7 Deadly Sins Of E-Mail Marketing

Many people think that e-mail marketing is dead. In the era of Web 2.0, blogs, podcasting, and social networks, people are turning away from e-mail marketing. But the truth is that e-mail marketing is alive and kicking.

The return on investment of e-mail marketing is very high. Plus, it is very easy to use. It can be used as a great branding tool and be a trusted way to get your name in front of prospects and customers.

E-mail marketing can be a double edged sword, though. It is easily abused by deadbeat spammers who email people at random with junk as well as scammers who tell you that you’ve won a million dollars from countries like Nigeria and Mexico. This makes people very skeptical to any e-mails they may be receiving from you, a legitimate business.

To avoid being painted in with the same brush as these guys, there are a few things that you can avoid when it comes to maintaining your precious opt-in list.

There are seven deadly sins in e-mail marketing;

1.Failing to test the email. Every web designer knows that when you mix Internet Explorer or Firefox with email clients you’re in for a lot of changes. Email clients can be bullies. Your design needs to be clean and concise. Fancy pictures, moving graphics can slow down the downloading process and can end up in the spam filter of your recipient. Some clients automatically disable any images. Make your emails as simple and as clear as possible. If you want to show them pictures or designs, direct to a link on a page on your site.

2.Failing to spam-check every email before sending it out. You need to test your email first, before you send it out. Any message that send that is scored at a high number needs to be lowered. Spam filters automatically dump high scored emails into the trash bin. Make sure that your score is low enough so that the person can actually see your email on their screen. You can use services such as SpamCheck to help you

3.Putting hurdles in the way of people that want to unsubscribe. It is illegal to not have clearly visible unsubscribe links in your emails. Therefore, you are obligated to make it easy for people to unsubscribe. People change, their needs changes, and sometimes they will unsubscribe. It doesn’t mean that there’s something wrong with your product or service or what you’re offering. It just means it’s a part of change.

4.Neglecting the lists invalid addresses. The older the list gets the more you’ll see invalid email addresses. Broadcast systems such as Campaign Monitor, MailChimp and cCircle can help detect hard bounces and deal with those addresses on an automatic basis. If your email list is relatively small, you may want to contact that email address and ask if that person is still interested in your list. The larger your list, the more invalids and bounces you’ll have. It’s just a part of life. Be sure to clean your list every so often.

5.Becoming complacent. Once you’ve been sending emails for a few months, you’ll be able to go through the process of creating new content over and over. At that point, it may become more important than ever to keep your eyes open for new and fresh content. It’s great to have a comfort zone, but you tend to rehash the same old same old. That’s when you need to think of a few things. A. The total number of addresses on your list B. Delivered mails C. Opened Mails D. Clickthrough Rates E. Your readers taking action. Each step of this process will let you know if you are grabbing their attention. If they are not opening your mails, perhaps your emails have gotten boring. If they are opening them but no clickthroughs, then your messages may not be compelling enough. Study your stats to find out what is going on with your list.

6.Sending irrelevant content. This is one of the biggest problems. Sending things that don’t have anything to do with what the person signed up for. Users like to know what they are signed up for. They want the benefits of the information. They need to know. If you are sending them information about things other than what they expect, they can get angry and report you for spam. Stay on your original topic and you’ll do well.

7.DO NOT email someone without their permission. This is spam and makes a lot of people mad. You will most likely never get a sale or someone to visit your site by sending emails that were not asked for. Make sure that you ask permission first.

In conclusion, be passionate about what it is you do, but at the same time use balance. You don’t want to force people to do or buy what it is you have. There are enough people that will be interested in what you have. You don’t need to overload others. Email marketing can be a very effective tool, especially if it is used in the right way.