How to Communicate Effectively via Email: 15 Mistakes That Will Crash Your Newsletters

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All email marketing experts know that running an effective email campaign is no walk in the park. Your email strategy needs to be planned and well calculated, just like you would for your other marketing channels.

To create a good email strategy and build successful campaigns, it is crucial to first know what NOT to do!
15 mistakes to avoid in email marketing

The following are common email marketing mistakes that will inevitably derail the campaigns you've worked so hard, sweat, and tears into, and can even cause you to lose many subscribers from your beloved mailing lists that you worked so hard to acquire.

To learn how to send emails effectively, read carefully the following tragic greece telegram data mistakes that we have gathered for you and do your best not to make or repeat them. Good luck!

1. Over/Under-communicate by email
How many emails are considered too many?

On the one hand, studies show that 86% of consumers would be happy to receive marketing emails from companies that interest them at least once a month, 60% want to receive them at least once a week, and about 15% are still willing to accept them at least once a day (Marketing Sherpa).

On the other hand, studies also show that 35% of email marketers send 2-3 emails per month, 21% send 4-5 emails, and 19% send just one. The remaining percentage don't know but we bet it's a very large number!

What can we conclude from this?

Correlating these two studies indicates that sending 2 emails per month on a regular basis is a good thing. Sending 3 or 4 emails per month can also work, but only if you really have something new to say to your customers. If you are sending much more than that, it is time to rethink your mode of operation. There is no point in bothering your customers for no reason, they, who eagerly await your emails once or twice a month, will start to get annoyed by your omnipresence and will lead them to unsubscribe from your mailing list, which brings us to the next mistake…

2. “I just wanted to say hello”
As the saying goes: “If what you’re going to say is less beautiful than silence, then keep quiet”. In email marketing it’s the same. If you have nothing good to say, it’s better to say nothing at all. Marketing content is constantly evolving and, as soon as you have a large mailing list, you may be tempted to send them whatever you want, but it’s wiser to send them something that will really interest them. Impose your brand and keep your customers thanks to quality content that you provide to your recipients with: tips, articles and relevant information that are related to what you do and sell. In addition, send details and updates on your special promos or your new products/new collections that will be launched soon. There is no shortage of ideas on email topics to cover (here are 14 ideas for your newsletters ), and in any case, don’t just say hello! Because this “hello” can make your customers want to say “goodbye”.

3. Not personalizing your emails
In 2015, personalized subject lines boosted email open rates by an average of 30% ( Marketing Sherpa ), which means that if you don’t use it, you’re lowering your open rate by 30%. There are a number of scenarios where personalization will work best for you: when you’re sending a series of automated emails ( autoresponders ) to your new users; when you want to send an email to customers who abandoned their cart before completing their purchase; when you’re sending upsale/cross-sale emails; when sending surveys; and of course when sending discount coupons for a customer’s birthday or other special event. That being said, these are just suggestions – don’t hesitate to use personalization at all times, in every email you send, as a little company called Google does regularly:

Google

4. A generic subject line
However, even though we have dwelt a lot on the subject line - unfortunately we can never say it enough - it is unfortunately the one that will make your recipients open your email or not. Based on this premise, a subject line must be attractive, intriguing, interesting, but not too salesy and not misleading. The person who will open your email expects the content to match the subject, and for you it is a way of showing that you keep your promises.

One of the biggest mistakes in email marketing is sending an email with a subject line that is too generic: “Happy Valentine’s Day! 10% off all our products.” When you write a subject line, and in general when you create a newsletter, you have to think about the person who is going to open their inbox and see five different emails, each trying to sell them something or inform them about your business. The 10% discount that seems tempting to you won’t be tempting enough considering that the same person may have received another email offering them a 30% discount (even if it’s from a completely different product). If you want that person to open your email before the other five, give them added value in your subject line.

Here's a great example of a subject line from Michal Negrin's Valentine's Day campaign:

Michal Negrin

5. “noreply”
Have you ever tried to figure out who this company is that calls itself “no reply” or “mail list”?

The “from” (where you indicate the sender) is one of the most important elements of your email wording, almost as important as your subject line. Write the name of your company and even write down the name of the person who is sending the email on behalf of your company. As we’ve said before, personalizing your email helps to ensure a connection with the customer, a personalization that goes both ways; your customers want to feel that there is a real person behind the email they just received. Besides, if they don’t know that it is indeed the company they signed up for – and were even interested in receiving updates from – that sent them this email, they will have no reason to open it.

6. Don't say the magic words
When you look at your inbox, what do you see? On the left, there is the “from” that we talked about in the previous case, in the middle, there is, obviously, the excellent subject line that you have composed, and then… … some words appear in a lighter color, let’s call them the magic words . If your email starts with images, the magic words will be the name you have given to your images or illustrations through the Alt tag. If your email starts with text, the magic words will be the first words of said text. In any case, pay attention to this part that many tend to neglect. To summarize, never forget to check what are the first words that will appear in your newsletter and do not forget to give a name to your images that accompany your text. In this way, the magic words will give a preview of the subject of your newsletter and thanks to them, your email will be opened.

This is what it looks like:

magic words

7. SALES SALES SALES every 3 days
You're not a spammer, are you? In that case, don't behave like one.

Sales or promos are nice, but even when you love something, you can get tired of it at some point. No one can afford to buy one of your products every 3 days and not all of your emails should be geared towards making a sale. Remember the added value you have? Fine, in that case, highlight it.

8. Send without segmenting your mailing list
When your users sign up for your account, they provide you with a few important bits of information: whether they are male or female, their date of birth, where they live, and all sorts of other things that are important for you to know. This information allows you to send more targeted emails, depending on the groups you have divided your subscribers into. Did your subscribers sign up for your account via a landing page versus a special sale? Or through a specific website? This type of segmentation can also help you. Using segmentation helps you optimize the content you offer to your customers, which significantly boosts the open rates of the emails you send.

9. Do not use illustrations
Whether you're a selfie expert or not, you can't deny the fact that we live in a visually-driven world.

Whether it’s drawings, illustrations or images, there’s no denying that these elements make emails more enjoyable to read! If you decide to really invest in this area, it will also allow you to attract the attention of your recipients who will more easily share your content on social networks and appropriate platforms. Of course, the use of illustrations must be related to the subject of the email and the essence of your brand, so flashy illustrations are not always appropriate, it’s up to you to judge and use illustrations only wisely.

Treadless for example are very creative with their images: