3 Email Marketing Mistakes Most Businesses Make

Email marketing, with its relatively high effectiveness and low cost, is one of the best ways to stretch a marketing budget. Unfortunately, marketers’ enthusiasm for this lucrative marketing channel has at times outpaced their knowledge on the subject.

Here are three email marketing mistakes that, according to recent studies, most email marketers are making (and why they’re a problem):

1. Sending too many emails.

According to HubSpot, 78 percent of consumers have unsubscribed from a company’s email list because they were receiving too many emails from them. If you’ve ever set up a lead-generation page to help grow your email list, you know how hard it can be to get prospects to let you into their inboxes. Once you’ve gained access, the worst thing you can do is yank the welcome mat out from under your own feet by spamming them with too many messages.

2. Not tracking email-driven conversion rates.

While most marketers are regularly reviewing open rates and clicks, MarketingProfs reported in 2016 that only 23 percent have integrated their website and emails to track what happens post-click. Why is this a problem? Because all of those opens and clicks are getting you nowhere if website visitors leave your site before visiting any other pages. Learning which emails result in the highest conversion rates helps you tailor future messages for the best ROI, making the relatively small amount of time it takes to set up such tracking worth the investment.

3. Failing to perform A/B testing.

Less than half of marketers say they perform A/B testing on email subject lines, according to MarketingProfs. Most marketers are already comparing the performance of separate emails, helping them identify which content is resonating with their audiences, but A/B testing is different. When you compare the performance of different subject lines for the same email (by sending two different versions of the same email to a subset of your subscriber list), you can send the higher-impact version to the rest of your list, improving your chances of engagement. A/B testing is available through most modern email service providers, including inexpensive options, so there’s no reason not to play around with this feature.

The most grievous email marketing mistake? Not doing it at all. If you’ve never set up an email campaign, the task can seem daunting, but it’s a lot easier than you may think.

Need help? Check out our free whitepaper, Email Isn’t Dead: 5 Ways to Energize Your Email Marketing. For more personalized assistance, contact us for help with all aspects of an email program, from collecting your first email address to hitting the “send” button.