Why Email Marketing Fails – How To Fix It

Email Marketing

Email marketing is a frustrating endeavor. Writing a good email is simple; lots of us fire off emails all day long to partners, clients, customers, bosses, and coworkers. So it is easy to assume that sending out a successful marketing email is only a matter of making a clearly communicated point and then blasting it out to as many contacts as possible.

But if you want your emails to land in inboxes and to actually entice the recipient to open, read, and respond in some way, you’re going to need to refine your tactics.

Whether you are reaching out to long-time customers or to people you think may be interested in what you have to offer, the goal of any email marketing campaign is to convince someone to engage with your business. With a clear goal in mind of what you hope to achieve, use these tips before you send out your next email campaign, and see better results from your efforts.

Just Don’t Do It – Email Gimmicks That Fail

Many email marketing gimmicks will land you right in the Trash Bin. In fact, you’re likely to not even make it past spam filters. And even if you do make it to the inbox, you’re much more likely to alienate and frustrate the recipient with these tactics; exactly the opposite of what you’re hoping to accomplish!

If you’re using any of these gimmicks in your marketing emails, it could be why you’re not seeing the ROI you should:

  • CAPS LOCK – When browsing your inbox, a subject line in ALL CAPS will certainly draw your eye. But that is as far as it will get you. At best, it comes across as the text version of a yelling car salesman. It might make you look, but you’re not going to be persuaded that this email has anything more to say to you other than LOOK AT ME!
  • Emojis – The thing that makes successful email marketing so difficult is that trends are always changing. Emojis and emoticons can be fun on social media, and if used cleverly can be a definite asset in that medium. In an email, emojis already feel gimmicky and outdated, especially in the subject line.
  • Hype over Substance – Promises like “Want to lose weight fast?” or “Are you ready to change your life?” aren’t going to get a second look. Similarly, a recent trend in email marketing is to use a catchy subject line like “We’re so sorry…” or “Do me a favor…” to trick the recipient into opening the email, and then deliver a broad advertisement as the email content. No one likes to feel like they’ve been tricked, and even if it’s a clever delivery, you’re presenting your business as untrustworthy when you use these kinds of tactics.
  • Really long emails with a whole lot of details and rambling that will take far too long to get to the actual point – A too long subject line will get truncated. A too long email will get passed over.

What A Successful Email Looks Like – Personal

The buzzword in online marketing circles these days is user optimization.

User optimization encompasses a number of marketing concepts all under one overarching idea: the end user responds best to a targeted, personal experience. A successful email will communicate that what your business has to offer is a fit with what the recipient does or who they are or what they need. Successfully personalizing marketing emails starts with creating targeted, segmented contact lists. Then, designing the context of the email to best fit that demographic.

Get Opened – The marketing emails that get opened have a subject line that applies specifically to the person or business they’re reaching out to. That means using highly refined target list and crafting a subject line that is specific to that audience.

Get Read – The emails that get read are personal, direct, and interesting to the reader. Use names whenever possible, and make your point quickly. Always provide the reader value in some way, whether that be very literally with a discount code, or something else worthwhile to your subscribers like a preview of a new service or product, a free webinar, or helpful tips applicable to your products or services.

Get Responded To – Always provide a clear call to action. Drive traffic to your website, or even better, a landing page; offer downloads of a digital coupon; provide a “Buy Now” link; or simply direct recipients to visit your business — but no matter what, make sure the next step of engagement is completely clear.

Get Out the Emails, See the Results, Then Repeat!

If you really want to see results from your email marketing efforts, once you’ve refined your contact lists, created targeted context, deployed the emails, and tracked results, you must do it all again on a regular basis. That means further refining your contact lists in addition to creating new content. Like in any other relationship, consistency and communication are important in maintaining the exchange between a business and client base.

If this sounds like a lot of work, you’re not wrong. That’s where we can help. The marketing team at EmoryDay has been providing comprehensive virtual marketing services to businesses like yours for more than a decade. We understand how to engage your customers and build your client base through targeted, relevant email content.

Our team of marketing specialists will help you navigate each aspect of successful email marketing, from creating the content to execution strategies, tracking and analysis. And email marketing is just one piece of the comprehensive virtual marketing services you will receive when you partner with EmoryDay.

Emails That Get Opened, Read, and Responded To: EmoryDay Can Help

Don’t keep pouring effort in email marketing that just isn’t getting results. Contact us for a free consultation.

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    Create a Free Account
  • 2.
    FREE Custom Marketing Plan
    (no obligation)
  • 3.
    Select only the services you want.