We’re really sorry for missing out your first name - Thanks to our recent hire who forgot to
add the personalization tag inside of the system, while eating some cookies,
but it was still unintentional…blah!...blah!.
Well, have you sent such emails to your subscribers recently? Well, subscribers are picky! They don’t care about your new hire, they love their names, and we all do!
Email marketing blunders can cost you huge, both in terms of ROI and in terms of lifetime value of a subscriber.
So, how to keep your blunders at bay and spread the divinity and love to your subscribers?
Boring subject lines suck
Subject lines that aren’t creative decrease engagement and can be fatal for your campaign.
Do you still use an age old automobile? Then, why use no-reply id?
No reply email ids are really insane. Don’t you want to engage your subscribers? Personalize from name and sending id to attract more response.
Be gentle, seek permission
Sending unsolicited emails is criminal these days and Lord (subscriber) punishes with unsubscribing.
Assuming your friend likes tea, but he doesn’t. Check preferences
Preferences are very important. At times, you might just assume that a subscriber wants to hear it 5 times a month from you, but he actually doesn’t. Provide them preference centers.
Subscriber is your God, don’t hide anything
Not even unsubscribe, YES! Don’t hide the link to unsubscribe; it might simply raise the spam complaints.
Your CTAs just go unnoticed like mice in the house
CTAs are vital when it comes to provoke recipients to take action. Small CTA buttons, inappropriate separation, CTAs as links etc can decrease click through. Optimize for mobile and keep them tappable.
Never eat desert before lunch and likewise, set your email series aptly
Setting up triggered email series inappropriately not only creates havoc among your buyers but also makes it difficult to lead them through awareness to close.
Don’t you welcome your guests? Then why not your subscribers?
Well, make sure your subscribers are sent welcome email. That’s a great way to break the ice.
You just photograph and never see it back! What about email reports?
Email reports are crucial as they let you know the power of your campaign. If you don’t evaluate your email campaigns, it is very difficult to identify the success factors and measure against them.
Your landing page is just like overstuffed bed
Do you use many comforters on your bed? No right? Then why use so many fields to capture recipient’s interest. Instead try limiting the form fields to few required information.
Obesity is dangerous! Don’t be a couch potato while testing your emails
Test your emails well on multiple devices, browsers, and resolutions. Sending emails without testing is a criminal offense under section whatever of the EMAIL TESTING ACT.
Do you eat rotten apples? Stale is bad and so are inactive subscribers
Sending email to inactive subscribers is harmful to your domain’s health.
you just did a personalization blunder
According to one of the recent surveys, 54% of consumers end relationship if they do not receive personalized content. One more survey from Experian echoes the fact stating that personalized emails receive 6X higher transaction rates.
Make sure your list is imported correctly and fields are mapped against right tag. Chances are you might send email instead of first name or send email symbolizing Hey John, instead of Hey Kevin.
Make sure your merge or insert tags corresponding to the list’s field data or value you want to input. <<Color>> merge tag instead of <<date>> for an example will show up incorrectly.
If you are a proponent of predictive dynamic content, make sure your data sets are accurate. If they aren’t obtained correctly, you might end up sending irrelevant offers or emails with wrong personalization.
First names aren’t enough. Personalize emails with geo-targeting, live maps, live social feeds, custom imagery, custom offers, nearest store locations etc.
For international emails, make sure correct custom image, symbol, location tagging goes out. Sending an email to a German customer in French language is so not cool.
One new SPAM email in your mailbox!
1 out of 6 emails never reach the inbox. Across the globe 17% of email marketing campaigns fail to reach consumers, going directly to junk folders, or more likely disappearing altogether.
Preferably, use dedicated unique IP so that you don’t share email space with partner who’s sending spam. Consider warming up your IPs too.
Inbox placement is great, but only measuring IPR is a blunder. Count on deliverability aspects like sender score, SPF etc.
While shifting to a new ESP, make sure that you don’t migrate to ESP that isn’t focused on deliverability.
Remove the inactive subscribers; unsubscribe complaints and other incorrect email addresses. Don’t send out emails to a list without permission.
Sending emails too frequently or too less can both hamper deliverability goals.
Monitor whether there are changes in the ISP algorithm, users are marking your emails safe and your IP isn’t blacklisted falling prey to spam traps.
A good ESP will help you manage your domain reputation amazingly well.
With email authentication ISPs can cut down on spoofing and phishing attacks. Make emails compliant with Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM)
Talk to your ESP to provide you with real-time, useful feedback loops that can help you improve your campaigns.
See what works best!
New Age Email Blunders
An accordion in email helps you stack up content, especially on smaller devices and provider amazing experience with longer content rich emails.
Menus or CSS navigation in email is the best way to let users navigate the information right in the email.
Are you creative? Especially with design art? Well, wear your creative hat with Pixel art fallback which can convey the message creatively even when the images are disabled.
How about sending emails rich in images not optimized for Apple loyal subscriber base? Simply, a few more unsubscribe! Use retina friendly images when sending emails to retina readers.
Yes, sending international emails is a great thing. However, sending wrong imagery, message, symbol or language to wrong person will get you in soup. Plan specific content for specific geographies once you decide to sail in the international waters.
Testing just the two variations of everything isnt all. Go the extra mile. Use multivariate testing methods for testing multiple case scenarios.
A cool and peppy scratch effect can be used to showcase discount and coupons. If you aren’t using it yet, Uplers can help.
Sliders in emails can let you stuff more things in your email. Promote multiple products, different USPs and more.
It is advisable to go bulletproof with background images and buttons. Bulletproof images will work amazingly well in Outlook too.
Consider a hybrid approach to let your emails look like responsive email in the third party apps that doesn’t support media queries.
Use attractive typography, but stick with web-safe fonts like Arial, Helvetica, Tahoma, Times Roman, and Georgia. Modern web fonts are supported in less than 50% of email clients. For custom fonts insert them as image or use appropriate fallback that matches to websafe font.
Choose just one or two colors for your emails. The fewer colors you use, the cleaner your design will look.
Uplers design and code flawless emails, newsletter templates, landing pages, and digital assets such as banners. In
addition, we also offer email automation and campaign management services. To know more, email us at
contact@uplers.com or visit email.uplers.com