One of the best marketing strategies you can find, among many options, is email marketing.

To keep your brand name alive in the minds of your customers, you must first entice them so they’ll remember you exist.

A well-orchestrated email marketing campaign can help you achieve this.

If you haven’t had a breakthrough in your email marketing campaigns after several attempts, you may have been doing something wrong.

Luckily, this guide is here to help.

1. Using Aggressive Subject Lines

Do you find yourself drawn to open an email just because of its subject line? You’re not alone. Most people would feel the same.

Scan through your email right now to verify this claim. You will find that you never opened many of your received emails, and the reason is not far-fetched. Too many of them have hyped-up subject lines.

Did you know that 69% of email recipients report emails as spam simply because of their subject lines?

Many marketers do not realize that aggressive subject lines are why recipients report their promotion emails as spam.

Readers can try not to label their regular senders as spam, but keeping their hands off the delete button can be challenging, especially when they keep promising the impossible.

To create a good subject line, take note of these points:

• Reduce your use of caps on all letters to avoid giving the impression of yelling at your readers
• Personalize your subject lines
• Don’t misplace professionalism
• Keep it short and simple
• Stop adding unnecessary details.

2. Disregarding Mobile Users

Try asking a dozen people whether they own a computer, and they’ll give you “No” for an answer.

Take the stakes slightly higher, and the response may remain the same.

Ask the same set of persons if they own a mobile device instead, and the response will change from “No” to “Yes”.

What does this tell you? Most people use mobile devices and phones more than PCs. Therefore, your emails must be mobile-responsive.

Chances are, you use a computer to craft your email marketing messages, and on your PC, everything looks splendid.

You might think it’s time to send it out to your subscribers. But don’t be hasty. There’s something you must do first.

Email yourself and check how the message looks from your phone.

Additionally, several email marketing tools have mobile-optimized features, so opt for one.

3. Omitting A CTA Button

People don’t just send marketing emails because they feel like it.

There’s a purpose for the email, and the objective should be realized.

If you want your email recipients to follow you on Twitter or purchase a product, ensure you include a call-to-action (CTA) button for that purpose.

It is crucial to be clear about customers’ wants so you don’t just crowd their inboxes. Just saying “Hello” won’t add any value to the recipient.

Therefore, adding a CTA button in your emails is necessary.

Use a big button to draw subscribers’ attention to your marketing.

Also, ensure the actions in the CTA link can be followed and completed in a few clicks.

4. Failure To Add Links Or Use Of Wrong Links

Sometimes, it’s easy to create a beautiful email and send it out.

But then you realize you forgot to add a link in your CTA, or worse, you included the wrong link. These mistakes are pretty common among business owners.

Some people have mistakenly sent customers links to their private documents instead of product descriptions.

If they are lucky, the recipient would perceive an error and delete the document to break the link.

The recipient could even go the extra mile to request a correction.

But realistically speaking, how many people would do this?

Always check the emails you intend to send and inspect every CTA link in your emails.

5. Neglecting Analytics

You can hurt your business if you run an email campaign and fail to monitor the analytics.

Analytics includes the open rate of your emails, the click-through rates of your campaigns, the number of people that subscribe to your newsletters, and the rate at which others unsubscribe.

Use the analytics of your email campaigns to generate consistency.

Inspect the emails with the highest and lowest open and click-through rates and see what they have in common.

Use the data from these analytics to plan future campaigns. If you must, find a platform with efficient analytic tools for better results.

6. Using Too Many Images

Images make messages more appealing and relatable, but they can do the exact opposite if wrongly used.

If you use too many images in your emails, don’t be surprised when your recipients block you.

Even if you add alt texts correctly, if the message has too many images, it is no better than sending a blank email.

Let your paragraphs and sentences do the talking! When used in moderation, images can make your marketing emails look crisp and clean.

7. Not Grouping Subscribers

If you have only one email list where every customer receives the same message simultaneously, you are making a big mistake.

Do you know that some subscribers are in for only promotions and coupons while others are there for newsletters?

Some customers want periodic messages, while others don’t. Everyone is different.

Many business owners have sworn that their marketing metrics increased simply because they segmented subscribers.

Separate your subscribers based on their language, age, browsing behavior, sales cycle, previous purchases, and location.

When you learn your audience’s interests and segment them, you send only emails that they’d appreciate.

Conclusion

Every industry needs an email campaign to thrive in this digital age where people are drawn by sight.

A major misconception of email marketing is that it is highly ineffective. Surprisingly, the reverse is the case.

Maybe you’ve been making some mistakes in the past with your email campaign. This guide is here to help you identify and avoid those mistakes.

Originally published June 16, 2023; republished October 30, 2023, to add a video.