5 Email Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

By Lauren Fenthum

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It is no surprise that in the digital era, most businesses do email marketing. On average 294 billion emails are sent daily. Sending emails to your customers is important because you stand out from the hundreds of other emails within their inbox. Sending an email is an important investment and it is vital that this time is not wasted on unread or unacted upon emails.

                                                                                 Here are a few tips you can use for the next time you send out a newsletter:

• Donotreply@domain.com - These email addresses are uninviting. Don’t be surprised if your open rate is low, these emails come across as unwelcome. Always send from an email address your customers can reply to. Another idea is to include phone numbers and any other link that will enable the customer to reach you at their convenience on their chosen platform. Try sending emails from a recognizable name within the company so that customers know whom they are interacting with.

• Image-Only Based Emails - Only 33% of email subscribers have images turned on by default, this means that your emails are showing up on the majority of your customers' screens as a blank box. There are some cases when image-only emails are necessary, for example, if you are selling something visually such as clothing.  But for the most part, text only emails have a higher click-through rate. If you do use images make sure to include simple text so that readers can take action. Remember to include a link to a web version of the email.

• Website Linking - The goal of the email is to get customers to click onto your website, and more specifically to the page of the marketing campaign that was being used in the email. Most email links take the customer to the business's home page where they then have to scroll to the marketing campaign that first got their attention. Try building a landing page for your email, that continues the original email and including a call for action button within your email.

• One Size Fits All - The most effective form of marketing is relevance; meaning that the one size fits all approach is no longer acceptable. Your message needs to be relevant for your specific target audience. This can be used as a competitive advantage because people segment their email lists making relevant emails stand out. Segmentation can lead your business to higher click-through rates as well as having a more engaged audience.

• Mobile - Up to 54% of emails are opened on a mobile device and 40% of mobile users check their emails more than four times a day. This means it is imperative for your emails to be optimized for mobile devices, if your email is relevant or not, your customers still won't be able to read it. Keep the process of diverting traffic to your website as easy as possible and make sure readers can complete their desired action.