13 common mistakes that can cause email campaigns to fail
In 2019, Databox reports that 52% of marketers made at least 2 to 5 errors in their email strategy.
Even if email remains a powerful tool for converting your leads, it is possible to go wrong. How? ‘Or’ What? By making any of these mistakes.
1. Not welcoming new subscribers
A new user has just subscribed to your mailing list? That’s excellent news! But the mistake would be to let it marinate until your next campaign.
The welcome emails are essential to capture your prospects directly. Why? Because by the time they get this message, users are probably still on your site. So now is the perfect time to increase their shopping cart or encourage them to convert.
Also, welcome emails open at higher rates than any other message. However, that’s not all. They generate 320% more revenue than any other campaign, have a 336% higher transaction rate and 196% lower click-through rates than other email campaigns.
It is up to you to make the most of it.
2. Send the wrong remarketing content
The goal of remarketing involves sending targeted emails out to subscribers who have taken action on your site:
- Purchase,
- Download,
- Adding to wishlist, etc.
These leads are much more likely to convert than new visitors.
However, this method is only effective if you use it intelligently, taking into account the maturity of the prospect and their positioning in the buying cycle.
Example
Take the example of a customer who buys a pair of shoes from your store. You can target him with emails that contain clothes, accessories, and other related products. This is quite a good idea, as these items will help her polish up her outfit. On the other hand, the error would be to offer him similar shoes! If he has recently bought a pair, there is little chance that he will repurchase another in the process. The worst mistake would be to send him advertisements for the model he bought himself.
3. Send too many emails!
Just because someone signed up for your mailing list doesn’t mean you have to bombard them with messages all day.
On average, a person receives 121 emails per day. No wonder the main reason people unsubscribe from mailing lists is that they get too many messages.
My advice
Limit your email communication by sending your promotions once a week at most. You can go up to two weekly messages, except during periods of high consumption.
One good practice is to allow subscribers the ability to choose their preferences during signup. For example, let them choose the frequency and the type of information they want to receive. You can then segment them based on their responses.
4. Send to the wrong landing page
Subscribers may abandon the conversion if they feel no connection between your landing pages and your email. Whether in terms of design or text, your landing page must use the codes from your email. Visitors will know they are in the right place.
In addition, the landing page must be part of the continuity of the promises of your message. The latter must provide additional and valuable information to your prospects concerning the main subject of the email.
5. Consider the open rate being the most significant metric
The open email rate is not a relevant enough measure to judge the effectiveness of your emailing campaign. An email is considered available when an image loads in the user’s inbox. If your recipients have blocked the download of visuals by default, the opened email cannot be tracked.
Likewise, if your message is read on a mobile device, where the images are not downloaded automatically, this results in a drop in the open rate.
Good to know
It’s best to focus on email click-through rates and conversions from your email campaign. These metrics demonstrate the impact and effectiveness of your message.
6. Thinking that planning is unnecessary
Emailing campaigns are not something that can improvise. It could cost you if you don’t plan and do not work on its content upstream.
A rushed email can contain typing errors which at best will have no impact on your target audience, at worst, tarnish your professional image.
In addition, planning an emailing operation helps you detect important moments for your sales:
- A season,
- A celebration,
- A holiday,
- The launch of a new product, etc.
7. Buy an email file
Growing the number of submissions by buying lists will cost you money, a very low open rate, and no return on investment.
You risk buying an obsolete mailing list, increasing your bounce rate, and being deemed a spammer by your ISP.
In addition, it is illegal to send a promotional mailing without the explicit permission of the recipients. So, no, that’s a bad idea!
My advice
Target your mailings to identify customers who have subscribed to your newsletter, who have downloaded content on your site, or purchased a product from your e-commerce. As a result, you will get much better deliverability and a higher ROI.
8. Neglecting the object
The subject of your email is decisive in making it a read or unread message. If it is too long or too short, the customer will not go any further.
The object must inspire admiration while clearly describing the exceptional nature of your campaign. It must also not contain spam keywords.
9. Do not adapt your offer
As the subject, the content should not be too long. It must, of course, be of genuine interest to your target.
Your customer should be rewarded for their curiosity with an offer that they cannot refuse because it is exceptional, following their needs, original, etc.
10. Put more images than text
Mailboxes are sometimes configured not to display visuals by default. Therefore, if your emails contain only images, many of them will arrive empty at their recipients.
We come back to the previous error: work on the texts to make recipients want to view the photos of the email or visit your website.
11. Forget the call-to-action
Your client has opened and read your email. And after? He’s got to take some action, doesn’t he? However, he expects your message to guide him to what to do.
Without a call to action, you avoid the very vocation of your campaign: to make yourself known and sell.
Encourage the user with action verbs:
- “To buy”
- “Pre-order”,
- “Benefit”
- “Find out more”.
12. Communicate wrongly and through
Too frequent mailings negatively impact the interest of your potential customers and tarnish your brand image. In addition, they will eventually unsubscribe or, worse, report you as a spammer.
The subtlety of an emailing strategy is based on choosing a frequency that does not make you forget without being too intrusive.
My advice
Send no more than one newsletter per week.
13. Ignore mobile devices
50% of mobile users delete an email that is not displayed correctly on mobile. While content displayed appropriately has a strong converting power: revenues generated by emails read on smartphones have increased by 37% in 1 year.
Always check the compatibility and design of your email on small screens before sending it.
Conclusion
Email marketing isn’t dead; it’s your mistakes that are killing it! To get the most out of this tool, avoid these pitfalls and, as always, regularly analyze the results of your campaigns to refine your strategy.
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