Let’s face it – everybody makes mistakes. It could be as simple as a spelling mistake or as catastrophic as sending out an email to the wrong group of contacts. Email marketing is a great way to manage relationships with clients. However, spelling mistakes, poor email design and irrelevant content can discourage contacts from interacting with you. Here are some of the most common email marketing mistakes to avoid:

Bad spelling and grammar

Bad spelling and grammar can indicate a lack of professionalism. For instance, a simple spelling mistake in the subject line may deter a reader from even opening the email. Most word processing systems have a spell checker and it is always worth checking copy through a spell checker before you send it out.

Poor / irrelevant content

The content of your email should be interesting, topical and relevant to the reader it was intended. People like to know what they sign up for. If you make use of product-specific emails, make sure the email they receive discusses a specific product and not general overview of your entire product/service range. Using emails to advertise other products/services is okay as long as it doesn’t deter the reader away from the original purpose of the email.

Poor email design

Email design is a big issue. The aim is to make your email stand out – not blind people with an over-enthusiastic use of colours and large images that take forever to load. Think about your brand image – whilst it may be important to you to differentiate your emails in some way, try not to move too far away from your brand identity. It is important to consider what email clients your contacts are using as well. Does your email render properly across a range of email clients? Or does it only work in Microsoft Outlook 2003?

Making it difficult to unsubscribe

You are required by law to have an unsubscribe link on any emails sent to an opt-in list. Make sure it is a clearly visible link, usually presented at the bottom of your email. Don’t make it difficult to unsubscribe from your email services as they are unlikely to ever sign-up again or recommend you. There are ways in which you can discourage people from unsubscribing from your email services altogether. For example, you could remind them (if you offer this service) that they can change their subscription options and personal details. They may be more comfortable receiving emails to a work email address rather than a personal one.

Skipping the testing stage

We cannot emphasise enough the importance of testing. Most email marketing blunders can be avoided by double checking and triple checking emails before you send them. It is probably also a good idea to get someone not directly involved with the email to proof read it to make sure it makes sense. Testing your emails will help you avoid all of the mistakes outlined above.