You can consider a mistake as a mistake only if you fail to learn from it, however, errors made in email marketing can result in significant consequences; therefore, it is preferable to avoid them if possible.
In this article, we will discuss the challenges that email marketers often encounter when developing email marketing campaigns and provide suggestions on how to prevent them, based on the experiences of most email marketers.
What you should know about email marketing mistakes
We have observed that email marketing mistakes occur frequently enough to cause panic. In response to this, we have compiled a report on email marketing mishaps using survey responses. Below are some of the main points we have learned from these surveys.
- Pre-deployment testing prevents problems: Errors increase when pre-deployment testing isn’t done on every email. We discovered that six in 10 respondents who didn’t test every email reported sending an email with at least one mistake.
- Larger email teams use pre-deployment lists more frequently: More than 50% of respondents follow a written pre-deployment checklist. Among them, larger email teams were more likely to follow checklists and, thus, avoid errors.
- Build in email testing automation to reduce errors: Since pre-deployment testing remains a manual process for most marketers, there’s room for error. Regardless of team size or frequency of sending, testing automation is a step toward eliminating errors.
- Larger teams tend to believe their emails are error-free: In this case, brands that send more campaigns in a shorter time are more likely to send mistakes in emails. In this case, the most common mistakes include errors in email copy, wrong links, and wrong recipients. See how your email team measures up.
Common email marketing mistakes
The repercussions of email marketing mistakes can adversely impact your return on investment. These mistakes can include unexpected rendering issues in the inbox, sending emails to the wrong recipient, or distributing email copy with formatting, spelling, and grammar errors.
Now, we will begin by reviewing the typical errors made in email marketing. Let’s begin!
1. Letting the quality drop because of a pressing deadline
It is likely that many of us have experienced this situation before. When the deadline for sending an email is getting closer, we start worrying about whether we will be able to meet it. Consequently, we opt for shortcuts and eventually send an unsatisfactory email.
It is important to have a solid plan well in advance. Although it is not necessarily wrong to work on a campaign near the deadline, having a plan in place can assist in time management. When given a two-week timeframe to finish a project, allocate the initial week for planning tasks such as design, and dedicate the following week to execution. Preparing ahead of time aids in saving time and minimizing the stress associated with email marketing.
Another useful tip is to keep a marketing calendar where you can note down your campaign dates, important schedules, and holidays. This will allow you to easily see what tasks you need to complete and when, without any difficulties.
2. Your images don’t render for all your readers
It can be disheartening to realize that all the hard work you put into perfectly aligning images with text, striking a healthy image-to-text ratio, and forming the perfect email goes to waste when some of your subscribers are unable to see the images due to rendering issues.
Ensure that you review your images using our Campaign Precheck functionality. By utilizing Campaign Precheck, you can confirm whether the images in your email will be displayed correctly and promptly for all recipients. This allows you to identify and address any issues that require attention before sending the email.
Alt text can be added to provide context to images as some email clients may automatically block them.
Alt text is important for subscribers who use screen readers or voice assistants like Alexa or Siri. It enables them to comprehend the image’s context even if they are unable to see it. Additionally, ensure that you upload images to your digital marketing software’s library in order for your email to effectively display them. If you use external image URLs, ensure that they are hosted on a public web server to avoid any issues.
Before sending the email, make sure to preview how it will appear on different email clients and devices. It is essential to ensure that the email is compatible with various platforms such as mobile devices, laptops, tablets, and PCs, as well as email clients like Zoho Mail, Gmail, and Microsoft Outlook.
3. You send a wrong (or broken) link
The absolute worst situation for an email marketer is when there is a wrong or broken URL in either the call-to-action button or the copy. This can be considered the most embarrassing facepalm moment.
Imagine your company’s annual biggest sale is happening. Various versions of a crucial email are being sent to different list segments. Surprisingly, the web traffic data reveals that nobody is benefiting from the sale due to a malfunctioning main CTA link, making it impossible for people to access it. This scenario not only ruins your click-through rate but also your chances of success.
To ensure that each URL in your email leads to a live destination, carefully check every link, redirect, and URL before sending. You can manually verify these in your campaign editor or take advantage of Campaign Precheck for automated verification.
One more method is to determine the placement of the CTA and inline links right at the beginning. This allows you to verify them first while you enhance the rest of your layout.
4. Not making your emails accessible
The process of email accessibility ensures that individuals with disabilities have the ability to read and comprehend the content within the emails you generate.
When your emails are not accessible, people with reading disabilities will not be able to decipher the message in your email, which is one of the main reasons people use email marketing – to connect with their audience and build trust.
To effectively communicate with your audience, it is important to ensure that they can understand you. Enhance the accessibility of your emails by incorporating the following recommendations:
It is advisable not to rely too much on images in your emails and instead, try to think step by step.
Please rephrase the text below while maintaining the same meaning. Think step by step. Do not add new information and do not remove information. Use a minimum font size of 16px for the email copy and 18px for the heading. The text below should be rephrased without adding or removing any information while ensuring that the same meaning is conveyed, keeping in mind to think step by step. Additionally, the email copy should be in a minimum font size of 16px and the heading should be in a minimum font size of 18px.
Ensure that there is sufficient contrast between the foreground and background colors, making the text below undergo a step-by-step rephrasing without the addition or removal of any information, while still preserving its original meaning.
Please provide the text that needs to be rephrased so that I can assist you.
5. Not authenticating your sender domain and IP address
To ensure that emails are sent by legitimate individuals and not by spammers or spoofers, email authentication employs various techniques such as SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. Therefore, if you fail to authenticate and verify your identity, your emails may be identified as spam and prevented from reaching recipients’ inboxes.
Simplifying the situation by avoiding all the complications
Verify your sender server using SPF.
To safeguard your emails from tampering, establish DKIM.
To safeguard against email spoofing, it is important to establish DMARC and ensure successful SPF and DKIM authentication in order for DMARC to be effective.
6. Not warming up your domain
When you log in to an email service provider, you can’t simply upload your email list and send thousands of emails right away. Email marketing is not as straightforward as a plug-and-play process.
To establish a positive domain reputation and improve email deliverability, it is important to gradually increase the number of emails sent each day while initially targeting a smaller group of recipients. This process, known as domain warm-up, increases the likelihood of emails reaching the subscriber’s inbox.
7. Not complying with email laws
Despite the clear consequences of not adhering to email laws, people continue to disregard them. Failure to comply with such laws can result in significant financial penalties. Therefore, it is important to familiarize oneself with regulations such as CCPA, CPRA, GDPR, PECR, and understand the necessary steps to ensure compliance.
8. Using a no-reply email id
When you use a no-reply email id, your subscribers are unable to contact you, giving the impression that you are indifferent to their opinions. Moreover, this diminishes the level of trust between you and your subscribers, potentially resulting in them being uninterested in opening or reading your emails.
Here are a few options for noreply@domainname.com:
Please rephrase: The email address to contact our company is hello@companyname.com.
Please rephrase the text below while maintaining the same meaning. Do not add new information and do not remove information. “Contact the division of the company by emailing companydivision@companyname.com.”
The email address hello@fullname.com remains unchanged.
The email address is firstname@companyname.com.
9. Sending bulk emails to the entire list without any strategy
If you send emails to your entire list without a strategic approach, it is likely that much of your audience will not be able to relate to a generic email. This can cause annoyance and result in them marking you as spam. Moreover, sending mass emails can attract the attention of spam filters, potentially leading to them identifying you as spam.
To send email blasts effectively, follow these step-by-step instructions:
To maintain the same meaning, rephrase the text as follows: “Segment your list into sections and direct tailored emails to each segment.”
Ensure that your emails are tailored to suit the needs and interests of your recipients.
10. You overlook typos and other common email copy mistakes
Although it is possible to have a colleague review your email, it is likely that they will occasionally overlook an error. While minor mistakes can be easily missed, others, like unintended offensive language, can harm your brand’s reputation. For instance, a simple typo can accidentally offend subscribers instead of just asking them a question.
When laughing at these mistakes in person, they are easier to dismiss. Yet, in this scenario, they will result in a prompt reaction and subsequent emails to rectify your error. Keep in mind that grammar errors and typographical mistakes have the potential to impact your rates of conversion.
Make sure to use Campaign Precheck’s Spell Check tool before sending any campaign. The Spell Check tool thoroughly examines all parts of your email, including the title, body copy, alt text, and HTML.
Making typos, renowned psychologist Tom Stafford explains, is essentially a manifestation of self-confidence. In simpler terms, our brains process sensory input by merging it with our anticipations and deriving significance from it.
Because we meticulously analyze different sections of others’ text to understand its meaning, we tend to effortlessly identify any spelling mistakes they make. However, when it comes to our own content, since we already have a thorough understanding of it, we tend to quickly review certain portions, causing us to unintentionally ignore any typos.
One alternative approach is to pause your email creation and step away from the screen for a while. Then, come back and review the content with a fresh perspective to catch any mistakes. Most importantly, make sure to test and preview every email before sending it to prevent any costly errors from going unnoticed.
