How a business and brand portrays itself has a huge impact on how that brand is built from the perspective of the customers and potential customers. Email messaging can be a highly effective tool in building your brand, because it can be easily personalized based on the individual receiving it. Mistakes happen, but it’s always best to avoid them whenever possible. And, when it comes to email marketing, there are certain classic mistakes that seem all too common.
Missing a Welcome
Most people expect to get a welcome email when they subscribe to something. If they don’t get that email confirmation, they may actually wonder if they were subscribed at all. Sending out a quick welcome email is a really easy way to start building the foundation of a relationship between you and your subscribers. It’s incredible that over 40% of businesses miss out on this easy opportunity to make a great first impression. Having an automated email sent out as subscribers sign up is the easiest way to avoid this mistake.
Bombarding Your Readers
Just because someone has agreed to receive emails from you, it doesn’t mean that their inbox filled on a daily basis with messages from you. In fact, one of the quickest ways you can send people looking for the unsubscribe button is to overwhelm them with email messages. Send out only the most relevant messages, with information your subscribers will find value in. Too many irrelevant messages will likely mean they’ll start tuning you out and could lead to eventually unsubscribing from your list altogether.
Not Segmenting Your List
Even though they’re all subscribed to your email list, that doesn’t mean that all of your readers have the same interests and same needs to address. One of the most common mistakes that continues to be made by email marketers is sending out the same message to all subscribers. This means some in your list will be getting messages that are of no relevance to them and, as already outlined, getting repeated messages with zero value to the reader can lead to subscription termination. Create segmented groups within your email list, based on the specific needs and interests of your readers so that you’re better able to send messages that are of high relevance to each group.
Making It Hard to Leave
If a subscriber no longer wants to receive messages from you, the last thing you’ll want to do is make it more difficult than it needs to be for them to unsubscribe from your list. Some marketers will go as far as omitting their unsubscribe link from their email messages or hiding them where they’re hard to find. “You’ve got to understand one thing – if someone wants to be removed from your list, making it difficult for them to do this does not help keep them or elevate your reputation,” explains Communications Manager Sam Thompson, from EliteAssignmentHelp and BigAssignments. Being respectful of someone’s wishes to unsubscribe, and even asking for a simple reason for the request is probably the best route to take.
Poor Email Copy
When you’re sending out messages from a business, you want to make sure you’re putting forward your best impression. That means, no mistakes in the grammar and punctuation, and a proper tone in the message. Not doing any of these will reflect poorly on the business, so it’s important to review emails before their sent out.
It doesn’t matter if you’re selling Cadillacs or hamburgers, if your email messages are poorly written, it lessens the level of professionalism and legitimacy, as well as the weight your message carries. Not only do you want your messages to be error-free, but you want them to convey the tone of your brand. If you’re looking for some help with creating email copy that reflects the voice of your brand and is error-free, there are plenty of online resources you can turn to:
- MyWritingWay and ViaWriting – Two fantastic email writing guides you can tap to get your content written with the exact tone you’re looking for
- Academized and PaperFellows – Either of these editing tools, as mentioned at AustralianReviewer, can help find and eliminate errors from the messages
- AcademAdvisor and Studydemic – When you’re looking for help with checking grammar, either of these online resources can help
- AustralianHelp and OxEssays – For proofreading help, look no further than one of these two tools
- SimpleGrad and WritingPopulist – Get your messages perfectly formatted when you use these online resources
- StateOfWriting – You’ll need catchy subject lines, subheadings and action words to grab and hold your readers’ attention – here’s where to go to get all of those
Getting the Name Wrong
When you’re addressing subscriber personally within your message, the one thing you don’t want to do is get that name wrong. Not only will they thing they’ve received an email meant for someone else, but it’ll also look highly unprofessional on your part. Double check all merge tag syntax to ensure it’s drawing the right entry for messages.
Sending out email messages to your subscribers can be a highly effective tool, if done properly. Avoiding these common mistakes can help you make your messages more impactful with your readers.
