9 Email Marketing Mistakes You Must Avoid At All Costs
Email marketing must flow like a conversation — avoid the email marketing mistakes to build a connection with your subscribers.
Despite being almost 50 years old, Email marketing is still growing.
And guess what, by 2027, it’s projected to generate close to $18 billion in revenue.
Whether you’d be able to get a piece of that pie depends on how you handle your email marketing.
While you must follow the best practices, you should also steer clear of the mistakes that can sink your ship.
Here are 9 mistakes you must avoid at all costs.
9 Email Marketing Mistakes You Must Avoid At All Costs
1. Never purchase an email list
This is one of the biggest email marketing mistakes.
While purchasing a list immediately gives you a “large” subscriber base, it does more harm than good.
The people you’ll send the emails to didn’t sign up for emails. They can flag your email as spam and ruin your overall performance.
Another problem is, these people might not be interested at all in your product. They won’t open the emails and will make your open rate poorer.
2. Don’t collect email addresses without permission
It’s tempting to get a directory or website and collect email IDs from them.
You might even find people who have similar interests. However, you still don’t have permission to send marketing emails to them.
3. Similarly, don’t use someone else’s email list to send your emails
Just because they’ve given permission to that person, doesn’t mean you have the right to send your messages.
Permission is very important in email marketing. You must not break this rule as this is in direct contradiction with CAN-SPAM compliance.
4. Never spending enough time on the subject line
Most people don’t open marketing emails.
The average open rate is around 20%. That means, 4 out of 5 people aren’t opening your emails.
You must do everything in your power to increase the numbers. That can happen if you spend time crafting an enticing subject line.
5. Not utilizing the preview text
The preview text gives the readers an idea about the content of the email.
If they’re on the fence about opening the mail, the preview text can push them. Or the preview text can have information that’s enough to get an “open”.
The opposite might happen too. You might lose readers because of a poorly written preview text.
6. Failing to keep in contact with your list
Email marketing is close to having a conversation with your customers.
The fewer conversations you have, the more distant you grow. And if you have too much, you end up irritating them.
Don’t ghost or flood them. Be regular.
7. Not Optimizing content for mobile
3 out of 5 emails are opened on mobile devices.
Your email might look good or load pretty fast on a desktop device. However, you’re only getting to ~40% of your audience through desktops.
Keep optimizing the mobile format so that you are focusing on where your audience is.
8. Ignoring the unsubscribe button
The audiences must find it easy to unsubscribe. Your part is to keep a button that allows them to unsubscribe.
Failure to do so violates CAN-SPAM compliance.
9. Only pushing sales through discounts and promotions
We all have that friend who only calls when he needs something.
And then, there’s radio silence.
How many times does that have to happen before you stop picking up the phone? How many times do you think your reader will wait before unsubscribing?
Final Thoughts on Email Marketing Mistakes
Email Marketing is just like a conversation.
Don’t try to force a conversation (take permission), be relevant, and don’t waste their time and focus on a long-term relationship.
