Sometimes people make mistakes : The 14 most common mistakes in email marketing, how to avoid them and recover

Approaching the end of the year and the beginning of a new one, this is the perfect time to update your clients, contacts and employees of what you’ve done in the passing year and what’s coming up. Before sending out this summary email, it’s important to pay attention to several things.

Fact: according to a recent study, about 52% of the marketers have made about 2-5 email marketing mistakes in the past year alone. Email marketing mistakes are located on a large spectrum starting from a small “oops” up to a complete disaster. Some were “just” mistakes resulting from a lack of attention or proper spelling, and some could be problematic and harmful.
Most mistakes are on the “oops” side of the spectrum, but when you make them, it still feels like a complete disaster. After all, you just emailed your mistake to a few hundreds, maybe thousands of people, who you probably imagine sitting there, comparing or making fun of you.

In order to help you avoid those mistakes, recover after having made them, or even help you feel better about the ones you’ve already made, we’ve drafted a list of the most common email marketing mistakes.

So for the sake of all of you out there, here are the 14 most common email marketing mistakes people make:

1. Display issues – No matter how well your content is written and how precise the copywriting is, if it’s not presented perfectly according to the screen display (responsiveness) you’re missing out on something. Always check the display on several screens to avoid losing users just because they’re not getting a good user experience.
2. Attaching wrong links, cut links or forgetting to attach a link – You want to get your links right: you’ve chosen to attach a link to your mailing list? Make sure it’s not “broken” and that it actually directs the user to the correct page. You wrote “Here’s a link to something incredible” and didn’t attach the link? That might not be the best thing… make sure to double-check your texts and your links.
3. Sending the wrong email to the wrong person – Sending an email about a revolutionary shampoo to a group of bald guys – might not be the best thing. Make sure your emails are sent to the right target audience.
4. Not inserting an “Unsubscribe” button – Actually, this is borderline illegal. Use a mailing system that allows people to unsubscribe with a click of a button.
5. Sending out-of-date information / photos – The accuracy of the information you’re sending out is basic. Selling swimming pool equipment and having an email with a photo of a heavy winter coat? That’s one big “oops”. Make sure the photos you’re using and the information you’re providing are correct and accurate.
6. Sending large emails – Don’t overload your users’ mailbox, it’s unnecessary. Try to send out emails with regular texts and not overload it with photos which slow down the email display.
7. Sending out contradicting emails – Make sure the emails you send your contacts match each other. A client who purchased a new dishwasher and receives an email with a guide on how to operate a dishwasher and shouldn’t receive an email with an offer for replacement parts.
8. Sending the same email twice – Shortcuts are great. That is why we have the wonderful “Duplicate” option allowing you to duplicate a campaign and send it again. However, please be careful only to duplicate a campaign that is actually relevant “as is” and doesn’t require corrections or changes.
9. The issue of “Copy-Paste” – It is extremely comfortable to copy and paste text, but you have to make sure you’re copying the right text in full and pasting it in the right place.
10. Sending unfinished emails – Imagine we would stop this sentence in the mid…. or have an XXX in the middle of a sentence. Not a very nice feeling. Make sure you’re sending out full emails and not half-finished ones.
11. Typos – You cannot send out emails with typos. Period.
12. Sending emails from the wrong account – Do you have several email accounts for your various activities? Make sure to send your emails from the right account and profile. You don’t want to send the wrong marketing message to the wrong audience from the wrong account; not only will it confuse your readers, but it could also create an unprofessional image for you. Just make sure you’re using the right account whenever you send an email.
13. Defining a schedule with wrong dates – Just like a sitcom, timing is everything. Make sure to send your marketing emails at the right moments that don’t clash with special days or times that might be unsuitable for your contacts.
14. Not following up on sent emails – You went through all the trouble, put in the work, made a whole design, and sent it – don’t you want to follow up on the results? Collecting data is the basics of success – make sure to check the results of your campaigns to constantly improve.

Conclusion:
Already feeling better about your mistakes? Great 😊 That’s a great starting point.
Found yourselves among the mistake list? That’s okay. Email marketers make mistakes sometimes. The correct working method will ensure to reduce your mistake margins as well as efficient mailings. Good luck!