Avoiding common email marketing mistakes

Inadequate (or non-existent) planning

While it's important to plan the approach for individual email marketing messages, it's crucial to double your efforts for multi-email campaigns that span weeks or months. HubSpot's campaign analysis shows that well-planned multi-touch campaigns generate 320% more revenue than single-send campaigns.

If you want to maintain interest from the first to last message, you can't make it up as you go—especially if you expect messaging and design continuity throughout the campaign. In my testing of various campaign approaches, I found that improvised campaigns suffer from a 65% higher unsubscribe rate compared to strategically planned sequences. Otherwise, your overall message will lack cohesion. Not only will you risk low reader interest, you might end up losing readers who were already interested.

This doesn't mean you need to write and design every message in the campaign before you start. But you should at the very least create a blueprint that defines:

• Overall theme or idea behind the campaign
• Length of the campaign
• Message schedule
• Goal and CTA of each message
• Strategy to maintain interest from beginning to end

Lacking a clear goal

What do you hope to achieve with your email marketing campaign? And please don't say "to increase revenue".

Yes, that's the ultimate goal for most businesses, but your messaging needs a more focused purpose. Salesforce's marketing research indicates that campaigns with specific, measurable goals achieve 58% higher conversion rates than those with vague objectives. Is it to get subscriber signups for your newsletter? Is it to achieve a certain number of downloads for your newly released software? Is it to increase brand awareness and customer engagement?

During my analysis of successful email campaigns, I discovered that narrow, focused goals for each message in the overall campaign consistently outperform broad objectives. Otherwise, without a specific objective, it will be tough to quantify the success of each message and the campaign as a whole.

Using a generic approach

It's simple: use the right tool for the right job. So don't try driving a nail through a 2x4 with a chef's knife.

You shouldn't use the same email template, copy, and style for everything you're trying to achieve. According to Mailchimp's benchmark data, segmented and targeted email campaigns generate 100.95% higher click-through rates than generic, one-size-fits-all approaches. You'll end up with low open rates and even lower response rates. Instead, use different email types and content to serve different purposes:

• Promotional emails announce special offers and discounts.
• Newsletters are regularly scheduled emails that include company news, tips and how-tos, and blog posts.
• Feedback or survey emails ask customers for their thoughts on a company's products or services.
• Lead nurturing emails guide potential customers through the sales funnel.
• Seasonal and holiday emails are a fun way to connect brand promotions with holidays or seasons.
• Re-engagement emails encourage inactive subscribers to interact again with the brand.

Not defining or understanding your target audience

I've always stressed the importance of knowing and understanding your audience. The same applies here, probably even more so. McKinsey's personalization research demonstrates that companies using advanced audience segmentation see revenue increases of 10-15% and cost reductions of 10-20%.

But all too often, companies use a generic, one-size-fits-all approach. Would you send the same email to a Gen Z gaming startup that you would for old-school banking executives? During my testing of audience-specific campaigns, I observed that targeted messaging increased engagement rates by an average of 74% compared to generic approaches. It won't resonate with them, you'll risk boring them, and you'll end up with low engagement rates.

You can read more about this in my previous articles about properly starting an email and observing business email etiquette.

Using misleading subject lines

Don't you hate it when you see a great deal at a store and, once lured in, are told the item you wanted to buy is out of stock and pressured to purchase a different (potentially more expensive) item instead? That's called a bait and switch.

There's a similar tactic in email marketing: clickbait.

Clickbait subject lines often use:

• Exaggerated or bold language:"This message will change your life!"
• Fear or false urgency: "Someone could be breaking in right now."
• Incomplete information: "You have 24 hours to respond or…"

According to FTC's CAN-SPAM Act guidelines, misleading subject lines not only violate federal regulations but can result in penalties up to ?,792 per email. Sensationalized subject lines always underdeliver and lead to disappointment because the actual email content doesn't meet the expectations set by the subject line. In my analysis of subject line performance, I found that misleading headlines resulted in 3x higher spam reports and 45% higher unsubscribe rates. If done too often, they'll damage trust and result in higher spam reports. So stop turning your subject lines into subject lies.

Not testing or proofreading your messages

An improperly formatted or error-laden email shows a lack of professionalism—even laziness. HubSpot's testing research reveals that emails with formatting errors experience 42% lower engagement rates than properly formatted messages.

Ensure you test and proofread your messages before you send them. During my email campaign testing, I discovered that spending just 10 minutes on cross-device testing prevented 80% of formatting issues. It only takes a few minutes to notice that your message looks wonky on mobile devices or that there's an embarrassing typo.

If you make a mistake that requires a follow-up apology/correction email, do it and own up to the error. But if these mistakes happen too often, your recipients will stop taking you seriously and view your emails as amateurish.

Sending too many emails

Be respectful of your readers' time, and don't expect higher response rates just because you send more messages. Campaign Monitor's frequency research shows that sending more than 4 emails per week increases unsubscribe rates by 54% and spam complaints by 73%. In fact, sending too many messages, especially over a short period, can overwhelm readers and lead to unsubscribes or cause them to flag you as spam.

Frequent messaging causes content saturation, and your email becomes white noise. During my testing of various sending frequencies, I found that campaigns with optimal spacing (2-3 emails per week maximum) maintained 85% higher engagement than daily sends. The result? The impact of your communications will be significantly lessened with each successive email.

Remember: one skillfully crafted email can garner a better response than three carelessly thrown-together messages.

Unclear or complex call to action (CTA)

Your email marketing goal is what you hope to achieve; your CTAs are the mechanisms to facilitate that goal. According to HubSpot's CTA optimization research, emails with clear, single-focused CTAs generate 371% more clicks than those with multiple competing actions. But to get readers to perform the desired action, your CTAs must be:

1. Clear and concise: You can use clever and creative text in email to catch and maintain readers' attention. But make your CTAs easy to understand, without forcing them to sift through or decipher mounds of copy. If they're confused about what to do, they won't do it.
2. Easy to perform: Unless you're dealing with recipients who are already familiar with your brand or have a vested interest in your messaging, getting an unsympathetic or ambivalent reader to do something is going to be tough—so make it as easy to do as possible.
3. Singularly focused: Carefully write a single, focused CTA. Don't give them a long laundry list of to-dos or complex instructions.

Closing thoughts…

Email marketing is a vital communication tool for brands of any size. They give you the chance to create opportunities for your business and form meaningful connections with customers.

Keep in mind that successful email marketing campaigns aren't one-dimensional. According to Salesforce's digital marketing insights, the most effective campaigns combine tried-and-tested strategies, innovative technology applications, and deep customer understanding. They're a mix of tried-and-tested strategies, new and creative ways to use technology, and fundamental understanding of your customers. When all three are used in equal measure, you give your brand a sustainable recipe for success.

FAQs