9 Common Email Marketing Mistakes

The Email Experience Council has put together a list of nine common email marketing mistakes. Here’s a quick summary of what they came up with:

1) Sloppy Email Copy
Check your spelling, read over your copy before sending, and try to get a second set of eyes to review the email before it’s sent out.

2) Poor Email Coding
Avoid making users scroll horizontally, don’t use css in your html coding, and resist the urge to send email consisting of one giant image.

3) Inadequate Calls To Action
Keep your call to action in text format, include multiple instances of your call to action above the fold, and try to place your call to action in the topmost and leftmost parts of the email where people are most likely to see them.

4) Ineffective Subject Lines
Keep subject lines to seven words or less (35 characters) and avoid triggering spam filters.

5) Using Obscure Name In From Field
In the from field, use the name your customers are most familiar with.

6) Changing From Address Frequently
Stick with one from email address and ask subscribers to add that address to their whitelist.

7) Using Bad Email Lists
Use forward-to-a-friend links to build your list and keep it clean by monitoring unsubscribes, hard bounces, and soft bounces.

8) Too Many Links Competing With The Call To Action
Don’t include links that compete with the call to action. Unless it’s a newsletter, there should be a single link in the email — your call to action.

9) Poorly Implemented Unsubscribe Process
Have a prominent unsubscribe link and don’t make people work too hard to unsubscribe.