We all make mistakes with email. That’s why we need to evaluate our email campaigns and how our emails are performing.

Do your emails land in Spam Box or never arrive? Do you have frequent unsubscribes or people unsubscribing from your email?

If they are, then you may be making one or more of these mistakes:

You do not prioritize email sign-up

An Introductory email is a great way to talk to people. It’s a great way to communicate and sell your products and services. But if you’re not prioritizing that email sign-up, you aren’t going to collect addresses and if you can’t collect addresses, you’re not going to be able to communicate with people.

Thus, prioritize email sign-up right from the beginning at your website either at the top, middle or bottom section. 

About 87% of websites usually placed their sign-up form at the bottom portion but most people don’t travel all the way down to your website very often. If that’s where you are asking people to sign-up for your emails, then you may not be getting a lot of subscribers. 

How to avoid it?

• Find creative ways to collect email addresses
• Place it at the top, side, as a pop-up or slide out, inline with articles
• Ask for their first name and email address

You forget to welcome new subscribers

There are many subscribers who subscribed to an emailing list and then they did not hear from that organization or company for weeks and months. 

What happens? The subscribers forgot that they signed up in your mailing list.

Welcome messages generate an average of 320% more revenue than those without. In fact, 50% of brands do not send a welcome email however, 74% of new subscribers expect to receive one. Those that were welcomed show a 33% higher engagement rate on a long-term basis.

How to avoid it?

• Set up an automated welcome email or series
• Welcome and thank them
• Ask subscribers to add your address to their contacts
• Include a link. The link can go to your homepage, an  article, a podcast, etc.
• Send the first email within 24 hours

You write poor subject lines

As an email marketer, you should know the importance of a good subject line. An engaging subject line encourages your subscribers to open your email. 

About 33% of people open an email based on the subject line. That’s why having a good subject line is one of the reasons why your email marketing performs really well. Not only does it affect the open rates but a bad subject line  can land your email in Spam.

How to avoid it?

• Don’t use too many spam keywords such bargain, discount, congratulations, etc./
• Don’t use ALL CAPS
• Don’t use more than one exclamation point (!)
• Keep the subject line short between 20 to 35 characters
• Use unique words to spark curiosity
• Match subject line to the purpose of the email
• Once emoji is fine but not on every email

You do not schedule your email campaigns

People should look forward to receiving your emails. Consistency matters with email. It matters to your recipients most especially.

The main reason why subscribers leave your mailing list is because there are too many emails. 

There is no magic number. Only balancing, testing, and trying.

How to avoid it?

• Don’t send often. Send at least once a month.
• Sending too many emails will produce high unsubscribe and abuse rates.
• Don’t send too few because not sending enough will cause subscribers to lose interest in you and forget you.
• Consider a preference center or survey for individuals to tell you when they want to receive emails from you.

You ignore the sender reputation

A bad sender reputation affects the deliverability of your emails. It is measured by any blacklists you are on, spam complaints you receive, sending to unknown users, engagement and volume.

If you have a low sender reputation, then your email may not get delivered.

How to avoid it?

• Remove inactive users (1 year or older)
• Remove hard bounces
• Reduce how often you send
• Ask subscribers to add your address to their contacts
• Create emails that receive high engagement (open and clicks) and low abuse rates
• Segment your large lists

You don’t have a clear purpose or call-to-action (CTA)

Each email should have one clear purpose. Often, we try to include too much information in an email.

This creates confusion for the reader. They don’t know what to do, so they do nothing. Even newsletter style emails need to have a clear reason to send.

How to avoid it?

• Before writing the email, ask “Why?”
  • Why send this email? 
  • What purpose does it serve?
    • To sell. 
    • To help. 
    • To inform. 
    • To build relationship
• Use a single CTA like “buy now!” “enjoy these freebies”

You neglect mobile

Even in this day and age where it seems like so many people have mobile phones and smartphones. It’s amazing how often emails are being received that are not mobile-friendly. 

Statistics are being honest when they said that 54% of all email is opened on a mobile device and 52% of customers are less likely to engage with a company because of a bad mobile experience. People are even checking their email on mobile before reading it on desktop.

How to avoid it?

• Use mobile responsive templates
• Use larger fonts (14 – 18 pt)
• Break up long blocks of text
• Test on different devices

You don’t use personalization

A lot of people don’t use personalization and this is a big trend right now in email and online in general.

The more personal the email, the better the performance. You will have higher open rates, higher click rates, higher customer section satisfaction, increased sales, and decreased unsubscribes. 

How to avoid it?

• Look for ways to go beyond using their first names such as their location, gender, interests, behavior, etc.
• Ask them. Use a survey or form to collect personalized information.
• Look at their behavior on your website or email. Does a person always click on the same type of articles?

You underestimate segmentation

It is always wise to remember to not send the same email to everyone on your list.

You have to send the right message to the right person at the right time. Sometimes, this is not always the best option. It is always recommended to segment your list before you send them out. 

Email list segmentation has great effects on email marketing metrics along with personalization. Thus, segmentation is a great way to get people to open up emails.

How to avoid it?

• Use the data collected to personalize to also segment your list.
• Send emails to smaller groups of people based on the message of the email
• Use segmentation and personalization for best results

Conclusion

It is easy to fix many of the abovementioned mistakes. However, they require you to put them into practice each and every time before you send them. 

For you to be successful in your email campaigns, plan your emails, create a checklist and test to find what works best for you and your audience.