A short rant on email marketing mistakes to avoid

If the idea of ​​using emails to sell intimidates you, don’t worry. The good news is that if you fail at email marketing, you’re in good company.

You can even get decent results if you make these mistakes, apparently. I would not know, I was lucky to receive excellent training before I started to venture.

Even without this training, I like to think I’d avoid some of these. The biggest mistakes seem obvious to me. Based on what’s polluting my inbox (temporarily, before rushing to the unsubscribe link), even some experts need a bit of education on this.

Don’t think of this as a tirade. Think of it as a list of things to avoid doing.

The first thing is to make sure your name makes sense.

Yes, this is advice I apparently need to give. Once again, some digital marketing experts are wrong. But your emails should be clearly yours (if you want to be nice) or your company name (if you want your brand to shine).

Many people say that you should never use your company name as your email name. I think ‘never’ is a bit strong, but it’s not bad advice. If you’re not sure, opt for the personal touch.

But when I talk about your name, I mean your full name. At some point, I subscribed to something and started getting emails from ‘Jack’.

Yes, that was his name.

Jack who? Am I supposed to know who ‘Jack’ is?

Is everyone?

If the people on your email list have no idea who is emailing them, guess what? They will mark you as spam and unsubscribe you. Your hard work to attract them ended up hurting you.

Not intelligent.

The second thing is to never send an email that you would not like to read. If your email is nothing more than a simple sales pitch, it had better be very entertaining. People won’t install ad blockers in their browsers and then get ads in their inboxes.

Now, that doesn’t mean you never sell to your list. You are a business, after all. The goal of having a list is to sell.

But be smart about it. When you email them, include a story, helpful trivia, or practical advice. Add value to your day. Make them feel happy that they want to subscribe to you. Then, somewhere in that precious little email, put a link or two to something you’re selling.

If you do both, you train your list to like you. They’ll see your name and know you’re sharing something great. If they feel like buying, they will buy. If not, you haven’t wasted their time.

I see other common mistakes out there. Certainly more than it should. I can’t imagine how much money it cost them.

Skip these and it’s like finding a shortcut to money and influence.