According to the 2015 to 2019 Email Statistics Report by the Radicati Group, Inc., approximately 120 business emails are sent and received per day by professionals. With this arises the question: “Are high-ranking executives free enough to view so many emails per day, and given that different enterprises prefer to communicate with each other through emails?†The answer is no. The amount of content created, optimized and distributed to several businesses, lose their impact even before they reach the prospect or client inboxes.
We have stepped into a generation of digitization, which prefers fast communication, faster conversions, and even faster business growth. With so many business targets to achieve, with the amount of personalization required and scarcity of time, building camaraderie is difficult but indispensable.
How would you make an impression through emails in such given situations?
If you figure out what you are doing wrong and eliminate those errors, you will try to fit in the email marketing techniques that suit your business development goals.
What email campaign errors can you point out based on your current email results?
Well, as marketers, across the globe, we can all agree upon few email marketing errors that ruin email results:
Very long emails
Suppose, you are a business professional, to be precise a decision maker, and you open an email with a 500-word message. At the first glance, you will be irritated, and you may speedingly close the email. Why? Because you are busy at work and will open an email because of its meaningful subject line. So, any message that takes your valuable time, will not be appreciated.
The same goes for subject lines; which should be within 41-50 characters, and on mobile devices be restrained to 35 characters. Given the fact that the average adult attention span revolves around 8 seconds, you should try to be to the point and mean each and everything you are promoting.
Too many contacts in the CC
Imagine an email with too many email addresses in the CC. Do you think it looks good when you see your email address in the CC as well? Other recipients of that email may be able to see your name as well. If it is not comfortable for you, how can it be comfortable for your email subscribers? For personalized or differentiated marketing to yield the right result, you must be careful while marking contacts in the CC section.
What happens if someone replies to all after receiving your email? Think about the email loop that will be created in real-time?
Subject lines hinting at incomplete ideas
It is right that an email content needs to be crisp, eye catchy and action-driven. But, you will agree that there is a big difference in being to the point and leaving half of your message off the board. Incomplete message raises questions, increasing your email subscribers to pose many questions. This will lengthen your email thread, yielding no profits. Be careful before using one liner in order to make your email short. You may want to deliver a result driven email message rather than be followed up with a long list of questions by the recipients.
Missing CTAs
There is no use of an email does not create the impression on its recipient and deliver the result it, otherwise, should. The right message should reach the right prospect. Your message should indicate the recipient needs to click on a CTA link or a tab to do the following task. Mention the reason why they will care to respond to your action-driven message.
No one is in the compulsion to respond to your emails or take action on receiving your emails. So, the major task remains at your end that requires you to project your brand or offers in a way that they see reason enough to download newsletters or purchase from you.
Usage of sales pitch
Suppose if a brand is keeping you on your toes with its sales driven emails, but right after your first purchase pitches in for another offer going on. You will rather like to get a complimentary product or you would like to get a discount on the next buy or a coupon for another buy. Sometimes, what you put out on a plate says a lot about the way you think, and moreover, how you decorate your serving plate matters.
To an outsider, you may be just an email sender. To become a reliable brand, you need to be convincing enough to get them to believe in your products and services. So, it would rather be an opportunity for you to engage in a virtual conversation with your prospects.
So, you go can about it like, “Hi Max, We are glad to have you as our customer, and want to offer consistent service to you. If you like us to bring about certain changes in our services, please write into us as and when you think right. Our care support representatives will get back to you. Regards, CMO, NewCompany. â€
Not mentioning purpose in the header
No one would want to open an email just like that. Every business professional who has the decision making power will open emails only if the subject line indicates a value generating purpose. What would make your headers action-driven? Let us see:
- Use words like IMPROVE your BI management or TAKE ACTION to improve chat support. An action-driven subject line adds bonus points to your campaign click-through goals.
- If you have an e-book meant for free download, mention it in the subject line header. For example, “Brush your knowledge without paying!†While most skip emails because of meaningless email subjects, your emails will be opened, clicked and responded to.
- Why let your sender repute get reduced just because your subject line mentioned words like “Freeâ€, “Subscribeâ€, “Card Ownerâ€, etc.? Such words can compel as the recipient to send your email to the spam folder.
When technology offers the auto generated email marketing solutions, then why let small errors or ignorance spoil the responses you could get on your emails? Take help of MailChimp, GetResponse, AWeber, and Campaign Monitor to personalize your emails, time their delivery and monitor their metrics, such click-throughs and opens, forwards and bounce rates, location, and time-centric activities, etc.