Top 10 Email Mistakes to Avoid.
Monday, November 06, 2006
Creating effective emails takes more than a good idea. Be sure to avoid these top 10 email marketing mistakes.
- Ignoring CAN-SPAM legislation. According to government regulations, there are email rules to be followed. The first and most important is only sending emails to individuals who have "opted-in" to receive your emails. By doing so, you're not only compliant, but can mitigate any wrong-doing. Additionally, be sure to include a way to opt-out of receiving email messages from you or your business in the future and be sure to include your company's physical address.
- Not testing your email before sending. No matter how well designed your email might be, it often will display differently in different email clients. Be sure to test your email - even if it's text. Don't wait to discover after-the-fact that your email doesn't display properly to prospects or existing customers.
- Not running your email through a SPAM checker. The most difficult thing to do in today's technology savvy environment is to get your email to reach the intended recipient. Because the SPAM filters are constantly being updated, I recommend using a SPAM checker before sending your email. I personally use eFiltrate, but almost any SPAM checker will do.
- Not designing your email for the preview pane. The majority of people using AOL, Yahoo!, and MSN accounts utilize the preview pain. As a result, your email may get opened or deleted based on just a cursory view. When designing your email, make sure that the most provocative information is at the top, in text or layout.
- Making your text message too text heavy. Do you like receiving pages of text? Probably not. There aren't too many people who do. Because few enjoy reading pages of promotional copy, keep your emails short and to the point. If you want people to respond, be sure your message is sent at the right time and includes a compelling offer.
- Not ensuring that offer links work properly. After spending a considerable amount of time developing your list and creating your email, you must be sure that your offer link works. If not, your investment - both time and money will be wasted. Test your offer link before you send your final email.
- Giving prospects only one way to respond to you. Just because you are sending an email, don't assume that email is the preferred communication method of your prospect or customer. Include multiple options for responding. Some methods included 800#, fax, or online form.
- Not monitoring the bounced-email file after each delivery. Do what you can to keep your email contact list up-to-date. This includes removing an email that's no longer valid. Too often businesses just ignore the bounce backs and continue sending emails that never get delivered.
- Removing all of the emails assets (photos, links, etc.) from your server prematurely. Most emails are opened within the first 72 hours. However, many linger for periods of time much longer than a few days. Keep all of the assets needed to display your email for at least 3 months. This ensures that prospects will see everything as they were intended.
- Not proofreading your email for typose or grammatical errors. Nothing tells prospective clients or customer more about your company than a careless mistake. After you construct your email, have someone else proof it.
Marketing Blog founder and top-selling author Michael Fleischner has been featured on The TODAY Show, ABC World News, and Bloomerg Radio. 
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