11 Mistakes To Avoid With Your Email Marketing Campaigns

We often share what works with email marketing, but how about the things that don’t work? Well, Citipost Mail put together a solid infographic, 10 Things You Shouldn’t Include In Your Email Campaign that provides details on what to avoid when writing or designing your emails.

If you want to succeed with email marketing, here are some of the top faux-pas you should be sure to avoid when it comes to things you shouldn’t include in your email campaign.

They actually provided 11! What I enjoyed about this list was that it had less to do about algorithms that Internet Service Providers (ISP) may be using and more about what the subscriber response would be. When you design an email from the perspective of the user, these all make sense!

1. Too Many Words… – overwhelming your subscribers can lead them to unsubscribe from your email. Be brief, be on target, and avoid using unnecessary verbiage.
2. A Subject Line That Will See You in the Junk Folder – there are specific words that do raise alerts in your email service provider (ESP). Examples include Free, % off, and Reminder.
3. A Weak Sign-Off – according to a study by Boomerang, an expression of gratitude resulted in a 36% increase in the average response rate
4. Too Much About You – prospective customers aren’t interested in you, they’re interested in what you can accomplish for them.
5. Deceptive Subject Lines – trust is the bedrock for all digital marketing strategies, don’t put your business at risk just to try to increase your open rate.
6. A No-Reply Sender Address – consumers and businesses want to know that they can respond to your emails. Side note… our reply email address is noreply but we actually do respond and reply to it!
7. One Big Image – with no preview text and just an image with a link, you’re asking to get reported as SPAM.
8. Broken Links – there’s nothing quite as frustrating as opening an email, clicking on the link, and nothing happens. It’s the fastest way to an unsubscribe!
9. Typos – we all make them, but it costs you credibility. Sign up for Grammarly and you’ll be happy you did!
10. Content Without Value – sending emails just to send emails is the best way to lose a subscriber. Provide value and they’ll look forward to your next email.
11. Too Many Calls To Action – always be selling in the context of an email doesn’t provide value to your subscriber. Provide value and limit the actions that you’d like your subscribers to take.

Here’s the full infographic!