Having revealed the numerous advantages of email highlighted above, its superiority over social media becomes evident. However, it’s crucial to remember that it’s the strategic balance of both email and social media marketing that can effectively drive sales and expand your reach.
What you should know about email marketing mistakes
Insights on Email Marketing Mistakes: A Summary of Our Findings
Frequent occurrences of panic due to email marketing mistakes have led us to compile a report based on survey responses. Here are some key takeaways:
1. Pre-deployment testing is essential for preventing errors: Our research indicates that errors are more prevalent when pre-deployment testing is not conducted on every email. Approximately six in 10 respondents who failed to test every email reported sending emails with at least one mistake.
2. Larger email teams utilize pre-deployment checklists more often: Over 50% of respondents adhere to a written pre-deployment checklist. Notably, larger email teams are more inclined to follow checklists, thereby reducing the likelihood of errors.
3. Incorporating email testing automation can mitigate errors: Given that pre-deployment testing predominantly remains a manual process for most marketers, there is a notable margin for error. Implementing testing automation, regardless of team size or sending frequency, is a crucial step towards error reduction.
4. Larger teams may overestimate the accuracy of their emails: Brands that frequently send campaigns within shorter timeframes are more susceptible to making mistakes in emails. Common errors include inaccuracies in email copy, incorrect links, and misdirected recipients. Assess how your email team compares in terms of error prevention measures.
10 common email marketing mistakes
Email marketing mistakes can be both unforeseen and expensive. Whether it’s a rendering problem in the inbox, sending an email to the wrong recipient, or distributing email content filled with formatting, spelling, and grammar errors, the consequences of such mistakes can impact your return on investment (ROI).
In this segment, we’ll review the 10 prevalent email marketing errors. Let’s begin!
1. Letting the quality drop because of a pressing deadline
Many of us have likely experienced this scenario: the email deadline looms, and panic sets in about meeting it on time. Consequently, shortcuts are taken, resulting in a lackluster email being sent.
To avoid this predicament, it’s crucial to establish a solid plan well in advance. While working on a campaign close to the deadline isn’t necessarily wrong, having a plan in place can help manage time effectively. For instance, if you have a two-week timeframe to complete a project, allocate the first week for planning tasks such as design, and dedicate the second week to content creation. Planning ahead not only saves time but also alleviates the stress associated with email marketing.
Additionally, maintaining a marketing calendar can be highly beneficial. By marking campaign dates, important events, and holidays, you can easily visualize what needs to be accomplished and by when, without encountering any last-minute hassles.
2. Your images don’t render for all your readers
There are moments when everything seems perfectly aligned in your email: the images complement the text, there’s a balanced image-to-text ratio, and you’ve crafted the ideal message. However, discovering that some of your subscribers can’t view the images due to rendering issues can be disheartening, especially after putting in all that effort.
To prevent this scenario, utilize our Campaign Precheck functionality to inspect your images. This tool verifies that all images in your email will render correctly and promptly for every subscriber. By addressing any issues beforehand, you can ensure a seamless experience for all recipients.
Additionally, some email clients automatically block images, which can be addressed by adding alt text. Alt text provides context for subscribers who use screen readers or digital assistants, such as Alexa or Siri, enabling them to comprehend the image’s significance even when it’s not visible. Furthermore, ensure that you upload images to your digital marketing software’s library to ensure proper hosting within your email. If you use external image URLs, ensure they are hosted on a public web server to prevent any breakage.
Lastly, preview how your email will render across various email clients and devices before sending it out. It’s crucial to confirm that your email appears correctly on mobile devices, laptops, tablets, PCs, and across different email clients like Zoho Mail, Gmail, and Microsoft Outlook.
3. You send a wrong (or broken) link
This scenario is undoubtedly the epitome of a facepalm moment for email marketers. A wrong or broken URL in the call-to-action (CTA) button or within the email copy is a nightmare situation.
Consider this: your company is hosting its largest sale of the year, and various versions of your crucial email are being sent out to different segments of your subscriber list. However, upon reviewing your web traffic analytics, you realize that no one is taking advantage of the sale because the primary CTA link is broken, preventing users from accessing the offer. It’s a surefire way to plummet your click-through rate!
To avoid such a mishap, meticulously verify every link, redirect, and URL before sending your email. You can manually check these elements within your campaign editor or utilize Campaign Precheck to automatically confirm that each URL within your email directs users to the intended destination.
Another strategy is to strategically position and embed the CTA and inline links at the outset of your email. This allows you to review and validate them early on while refining the remainder of your layout.
4. You overlook typos and other common email copy mistakes
While enlisting a colleague to proofread your email copy can be helpful, it’s inevitable that they may overlook some typos from time to time. While some errors may seem insignificant enough to escape notice, others, such as accidental profanities, can severely damage your brand’s reputation. A simple slip of the finger could transform innocuous words into potentially offensive content for subscribers. While such mistakes may be laughed off in face-to-face interactions, in the realm of email marketing, they require immediate response and follow-up emails to rectify the error. Remember, grammar mistakes and typos can have a significant impact on your conversion rates.
To mitigate such risks, utilize Campaign Precheck’s Spell Check tool before sending any campaign. This comprehensive tool reviews every aspect of your email, from the subject line to the body copy, alt text, and even the HTML code, ensuring that all content is error-free and maintains your brand’s professionalism.
5. Your font isn’t supported
When individuals engage with text, their reading pattern is influenced by three factors: fixation, saccade, and scan path. Fixation denotes the points within the text where the human eye pauses and concentrates, while saccade represents the movement between fixations along a line. Scan path refers to the trajectory that the eyes follow to read the entirety of the content within an email.
Given these dynamics, the choice of fonts significantly impacts the readability of content. Occasionally, marketers opt for unsupported fonts, such as custom brand fonts, which may render imperfectly in recipients’ inboxes. Custom fonts differ from email fonts, leading to potential rendering issues in certain email clients.
To circumvent this challenge, utilize a special category of fonts known as web-safe fonts. These fonts are predominantly employed by marketers as they render flawlessly across all email clients. Additionally, email clients like Gmail, Apple Mail, or Outlook are equipped with fallback fonts to address unsupported font types. Common web-safe fonts include Arial, Roboto, Helvetica, and Calibri. Alternatively, you can style email CSS with licensed web fonts sourced from various providers.
6. Your dynamic content doesn’t render correctly
Email personalization has long been a favored technique to resonate with subscribers, but unfortunately, it can sometimes backfire. Consider a scenario where your brand is hosting an annual sale, offering a 50% discount to customers of five years and a 30% discount to those of three years. Now, imagine sending a dynamic message to your customer list, only to realize that instead of displaying the unique coupon code like “OFFER50” or “SAVE30,” it reads as generic as “DISCOUNT CODE.”
Issues like this can also arise in basic emails. A personalized email may greet the recipient with “Hi FNAME” if their first name field is empty in your mailing list. Empty merge tags or dynamic content fields can be frustrating for both you and your subscribers. It’s essential to recognize that dynamic personalization functions optimally when your subscriber lists are well-organized.
To avoid such mishaps, segment your email lists and create specific groups for your audience, ensuring that subscribers with missing details never encounter flubbed merge tags instead of dynamic content. Additionally, when syncing contacts from external sources into your email software, meticulously map all possible and relevant fields to personalize future messages effectively.
In cases of data silos, it’s imperative to revisit and re-organize them in a coherent manner. With stringent email marketing regulations like GDPR in place, standardizing data collection and storage methods is crucial. Eliminate extraneous data and focus solely on storing critical details such as recipients’ preferences, purchase history, and demographic information to facilitate email segmentation and personalization.
7. You send the right email – but at the wrong time
Another common email blunder is failing to deliver an email at the optimal time when your subscribers are most likely to engage with it. For instance, sending an email to recipients while they’re asleep might result in it being buried beneath other brands’ emails by the time they wake up, significantly reducing its impact, open rates, and click-through rates.
To avoid this, it’s crucial to understand when and where your subscribers are most likely to open an email. If your audience typically engages with emails around mid-morning, schedule your emails accordingly. Utilizing smart email tools powered by machine learning (ML) can also assist in identifying the optimal time for each email contact to open their emails. Solutions such as send time optimization from Sinch Mailgun can provide valuable insights in this regard.
Additionally, if your recipients reside in different countries and time zones, leveraging tools like Email on Acid’s Advanced Analytics can help gather specific information about their email activity. By using a calendar to mark the dates and times for your email deployments, you can strategically avoid sending emails during periods of low engagement.
8. You want to revert to an earlier email version – but you didn’t save it
It’s not uncommon to invest significant time into refining an email layout, adjusting content placement, CTA buttons, and branding colors, only to realize that the initial version may have been more effective or responsive. This scenario can be particularly stressful if the deadline for sending the email is imminent and you haven’t saved previous versions.
To avoid this predicament, it’s essential to save multiple versions of your email as you make changes. Whether you’re tweaking a template design or conducting a complete overhaul, maintaining copies of each iteration allows you to revert to previous versions if necessary. Even if you’re creating numerous iterations, saving each one ensures you have a record of your progress and enables you to reference successful elements for future campaigns. This practice not only saves time but also facilitates the optimization of email templates over time.
9. You don’t replace the default subject line and preheader
Indeed, this is a prevalent blunder. It’s easy to unintentionally leave filler text in the email subject line and preheader text without adding the actual content. This oversight can significantly diminish your open rate, akin to flushing your efforts down the drain.
To prevent this error, opt for low-fidelity email copy instead of filler text. By doing so, even if you neglect to update your subject line before sending, it will remain on-brand and relevant. Additionally, leverage our Campaign Precheck tool to thoroughly test your subject lines prior to sending, ensuring they are optimized and error-free.
10. You send your email to the wrong person
Although this mishap is more common with personal emails, it can still occur with professional correspondence.
To prevent this, automate your email sends and consistently maintain the hygiene of your mailing list.
Wrapping up
Email marketing errors and rendering challenges can indeed pose significant challenges and expenses. However, by integrating these tips and strategies into your email marketing approach, you can mitigate these issues in your future campaigns. Establishing robust data organization and meticulous email creation practices serve as paramount techniques to circumvent email mishaps.
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