I’ve written many posts and sent out many emails about the importance of list building but I just realized I haven’t really talked to you about what to do with that list you’ve been working so hard to build.
Although there has been a lot of chatter about how social media like Twitter and Facebook will be the final death blow to email marketing, I don’t see that happening anytime soon. But there is another more looming factor that can kill your email marketing campaigns and it’s not Twitter, it’s YOU.
Do you continuously send out emails and it feels like no one is home? Sometimes it seems like you’re talking at a brick wall because you get no responses. You feel like your emails are not getting read. In fact, you have a low “open” rate and you wonder why you even bother sending emails. Is the problem you or them? More than likely it’s the way you’re marketing to your list. Take a look at these email mistakes and see if you’re making any of them.
1. Hello {!firstname} (the actual name goes here, not the word firstname.)
I’m sure you’ve received an email addressed that way. Yes, mistakes can happened but this never looks good. It means you’re too busy to test or you’re not sure what you’re doing. Always test your emails and send them to yourself first. I use to manage my email list and they make it so easy to send yourself a test email. Check them with an eagle eye and catch errors like the above plus an blatant grammatical errors. Be a professional email marketer.
2. Free, eliminate debt, offer, bonus, discount, won, deal, money, sign up now, guaranteed, work from home…
These are considered spam words or phrases and will likely get your email rerouted to the subscriber’s spam trap by their email provider. Most folks use third party email services like Gmail and Yahoo which have very aggressive spam filters (Yahoo especially). Get a list of current spam words with a quick Internet search (just Google “spam words”). Be creative and find other words to say what you want to say that aren’t considered spam.
3. “You Can Make $20,000 in 30 days!!”
Think of your email subject line like the headline for your sales letter. It’s very important and you need to want your reader to learn more about what you’re offering and you can only accomplish this if your subject line compels your reader to continue on to your actual email message. Your email subject line has to be believable. With so many emails to open every day, this sort of subject line will help people decide they definitely don’t want to open your email. Your emails need to build your credibility as someone who is trustworthy. Don’t destroy it by using subject lines and content that are unbelievable.
4. Long emails with huge paragraphs.
People are short on time and in a hurry. They don’t want to read long emails with big boring paragraphs. Remember, it’s about them, not you. Make your emails entertaining and short, and get to the point. Chop long paragraphs into small paragraphs to add white space and make it easier to read. If you make your email easier to read, the odds are better that they’ll actually read it and see your call to action.
5. Make every single email a product promotion.
People opted into your list to receive valuable information that you’ve promised to deliver via email. If your emails only contain promotion after promotion, they’ll stop reading your emails. They might not opt out right away, but that’s the next step. Of course you want to promote to your list, but not all the time. Send helpful info, free reports, etc. and they’re more likely to open and read your emails. Remember, people open emails with a “What’s In It For Me?” frame of mind.
Take some time and analyze what you’ve been sending out to your list of subscribers. A list, preferably a big list, can be the bread and butter for an Internet marketer. But you have to send quality emails or your emails won’t even be opened, let alone read. Focus on building a relationship not just a large list. I’ll take a small list of 1,000 subscribers that are responsive and actually enjoy receiving my emails than a list of 10,000 subscribers who don’t even bother to open my emails.
Remember the golden rule of email marketing: make your emails something you’d be happy to receive yourself.
