Preventing Mistakes in Email Marketing: Disaster Recovery - Part 1

Don't you want people to READ your e-mails?

Email marketing mistakes happen to the best of us, but taking the time to learn the most common ones can help us avoid some of the pitfalls of email marketing. I've pulled together the mistakes I’ve see the most often with my clients using Swiftpage emarketing.

Email Mistake #1: Sending image only or single image emails.

Did you know, most e-mail marketing services require you to click to download images? Therefore, if you send an image only email, many of your recipients may never see your images, thus your important message to them!

Have you sent a large image at the top of your e-mail, and then put in your important message after it?

Many of the big name retailers can get away with image only emails because of the deep commitments to their brands AND the amount of money they can spend on well coded emails. Most of us smaller businesses simply can’t compete with what they can do in their emails, but we can stand out in our own ways. . .

In this same mistake category is sending a single image as your email. When working with my ACT! clients,  I would regularly receive requests to, “Turn my company brochure into an image to send as an email. It will save you time to create it and it will be quick to produce.”  My response is, “Bad idea and NOT effective, here’s why...”

As previously mentioned, most email clients don’t show images by default so all my recipients are going to see is a blank screen and an email footer. Can you say, “SPAM!”?

I also ask my clients, “Have YOU received an e-mail with just images?  What do you do? The response every time is, “I can’t see what the email is about on my mobile device, so I just delete it.”  Then the realization kicks in, and their personal feelings of frustration with other companies hit a nerve.  They don’t want to create the same mistakes with their clients and prospects. Something has to change.

How can I be more effective?

Recovery Strategy: So we caught you red handed and you don’t know how to fix your emails. The first thing you need to do is, “Stop it!” Stop sending image only or single image emails. Here are some ideas to correct your emails:

• Include a balance of text and images. Read the email without images to see if the message is clear. Use images to enhance your message rather than communicate it.

• If you are using an HTML email template, add ALT text to your images which add to your message. Avoid just describing the image itself.

• For those sending a single image email, consider creating a thumbnail version of your brochure or image and writing a brief teaser about it. Then, link the brochure or a button to the full brochure. This way, those who are most interested can download the information and you gain valuable tracking in your reports.

Email Mistake #2: Sending emails without a purpose.

Do you ever look at your emails during the day and say, "Really? Why are you bothering with another pointless message?  How can I unsubscribe to this companies email blasts?"  "Agh! Where is the Un-subscribe button???"

With email marketing, it can be tempting to think we just need to send, send, send to keep our brands in front of our customers. The problem with this way of thinking is we often send emails without a clear purpose in mind.

For example, we send an email about a product but we don’t include an offer or a clear call to action. Another example, we send an email detailing our features or business issues we have solved, but fail to edit the content to make it scannable and provide clear opportunities to click through.

Recovery Strategy: Well first of all, "Stop it!" Now that you’ve stopped, readjust your email sending strategy with some of the ideas below:

• When you are getting ready to create an email, start with the end in mind. What is the purpose of the email? Write your call to action before writing the rest of your content.

• Edit your content ruthlessly. Paragraphs in an email should be no more than 3 sentences. Include bold headlines, bulleted lists, and images to help guide your reader’s eyes through your message to your call to action(s).

Want to learn more effective tips?

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