Costly
Email Mistakes to Avoid
More subscribers and revenue can be harvested, more than what was targeted, when an email program is designed and executed well . If, executed poorly it will get terrible results and also
anger among recipients and not to forget answering your boss’s innumerable
questions.
Outlook is
the most used email client, so it shouldn’t be ignored, especially the Outlook
Junk Filter. But many companies do not spare time to learn about keywords and
symbols with the default filter searches for. Some of the common words and
symbols, which are also the most widely used, used for filtering the email as
spam are ‘free’ and exclamation mark at the end of the subject line.
But the
word ‘free’ does not always arouse suspicion like many legitimate email
marketers think. It can be used correctly and in context with shipping or
sample, etc. Nobody can disagree that it is still the most effective email
offer. So the key here is to know the words and how to use them so that the
email does not get caught by spam or bulk mail filters.
Certainly
quality costs money, which also applies to email marketing. Some marketers say
that even low cost email list delivers a respectable turn over, but experts
advise that more expensive list produces even bigger returns because of high quality.
Another point to be noted here is that when you are mailing to an inferior
quality list, you are actually harming your brand.
The subject
lines of eNewsletters must not be meaningless. Examples are ‘SE Update #101’,
‘Career Journal Today’ and ‘eClub Newsletter’. These subject lines say nothing
at all, when it is the purpose of the subject line to entice the recipient to
open the email. Things such as issue number and words saying that this email is
a newsletter are of no value; instead they should include information which
will grab the attention of readers.
A target link
which will work in one email client won’t work in another. For example, if it
was mentioned ‘AB Company’ in the “from” line, it will be displayed as
‘marketing@ABCompany’ in AOL email client. If it is written ‘Order by Sunday
for Free Shipping and Arrival by Nov 28’ in the subject line, AOL will render
it as ‘Order by Sunday for Free Shipping and Arrival by Nov’. Either some part
of the message is missing or the content is manipulated. So such variables must
be tested in different email clients and if not, it will have a big impact on
the email results.
The ease in
email marketing when compared to other marketing is the immediacy of testing.
If variables aren’t tested regularly then the medium is not used correctly.
Successive and regular testing not only builds but refines results. Many
marketers like to test on rented list, but wouldn’t mail in great number to the
best performing email lists.
It is
understood that the email campaign is successful when it promotes a compelling
offer. Compelling does not mean that the offer should be ‘free’ or ‘50% off’,
but it should be of value and relevant to the reader. The lists must be
segmented and the offers made must be more relevant to the recipient’s needs,
behavior and interest. When lists are being rendered, the most appropriate ones
must be selected and the offer must be developed upon the needs of the targeted
audience.
Almost all of the top email clients have emerged as big challenges for the customer oriented
marketers. Every ISP has its own issue which needs immediate addressing, such
as HTML compatibility issues, spam, blacklisting, and volume based filters,
etc. The biggest mistake is not monitoring the results by ISP or domain.
Problem is not known until it is discovered.
Everyone is
becoming search engine optimized. The key to reach the top ranking on top
search engines is search engine optimized content. Since eNewsletters are the
best content sources, they definitely must be search engine optimized by
including various keywords, so as to increase the rankings.