Email marketing remains one of the most profitable means of business promotion. The ROI per each dollar spent varies between $36 and $42, depending on the industry. E-commerce leads the way here, which is not surprising. However, the success of email marketing does not depend on the industry alone — often carefully chosen email strategy can bring impressive results even for businesses outside the e-commerce sector.
Best practices for email marketing are diverse and depend mostly on the business specifics. So, instead of enumerating all the potentially effective strategies, we decided to focus on email marketing mistakes instead. Avoiding these common pitfalls may not guarantee resounding success, but it is a sure way to increase customer retention and eventually drive more sales.
Table of Contents:
Poor Audience Segmentation
It may seem like an obvious step, but surprisingly many marketers ignore the power of proper audience segmentation. Here, the narrower, the better — otherwise, you risk alienating your leads or, worse, confusing them. Take a look at the example from Memrise, a language-learning app, below.
At the first glance, everything seems in perfect order — the brand logo, the screenshot from the app, the catchy headline — language apps don’t work… oh wait. The main problem is that the letter mentioning native Spanish lessons was sent to a German learner. In this case, the only hint at personalization is the German greeting ‘Hallo.’
So, while the app did make an attempt at segmenting and personalizing the mailing list, the effort stopped half-way. It would not be too overwhelming to tweak the in-mail images, too – and have segmented, personalized images for each target group.
In all fairness to Memrise, this is not the biggest blunder — most users will not be put off by this inconsistency. But, the devil is in the details — and brands will be wise to work those details to perfection.
Not Sending a Welcome Email
Another huge blunder on the list of email campaign errors is ignoring the welcome email. As seen from the graph below, welcome emails have the highest open rates compared to all other promotional materials — and this is the perfect time to establish a connection with new subscribers.
In a way, welcome emails are the most important weapons in a marketer’s promotion kit because they are the only chance to make that first impression. Ideally, welcome emails should showcase the brand’s personality and unique voice, but they are also very useful in guiding new subscribers through relevant offers or essential product features.
Failing to Research Ideal Send Times
There is no universal recipe for calculating the ideal send time. The best way is to research your audience and monitor the results of each campaign. Email tracking and A/B testing take time, but this is the only sure way to figure out the perfect time to grasp your audience’s attention.
Fortunately, today’s automation tools can provide very useful insights into the results of your campaign. Most reputable software examples, i.e., MailChimp, Brevo, and ActiveCampiagn can help figure out the ideal send times. But marketers should not ignore this vital step because the results will vary significantly from industry to industry — and the golden rule of Tuesday morning as the perfect time does not always apply, as seen in the graph below.
Using Controversial Topics for Promotion
Now, this is one of the most dangerous email marketing anti trends exactly because it is so controversial. Writing a copy that converts is an art that includes many things, from searching your audience to A/B testing the CTA placement. But no matter how engaging your copy is and how stunning the visuals, it’s best to avoid dubious subjects that may confuse or alienate your audience.
Take a look at the example from FlixBus, a low-cost intercity bus service that started in Europe but eventually spread to Asia and North America.
Once again, it all looks perfectly sound at first glance —the visuals are good, the headline is solid, and the CTA is properly placed. On the other hand, the promotional email appeals to Women’s Day — a holiday generally recognized in Eastern Europe and, in this millennia, already taken with a grain of controversial skepticism.
Even though this particular letter was well-timed right before the mentioned day and sent to women exclusively, it still raises a few 21st-century feminist questions — and that is not the kind of image brands should strive to create.
There are exceptions, of course, but ideally, businesses should be wise to avoid sensitive and controversial subjects in their letters, especially:
- Gender roles,
- Race,
- Health,
- Religion,
- Age, etc.
Any of these sensitive topics has lots of room for misinterpretation and sometimes even the most careful segmentation will not help from losing a few subscribers or, worse, damaging brand reputation.
Spamming Inboxes with Identical Offers
Sometimes, reminding leads about your existence is a wise strategy. But too much is just too much — especially when emails keep repeating the same subject or repeatedly making the same offer over and over again, like in the example below.
No doubt, 80% off is a very generous offer, but sending it daily for a whole week is definitely too much. Besides, this particular example from another language-learning app makes another blunder — cheapening the brand’s image. Opinions on whether discounts cheapen a brand differ, of course — sometimes offering a solid discount can skyrocket sales. But such generosity is usually well-received if this is indeed a limited offer. If it is not, then it’s a sure path to alienating the subscribers.
An alternative route would be to offer subscribers something of value as Statista does. The service keeps sending updates every day — each time with new content about the latest research in all spheres imaginable. This is a safer route, but not entirely without flaws. First, too many updates eventually get annoying — especially in a busy person’s inbox. Second, sending research insights from too many different industry niches negatively affects email personalization, which is still a must-have criterion for every email marketing campaign.
Missing Out on a Chance to Grow Email Database
One of the biggest email marketing mistakes is missing out on a chance to constantly grow and update your email database. For starters, all disengaged contacts must be regularly eliminated — if the recipient displays no interest for a prolonged period of time, it’s better to remove the contact from active mail lists. Disengaged contacts negatively affect overall campaign performance and analytics — not to mention they pose a risk of triggering spam alerts.
As for regularly growing the database, there are several effective means to achieve this. For example:
- Landing page optimization: this includes creating separate landing page for separate audience segments. It’s equally important to A/B test content placement and CTAs, as well as experiment with different copies to figure out the best way to attract new leads.
- Lead magnets: practically every freebie, like an e-book, a discount, or an email course in exchange for a lead’s email, is a good lead magnet that can help naturally grow an email database. The biggest benefit of using lead magnets is that new subscribers voluntarily give their concern to receive your promotional materials, which boosts your chances of a successful conversion.
- Opt-in forms: strategically placing subscription forms on the brand’s website and social media pages can bring in a lot of warm leads — but once again, it’s all about trial and effort. So, monitor and keep A/B testing to keep the new leads coming.
- Exit pop-ups: one more suggestion that can increase your email campaign efficiency — that last chance you have to hook the lead who’s about to leave. Exit pop-ups that stand a chance of convincing a visitor to stay should offer something of value — generally, some impressive freebie that can work as a lead magnet.
- Specialized software: installing plugins that monitor visitor behavior can offer plenty of insights into your landing page’s strong and weak areas. Here, you have to dig a little deeper than Google Analytics which offers a general overview of your visitors’ behavior. Tools like SeeVolution and CrazyEgg, for example, can track individual user actions, along with assigning leads a ‘warmness’ score. And, several AI-powered assistants can analyze what your website visitors are doing and offer suggestions on how to convert them.
Grow Database with SignalHire
Finally, there are specialized tools for increasing your contact base — and we do not mean purchased email lists! Here at SignalHire, we offer a comprehensive, professional solution for naturally growing your email database. Our service has millions of verified contacts that can be searched individually, by name, or in bulk — by a range of fully customizable parameters that include industry, job title, company, and much more.
This functionality is especially handy for B2B email marketing, whereas our browser extension can also help B2C marketers pull contact data directly from social media — any time you come across a lead. And, of course, you can always check our regularly updated blog for more professional advice — starting with the best strategies for building email lists.
