Avoid Email Mistakes Hurting Open Rates
As a marketer, you'll be fully aware that email marketing is a strong now as it ever has been before. Sure, the techniques have changed, and the methods may be different, more so, half the tasks we spent all day doing are now automated, but the marketing technique is still as effective as it always has been, if not more. However, many marketers are falling into the trap of making some crucial mistakes when it comes to this essential strategy. What makes it worse is that it's harming these company's open rates, costing them leads and, therefore, business.
Today, we'll explore five of these common mistakes so you can avoid making the same errors.
Not Thinking of Personalisation
In the industry, this is more commonly known as email segmentation. A good email for a 20-year-old male is not going have the same interest of a 50-year-old female. Likewise, a customer in the UK won't have the same interests as a customer in the U.S. Emails needs to be personalised depending on their recipient. The best way to achieve this is by using automated software and the analytical data that your business has access to.
This way, you can create separate mailing lists for different demographics. For example, you can divide your users by age, location, gender, customers who have items pending in your shopping basket, regular customers and language. This may sound time-consuming, but with email marketing software, it's simply a case of organising everyone, and you're done. Then you just need to create the emails themselves, and you'll find you have a much more detailed and targeted approach to your email campaign. The more personal the emails, the more likely they are to be opened.
Some websites, such as Email Monday and Constant Contact, have dedicated articles, teaching you how best to organise your mailing lists, so your company gets the best results.
Ignoring the Subject Line
Surprisingly, still one of the most commonly overlooked factors of getting an email opened is ignoring the subject line. Consider your personal inbox. How many emails do you receive a day that simply remains unopened or goes straight into your trash folder? Imagine a subject line as the headline for an article. If it doesn't jump out and grab your reader's attention, they're not going to want to read it.
If you're struggling to come up with captivating subject lines, you can always invest in the assistance of a professional writer. Website and online tools such as Portent and Big Assignments are ideal for sourcing great sounding subject lines that will attract the attention of your readers.
Not Utilising Automation Software
As I've already mentioned several times in this article, email automation software is readily available for you to use. However, to maximise your business's opportunities, it's important that you consider all the angles you can take to ensure you're retaining, retargeting and optimising the number of leads your business can have. The more leads you have, the more potential sales you can make.
For example, let's say you own an online store selling some form of product. Some users may do a bit of shopping on your website, but then they leave for whatever reason, items still pending in their basket. However, no matter what reason they left, their busy lives may prevent them or even make them forget that they were shopping at all. If they don't return to your website, you've lost a sale that you were so close to achieving. Setting up automated emails to target users in these situations is vital to your success.
Going on and on and on….
Once you have got a reader to open your emails, then the real challenge begins. If you've started with a killer subject line, but the content doesn't match, you're quickly going to lose customers, and your business's credibility will also suffer. This means re-writing your emails over and over again to ensure they are communicating the exact message that you want them to say. In theory, it could take weeks to come up with an email that draws users to your website, but if it works, it's time well spent.
To ensure your emails are written to the highest quality, websites, such as State of Writing or Write My Essay can provide you with writing guidelines as well as all the online tools you'll need to check the grammar of your emails to ensure that it reads well. Similarly, you can use online communities such as Paper Fellows to request advice from expert writers that can proofread your work while helping you to write your emails to the best of your ability.
Having a 'That will do' Kind-Of Attitude
Now that you've got a winning subject line and a winning email, it's time to perfect your content to ensure it's the best it can be. Too many marketers create emails they think are perfect, send them out only to realise they are full of mistakes and errors, once again driving away customers and damaging their credibility. Ensure that you edit your emails several times to ensure that they are perfect. If you in any way doubt your skills, you can enlist the help of third-party services, such as Academized or Resumention, who can edit your email content on your behalf or you can either unsend emails that you want.
Writing emails may seem like a daunting task, or it may seem easy, but there are a lot of processes that go into making a successful email marketing strategy. By avoiding the most common mistakes and by investing your time in the right places, you can successful increase your open rate, your lead volume and therefore your number of potential sales.
*Bonus: Not sure when to send out your email campaign? This post will help you find the best time to ensure great results.About the author:
Gloria Kopp is a digital marketer and an elearning consultant at UK Writings. Besides, she is a contributing author at Engadget, Huffingtonpost, Essayroo, etc. Gloria also writes a Studydemic educational blog for students and educators.Declutter your email with Mailbird. Give it a free try now.