Email campaigns are one of the best ways to get information out to mass groups of potential clients and/or customers. They’re also one of the many ways that businesses harm themselves. It might take six or seven emails before someone opens one up but it only takes one bad email to get sent to the spam folder or worse; having people unsubscribe entirely. Here are 7 Do Not’s and our suggestions on how you can turn a spam-worthy email into a marketable success:
1. Don’t Send So Many!
This isn’t young love; this is your business. No matter how great what you’re selling is no audience wants to be contacted all the time. The numbers tell us that the first couple of emails you send to a new client are going to be the most successful. After that, there’s a higher rate of unsubscribing. What’s this mean for you? Be catchy, be concise, and don’t send so many emails! The magic number? About one email every two weeks.
2. Don’t Say So Much!
Long letters aren’t the way to go when it comes to emails. No matter what you’re saying keep in mind that your email is going to get a less warm reception if the person reading it has to scroll. If possible keep your emails short and no more than two scrolls. Past that and the numbers say people start to lose interest. Need to put a lot of information out? Try linking you email to a blog containing more information.
3. Don’t Forget Your Audience!
Look, if you’re a women’s life magazine then you probably shouldn’t be marketing to twenty-year old men. Know your audience. And what’s more, don’t be afraid to create multiple, personalized email’s for a campaign. Target your audiences by separating them into groups and sending more personalized emails. For return customers be sure to send an even more personalized email.
4. Don’t Become Spam!
Avoid being sent to the spam graveyard by keeping your emails small, never over using words like “free” and “promotion”, avoid unnecessary capitalization (especially in the subject line), and NEVER PURCHASE EMAIL LISTS. Chances are, if you’ve bought an email list and somehow manage to make it out of spam-land, your email is going to get unsubscribed for violating numbero 3 of this “Don’t” list.
5. Don’t Look Shady/Keep Your Subject Lines Professional!
FREE for A LiMiTeD TIME ONLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
…Would you open an email with that subject line? If the answer is “yes” then you now know why your computer got that virus last year. In a society hyperconscious of phishing and cyber attacks, it’s your duty to ensure that your emails don’t look like the next big scam. Keep those subject lines classy and crisp; save the wit for your email.
6. Don’t Make Your Emails Inaccessible on Mobile Devices!
Duh.
7. Don’t Have Crummy Content!
If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a thousand times: content is King with a capital “K”. If you’ve followed every single rule up to this point but someone opens up an email expecting to donate to starving children in the Sudan and instead find themselves presented with an email campaign for new shoes, you’re about to have a problem on your hands. Be witty. Be Funny. Heck, be irreverent or on the nose. But don’t have unrelated or boring content.
