful campaign to have the recipients permission. This means that the recipient has given you their permission to send them an e-mail from you. This process is called single opt-in.
Now days its better to have a process called double opt-in. This is where the recipients confirms that they want to subscribe to your campaign. Whereas a single opt-in process does not have a confirmation process meaning that anybody can submit an address.
With a double opt-in list the e-mail address must be confirmed before they are added to the campaign. This is normally done by having a simple confirmation link in the body of the email along with what they are subscribing to.
Also CAN-SPAM has made it law that e-mail communications to you prospect must have the option to unsubscribe from you list, so you must have an unsubscribe link in you e-mail.
Non descriptive subject line
The subject line is your headline, its you attention grabber. If you have a weak subject line your email will not get opened up. A generic subject line such as "Business Advice" is likely to get overlooked. You need to be more specific and personal, subject lines work best when you tell the recipient what they will get when they open the mail. Do not USE CAPITAL LETTERS in your subject line its rude and impersonal, email is a personal medium so if you can put the recipients name in the subject line then all the better.
Sending Email without Checking.
Even now after several years of email it's amazing how many promotional e-mails I receive that are poorly formatted, full of grammar and spelling errors. It's important to always proof what you are writing, if your e-mail is unprofessional then this reflects on you and your company. So do not forget to spell check your email and if you can get someone else to proof read for you.
Before you start you e-mail campaign test how it looks in other e-mail readers, do not assume that just because it looks OK in you Outlook that it will be fine. Open up Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail and any other accounts you can think of, then test your e-mail format.
Not Keeping regular contact
By keeping regular contact with your prospects/clients you will always be in their mind. You should develop a e-mail marketing editorial calender that will decide what you will be sending over the next year. Remember to educate your prospect and to give them valuable information, this will help positions yourself as the expert. E-mail used this way can be an extremely cost effective way to market to your business.
Not having a branded E-mail address
Make sure that you e-mail fits in with your company brand, do not have a reply link to your Hotmail or Gmail account. Make sure that all the links in your email work correctly, if you incorporate you logo it should be clearly visible and clickable
Sending unrelated Emails out
Each e-mail that you send out should have a specific purpose, its a good idea to plan ahead an e-mail plan. Your recipients will come to know what they will get from you and if you do it right you will become a trusted source of information that targets their needs.
If you found this Blogg entry interesting you may want to take a look at Terry Deans Email Marketing Mastery course that shows you step-by-step how to build your email lists, grow your relationship with your subscribers, and make winning offers to your list. Find out more here
This author of this Article has choosen to make this article available with free reprint rights. Click here to copy this article.
Was
this article helpful to you? Leave a Public Comment or Question:
This Article has been viewed 33 times.
Article added to SearchWarp.com on Saturday, February 16, 2008 View other articles written by Freddie Dalglish(9)
If you found this article
interesting, you may want to check out:
Disclaimer: All information on this site is
provided for informational purposes only! By no means is any
information presented herein intended to substitute for the advice
provided to you by any health care or other professional or
organization.
