Email marketing allows you to communicate with many different people quickly. Because it is a powerful marketing tool, building up an extensive email list that is effective requires a lot of work and effort. Email marketing, when executed correctly, gives you higher open and deliverability rates as well as return on investments. It can kill your business and relationship with your prospects before it even starts when poorly executed.
While you continually work hard to grow your list, you’ll sometimes notice a few drops now and then. Some of your direct actions may be causing the decline in email numbers, and if you want to establish trust, you want to avoid driving away email subscribers at all costs.
Ways Your Emails Might Be Killing Your Business
The following are some ways your emails might be killing your business. Consider them keenly, and apply changes where necessary –
- You do not have a domain name – this is a severe problem, and this kind of error can destroy your business. Sending emails to your customers from public domains is unprofessional and does not speak well. In some cases where your customers try to contact you and your website will serve an error web page to them or keep getting multiple “bounced” messages, they stop trying and move on to your competition.
- You do not have a company email – your email is a huge part of your branding and professional identity, especially your business email, it’s not just an electronic postal address. Cryptic email addresses like ‘pinky107’ ‘mad4larry’ ‘blackgoddesses’ instantly make your subscribers assume you are a spammer and your emails are most likely to end up blocked or in spam. Your email address should have a proper domain name that is easy to spell and remember. It should provide adequate contact information that makes subscribers trust your business. If you do not have a business email address, set one up using your name or company name. The truth is, no one is likely to do business with you if they don’t know who you are.
- Your messages are irrelevant – Irrelevant subject line and content is a bad thing, and it can easily annoy subscribers who have signed up with high expectations for relevant and valuable information. You’re likely to get ignored and deleted with this kind of email practice. Your subscribers have trusted you with their email addresses, and the least you can do is add value to their day by providing them with relevant, timely information through different types of content, such as articles, newsletters, blogs, or how-to videos and images that explain how to solve the problem they’re facing. Stay away from sending self-promotional materials. Research what your customers want to determine what information will help drive them closer to the sale. Always focus on information that is engaging, helpful, and adds value to the customer experience. When you provide information that solves a problem, your prospects will be willing to share more data about themselves, and they are more likely to read through and not ignore the message sent.
- The frequency of your emails- another major point after relevant information, and it plays a significant role in how susceptible you are to opt-outs. As much as subscribers want valuable information, they also do not want it all at once, and sending too many emails translates to spam-like behavior, and it can be unpleasant. Sending emails twice a day, every day of the week is a lot. You want to avoid the spam folder. Focus on providing great content with a well-planned schedule, even if you email your list once a month. They’ll appreciate quality content over quantity.
- Long lengthy emails – you’re not writing a novel, and a lengthy email will get ignored. We live in a busy, fast-paced world, and no one has the time or patience to read lengthy paragraphs in your emails. Keep your message short and concise; break up your message into bullet points and smaller nuggets that can easily be read by scanning. Communicate the purpose of the email in short texts that give them a reason to act on the message.
- Your emails are not mobile-friendly – More than half of all emails are opened on a mobile device, and many people are reading emails on a mobile device because they are easily accessible. It is crucial to optimize your emails for both desktop and mobile layouts. You want to avoid situations where your subscriber has to do the extra work of zooming in and out, just to view the email. Avoid tiny fonts that can make your text difficult to read, use a single-column layout, and your design and content must be simple without unnecessary clutter and ads that distract from the essentials. A good tip – always to preview your email and make sure it still looks great on mobile before sending it.
- Sending emails without proofreading – The quality of your email determines how you are perceived—from misspelled words, not capitalizing the first words in sentences, repetition, grammatical errors, etc. These kinds of mistakes can be off-putting, mostly when they consistently occur. So, before you hit send, make sure to double-check that there are no errors. Also, a thorough read will ensure that the messages are concise to avoid any misunderstandings.
- Fine-tune your email etiquette – find a balance. You do not want to be too informal and overly familiar or very formal and direct in your emails. It also helps when you personalize messages to your subscribers, especially when you have their names, it makes them more willing to read emails. People are unlikely to be offended if you are too formal, but some may think you are rude if you are too informal. Identify your customer’s persona before you craft your messages. Do not ever write with emotions, over-familiar language, slang, or abbreviations like ‘OMG’ ‘LOL’ or overuse exclamation marks that confuse the reader. Always think about the reader. The old-age personal greeting “Hi” is not really appropriate for business emails unless the recipient is familiar. A new subscriber who doesn’t know anything about the business might not take too kindly to it. Rather than go for the personal approach, focus on building a relationship first by providing relevant content.
Conclusion
Above all, the main goal of your email is to keep your subscribers hooked.
It should always contain valuable information at all times, a schedule that doesn’t overwhelm them with emails and make them consider opting out.
With practice and extra effort, you’ll get the hang of it and understand the type of emails that produce the best response, increase your open and deliverability rates, and build long-term beneficial relationships.