Nightmarish Email Marketing Mistakes, and How to Avoid Them
‘Tis the season for spooking, and nothing’s more frightening than an email marketing blunder! Carelessness and lack of caution can cost you your customers - that’s why we’ve rounded out a few worth the warning.
Failing to Test
One of the best ways to understand the types of content that resonate most with your customers is to A/B test! Instead of deciding, sending out to everyone, and hoping for the best, an A/B test provides you with the opportunity to evaluate performance based on one select variable. You can test subject lines, imagery, lists, and more (just not all at once!). Failing to do so opens you up to unnecessary risk.
Not Adding ALT Text
ALT (alternative) text is essential for accessibility purposes. It’s the text that appears in the event an image cannot load, and should be very descriptive as to what the original image conveys. Failing to add ALT text to an image could leave you with gaping blank space (and a missed opportunity to share your story) in your emails.
Sending Without Purpose
Sending an email for the sake of sending an email isn’t helping anyone, and in most cases, makes you more enemies than friends. Each time you send a message, think consciously for a while about the purpose it serves. What does it offer the customer? Is it timely? Relevant? Necessary? Can it be included within another message? Is email the most appropriate vehicle for sharing it? Ask yourself questions to guide your decision-making.
Broken Links
You invest in crafting the perfect email, with the perfect copy and imagery that entices the recipient to click to your website, your blog post, your product page. How disappointing would it be if all of those efforts were made in vain because of a link that doesn’t work? Before you hit send, click the links to make sure they won’t send you to the dreaded 404 page.
Not Checking Your Work
While we’re on the subject of scanning for broken links, do also take the extra step to comb through the copy, the images, the headers, everything. Check for typos, incorrect grammar, inaccuracies/inconsistencies, image sizing issues, anything that could leave your email looking unpolished and your story insufficiently told.
Relying Too Much on It
Email marketing is a downright magical tool for marketers, but you’re doing your business a disservice if it’s the only messaging method you use. There are other methods of relationship-building, like social media marketing, your website, text messaging, blogging, and podcasts -- and any (or all) of them might be worth experimenting.
Don’t fear them, just fix them!