Good email marketing can rock your brand, but if you’re overenthusiastic about landing in someone’s inbox, it can hurt your brand in the long-run.
I’ve covered some of the rules of being a good e-marketer before with Email Subject Lines: Dos & Don’ts and How to Personalize Email Marketing, but today we’re going to get down and dirty.
Here are the three email marketing mistakes I see most often.
#1: Don’t send an email if you don’t have anything to say
If you’re sending emails just for the sake of sending emails, please stop.
My guess is that it’s no fun for you to create those emails and I can guarantee it’s no fun for your recipients either.
The point of email is to engage, but if you are just sending drivel in order to stay top of mind, you’re not actually winning any fans. If the people on your list find your emails to be useless, then you (and your company) become irrelevant and you’ve wasted your time and theirs.
You don’t have to wait for BIG NEWS, but if you’re boring yourself, hire a copywriter to help you create a content calendar and come up with some interesting ideas.
#2: Sending to anyone and everyone
Have you ever attended a networking event and then a week later been flooded with newsletters? Annoying isn’t it? Don’t be one of those people who take every single email address they can find and adds it to their list.
Why not? Email should help build trust and nurture relationships, but if you have bulldozed your way into the party, you’re already already damaged the relationship.
Even worse, many people will unsubscribe from your list and/or complain about you, which can lead to you being black-listed by email hosting companies. The end result? Your email doesn’t get delivered.
#3: Flooding the Inbox
The number one reason people unsubscribe from email lists is because they get too much email.
What’s too much? It depends on how good your content is, and what you promised your list. But if you send out three similar emails in five days, that’s probably a bit much for most people.
There’s a delicate balance between sending reminders on timely information and sending spam.
You’ll also find some people are okay with a weekly email, while others find that to be overkill. One simple way to get around that is to segment your list and offer people a choice on the type, and frequency, of the email they receive from you.
As an example, let’s say you send out:
- weekly industry news
- monthly webinar announcements
- the occasional promotional notice
Some people will be interested in the webinars, while others won’t. Rather than continuing to send people email about things they don’t care about, you can give them a choice on the type of content they receive. This helps ensure that you keep your list engaged without overwhelming them.
Making mistakes is human, but it’s hard to come back from email marketing mistakes. So just remember: email is a powerful tool, but that power comes with responsibility. Think toward long-term relationships rather than quick sales.
Chances are if you take the time to build the relationships, then the sales will come too.