Every marketer makes mistakes, I know I do, but we aim to make as few as possible.

With 82% of both B2B and B2C companies incorporating email in their marketing strategies, most marketers will be doing some email marketing work whether they are proficient in it or not.

Even if you think of yourself as a seasoned email pro, you might be surprised at some of the little things that may be escaping your notice.

A savvy marketer knows that there is always room for improvement; that's why we're bringing you this list of six mistakes you may be making when working on your email marketing initiatives👇 

email marketing mistakes

Which Of These 6 Mistakes Are You Making?

  • You're Writing Too Much In Each Message

One of the easiest ways to go wrong in your email marketing is by failing to rein yourself in length-wise.

Emails are meant to be quick communications that are opened, quickly looked over, and then set aside.

email marketing mistakes

Your leads do not want to spend several minutes reading what you've sent them, especially yours is probably not the only brand they are receiving marketing messages from.

email marketing mistakesStatistics backs this up; shorter emails (about 95 words long) outperform longer ones in click-through rates by a not-insignificant 5.81%.

There is a place for long-form content, but email messages are not!

You can use them to lead into more developed texts on your website or blog, though. You can trust interested leads to follow the link you leave them, but this method allows impatient or hurried leads to skip the more demanding reads that otherwise might have turned them off your brand.

  • You're Not Thinking About Mobile Users

We're well into the age of the smartphone by now, and just about everyone who isn't completely repulsed by technology owns one of these revolutionary devices.

email marketing mistakesTo be exact, 75% of users report checking their email most often through their mobile devices.

That's why you must remember to think about this device when conducting your email marketing.

We're all used to creating emails that work well on desktop or web clients, but they look and work completely differently on the phone.

All emails you send should be optimized for mobile in areas like screen size, load times and user interface to keep these users in your corner.

  • You're Assuming One Email Fits All

Are you sending out the same email to every one of your leads, no matter who they are or how long they've been in contact with your brand? 

For the longest time, this was just how email marketing worked - if you got started in the business when things were done that way, you might be excused for thinking they still are that way now. However, you would still be wrong.

New, more effective approaches to email marketing call for emails that are specifically crafted for each type of recipient they are being sent to.

This includes things like personalized emails and segmented messages that bring leads content that is deemed relevant to them based on personal characteristics and seasonal statements that are paired with specific events or holidays that are celebrated by the general population.

This technique ensures that your leads have the best possible chance of seeing relevant content, an approach that is meant to boost reader engagement and hopefully prompt more purchases.

This isn't just some new trend that people are trying out to be different.

Personalized messages (ones that have something, be it the actual content or just the subject line, customized to the individual recipient) are 26% more likely to be opened, and that's a great first step toward bringing in many more happy customers.

email marketing mistakesSimilar stats exist for segmented emails that target particular demographics.

This is an expected part of the job for top performers now, and it will only grow in importance as awareness of it trickles down to marketers who are currently less in tune with where the profession is going.

  • You're Taking a 'One and Done' Approach

It's easy to assume that solid email marketing calls for one email per subscriber per batch. After all, shouldn't you be saying everything you need to say in that single communication? Should you be fluffing up your content in order to space it out into multiple messages? 🙄

The answer to that last question is, of course, no, but that doesn't mean that one email per person will suffice.

While you should always start with a comprehensive, engaging base email that subscribers will receive according to a set schedule, that should only be a starting point for a successful email marketing strategy.

Email marketing can actually be most effective when used as a follow-up method to reinforce other interactions a lead might have with your brand.

Related : The Best Follow-up Processes

Emails triggered by specific actions taken by a lead accounted for 30% of all email marketing revenue, and that number is probably higher now given the upward trend it had been exhibiting at that time.

One popular way to do this is to send an email reminding leads of what they placed in their cart in your digital storefront in cases where those prospective customers never completed the purchase.

By bringing up that halted interaction again, you also bring it back to the front of your lead's mind and increase the chances of them picking it back up again.

There are many other ways to use this new technique, though, so even marketers without an online store to represent should brush up on how to use it.

You'll love the conversion rates you may be able to achieve as a result.

  • You're Not Cleaning Up Your Contacts List

You wouldn't let useless items pile up in your living room and impede your ability to actually use that space, and you shouldn't do that with your email marketing activities either.

Failing to clean out your contacts lists regularly will leave you with plenty of dead-end contacts whose presence in your records will do nothing but falsely inflate your lead numbers and drive up your email bounce rates.

As you know from other instalments, once those problems start to add up, they usually pack a much greater punch and are far harder to solve.

You should be regularly removing problem contacts from your list, restoring valid contacts that were removed accidentally, reviewing the entire contacts database regularly to make sure you always have the active, engaged, and valid subscribers you need. 

  • You're Doing Everything Manually

Doing all of your email marketing by hand is a thing of the past.

Many aspects of email marketing can now be automated to save time and improve the specificity of lead targeting.

There is plenty of evidence to suggest that it works wonders for email marketing campaigns, but the fact remains that as of now, only 49% of marketers are using it.

Even if you're doing all right now without it, you should remember that your competition will likely be using these tools soon if they aren't already doing it - this may grant them an advantage over you.

It will eventually be considered a mandatory practice in the industry, so becoming a relatively early adopter of this new technology can put you ahead of the curve.

Correct Your Email Marketing Technique For Better Results

Marketing is all about evidence-based practices, so it only makes sense to change when there is proof to suggest you'd be better off doing things differently.

Check your practices in each of these seven areas and see if there isn't anything you could be doing to improve your email marketing performance.

You never know what minor alterations could lead to significant financial changes if you give them a little bit of time.

Turn your email bounces to opportunities.

We will analyze your emails bounces, restore the ones that are still valid to continue nurturing them, and update the ones that became obsolete to explore new opportunities with contacts who know you.

Your privacy is paramount. We'll never share or sell any data you share with us.