Let’s talk about the most common things you overthink in email marketing. On the Internet, you will discover a lot of articles and tips on creating the perfect email that will meet all your requirements.
Some of the most common email marketing mistakes that people make are. Others will teach you how to prepare an email, compose it, and what should not be left out. (Psst… I also wrote a few articles about it, such as How to Write Catchy Email Subjects That Instantly Stun the Recipient.)
But then reality sets in, and it’s time to send your newsletter, and suddenly it’s not that simple anymore.
What is really important about email marketing?
Almost every day, people ask me about producing and sending bulk mail.
How and where should you look for the correct image? What should I put it in? When should I send out a sales email? What happened? More individuals unsubscribed from my mailing today. Should I use the recipient’s last or first name?
Are you squandering your time by meticulously perfecting your newsletter?
What if you’re focused on things that aren’t significant in the end and ignoring what are?
When I make a grammatical error in an email, article, or advertising, I am immediately chastised and mocked since grammar is essential to many people. It’s not first and foremost for me. (Ugh, maybe I shouldn’t say that. It’ll be painful.)
That is why I believe this article may be contentious. Every one of us has an opinion on what is essential. And he fights for that point of view. That’s normal.
The recipient desires “flesh.”
Certain aspects of email marketing must be addressed with caution. In order to achieve success.
But all of a sudden, we put off tasks that aren’t that important.
We pay close attention to every comma and letter in the template and the text itself.
At the same time, many of these items are unimportant to email receivers.
When someone signs up for a newsletter, they expect to be “fed.” The receiver anticipates receiving inputs that will assist him in the current situation.
Those sensations are the “flesh” that he values. He is concerned about you feeding him. (For vegetarians, substitute “broccoli” for “meat.”)
It makes no difference whether the color is used in the header. He doesn’t mind if the product image is 2 or 3 mm away from the template’s boundary. It makes no difference whether he received the email at 2 pm or 4 pm on Tuesday.
I’ve compiled a list of ten items that I believe do not significantly impact the performance of email marketing. Despite this, everyone else focuses on them. It’s OK if you recognize each other at times.
10 things you overthink in email marketing
Open your mind for a moment and consider email marketing from a fresh perspective.
1. How frequently should you write to your subscriber
Different industries have different “standards” for how frequently newsletters should be sent.
- Real estate agents often create a newsletter once a month.
- Once every two weeks, a regular financial advisor writes to me.
Let’s suppose that this is the “common standard.” Remind yourself every two weeks.
But isn’t that little? What if I don’t strike the point where the consumer wants to buy right now?
Isn’t that a bit much? After all, I don’t want to irritate my intended receiver. I’m sure they receive a large number of those emails, and I don’t want to be one of the “bad” ones.
What if individuals are only used to hearing from me once a week, and I need to write to them? Isn’t it ridiculous that I write to them twice or thrice?
Why sending email frequency does not matter
You know those individuals you can talk to all day, yet they won’t buy? You give them all the information, perform the first and final thing for them, and nothing happens.
On the other hand, do you know someone who pays attention to everything you say and is fascinated by the slightest aspects of your work and products? And they continue to purchase.
I’m not sure about you, but I enjoy dealing with the second type of person. I’d want to have more customers like this.
I can’t conceive of a case in which someone who is trying to solve a problem doesn’t want to hear what will assist them in solving the problem. (OK, I admit it, I know people like that.)
Anyway, there are never enough emails that are valuable to the receiver in their particular position.
What to do??
Make it obvious who “they” are. “They” refer to email subscribers and future consumers.
What kind of person do you want “them” to be? Customers come to you regardless of how frequently you write. And it is entirely up to you who they will be.
In short, send emails just to potential clients who agree with you. Everyone else should feel free to log out. And write as frequently as you can.
I also know of a business that sends emails numerous times every day. Every day of the week. Several weeks.
It was an actual test. They backed down since it did not affect sales. But that is not important.
Notably, the number of messages did not have a more significant effect on unsubscribing either.
2. What if someone decides to unsubscribe from my newsletter?
Statistics are the foundation of every good mailing tool. One of the figures you will undoubtedly keep track of is the number of unsubscribed contacts.
What if the newsletter isn’t good enough? Perhaps the recipient will be irritated that you are sending him something else.
Or he may simply dislike the email’s substance and subject. Worst of all, those who may buy in the future don’t buy when they opt out.
So, how should I draft an email to ensure that no one unsubscribes from me?
Why does unsubscribing not matter?
Unsubscribing is common practice in email marketing. Not everyone who opts out is necessarily an unhappy reader.
Some people have already found a solution to their difficulties. They obtained the knowledge they required from you and must now move on to the next issue in their lives.
Another possibility is that they registered more than one email address for you and chose to have communications delivered to only one of them.
In any case, the individual who chooses not to participate is not your consumer.
Mainly because he hasn’t purchased anything in the months he’s been receiving emails.
Forget about it and concentrate on people who read the email, clicked, and intend to purchase from you.
What to do when people unsubscribe??
Fear of people opting out should not cause you to send fewer messages. Quite the reverse.
Send more emails and keep track of unsubscribe rates. There is no need to be concerned as long as the number of unsubscribes does not surpass 2% of the total number of messages delivered, according to statistics.
However, if you send an email and half of the recipients unsubscribe, you’ve failed. Do you know the quickest method to find out? Unfortunately, only by sending an email.
If you want to learn more about unsubscribing, ask people who have unsubscribed why they logged out.
You provide them the opportunity to vent any resentment they may feel. Expect to find the truth about why they no longer desire your emails only very seldom.
3. What will people think of me if I start email marketing?
Building a solid corporate or personal brand is essential. You want to be recognized in your field.
You are concerned with how your competition and, more importantly, your subscribers view you.
That’s fine and good. It must not, however, become a fear of communicating with people.
When entrepreneurs first begin using email marketing, they may be concerned about how their consumers will receive their communications. Sending them a newsletter will have no effect on them.
What if I don’t strike their mark? Is it permissible to talk familiarly to consumers in an email?
We mainly look at ourselves as “Team XYZ,” so it is impossible to point the finger at anybody.
Why it doesn’t matter what others think
I’m not suggesting you shouldn’t care what your consumers think of you. I’m not that sort of shooter.
🙂 Although… Let’s take it to the extreme: The only thing that counts is the volume of orders. But hey, look at it from another point of view.
You have created a new blog article and want to let all interested parties and customers in your database know about it.
Why should you be terrified of it? You are an expert in your profession. Maybe not nearly the global capacity, but that piece has exciting and essential information.
Not for everyone. But absolutely for your consumers. You don’t need to impress individuals who know more than you. They will not become your consumers unless you want to be the contractor who does what he’s told.
What to do?
How do you react when you get an email concerning something you’ve known for a long time?
You could say, “What is the amateur attempting to achieve here? I’ve heard it, seen it so many times” And because of it, you subsequently expect that others will give you a similar appraisal.
Most people feel uneasy at first. I think that in time you will turn around and grin about it.
The critical thing is to take the initial step and start sending. As you compose individual emails, you will acquire practice and grow more and more confident.
Even an experienced marketer may make a mistake in an email. What’s the worst that can happen?
Some receivers will spot the error and let you “eat” it. There are always such nitpickers.
But the great majority of beneficiaries don’t even pause to think about it. Or they’ll think it’s cool.
That you are also simply a human being of flesh and blood, which is not infallible.
4. Won’t I spam my subscribers with my email?
We can look at SPAM from two sides. From moral and ethical.
The law defines SPAM simply as unsolicited commercial messages. In reality, this implies that you send a message to someone who has not given you approval and does not know you.
You obtained his email address somewhere on the Internet in a corporate brochure or purchased it from some failure.
It is evident here that if you send an email to such a person, you are breaching the law. The individual concerned may report you to the Office for the Protection of Personal Data, and you might be penalized. Learn more about email marketing law.
Then there is the second perspective, the ethical one. You do have the recipient’s permission. For example, he requested a newsletter from you.
But by emailing him every day, isn’t that also spamming? Did the impoverished receiver request a carpet raid during registration? How many emails are requested each month, and how many currently surpass the carrying limit?
You generally don’t want to overload the recipient with information and sales pitches. What will people think of you? Won’t your “pressure” deter him from purchasing, and you’ll lose the most outstanding client in the world?
Why it’s crucial not to “spam” with your emails.
When you register, you promise news once a week or access to an e-book. In the extreme, every message you send beyond that is spam. The path probably doesn’t lead here.
You can never know how many emails are valid and when you are already “spamming.” Each individual has a distinct border of what they consider spam and what not.
- Someone gets illegal SPAM, makes a purchase, and becomes a delighted customer. (That’s not an excuse or a justification to spam!!!)
- Someone else gets a regular mailing for two years and then writes that they’ve had enough of the incessant spamming and begins threatening.
What to do?
You should avoid sending spam to those who don’t know you and have never heard of you.
(You could sell some merchandise this way, but there’s a considerably bigger punishment for being a spammer. And you run the danger of having your account banned in your mailing tool.) Learn more about How to prevent your email from going to spam.
Instead, think about what messages are relevant to your recipients. Send as many targeted emails as possible to the correct recipients.
To achieve this, you need to separate the contact database into various pieces.
For example, according to the interest of the receivers or according to what section of the sales cycle they are in – new registrations, did not purchase, bought a month ago, etc. This is termed the segmentation of contacts.
When you get down to segmentation, you’ll discover that there are people who prefer to get communications five times a week.
5. Should my newsletter be perfect?
You want every newsletter to be faultless so that the colors you use are excellent. So that the photos are precisely aligned in every browser. Every dash, every border, and every button must be in its place.
And send an introductory text email without graphics? You’ll probably fail when we have a visual guidebook and an accurate company identity.
Clothes create a person. We all know this statement. But does this also relate to the look of the newsletter? Is it required to solve every line and every picture?
Why it doesn’t matter what the email looks like
Sorry to say, but in most situations, the receiver doesn’t care. Does it matter to you if the good news arrives to you on gilded parchment or plain letterhead?
It is a constant fight between form and content that is essential. I probably won’t fix anything, but if you focus the energy into the content you generally dedicate to form, the receiver will enjoy it.
The receiver is not interested in whether the green color in the email header precisely matches the green color you have chosen in the visuals on the website if the product picture appears adjacent to the second or third paragraph of the text.
First of all, he is concerned with the substance of the communication. He wants information if he is interested in a specific product or issue.
Those are the main things he desires. If the whole email is attractive to the eye and from a graphical point of view, that’s simply frosting on the cake. But that’s not the point.
In addition, if you pay too much attention to the look of each email, you will not send many of them.
The approval of each communication will be prolonged. You test each newsletter on hundreds of various devices. The button here is not accurate, and please redo it.
And the result? A developer spends two hours optimizing for an email client that 0.02% of people use, and no one reads that specific mailing. Oh well, it’s just 400 an hour, so why bother?
What to do?
Prepare the most minimal visual template and concentrate on the text. Each mail will seem “the same,” and you will modify its content.
Even the receiver will become accustomed to his look and will always identify him securely.
Don’t dwell on trivial details since the email will (almost) never be flawless. You will nearly always want to tweak and enhance anything. But it would be best if you interact with your consumers and prospects. That’s the crucial thing.
6. what topic should I use in my newsletter
You might have read on the Internet (and on this site) that the requirement of a successful newsletter is, among other things, its topic.
The topic of an email is the first thing the receiver sees in their message. If it’s appealing enough, he’ll open the message. Otherwise, it will wind up unread in the “Bulk” tab.
It is true. The topic matters the most. And which topic to choose?
Short or lengthy. With a question mark, exclamation mark, or nothing. Emotional or conservative.
To disclose what it is about or to stimulate interest. Add emoticon or not. Pushing the aim or communicating subliminally.
So many possibilities and how to choose when it relies on whether you will have clouds of orders next week or the items will decay in the warehouse.
Why the topic is not significant
Just because an item appears beautiful enough to you doesn’t imply it will have the same impact on the receiver.
It is your subjective feeling. It may be more or less based on experience and maybe even the results of specific tests, but it is still subjective.
You may ponder as much as you like, but you will never know how it will turn out until you send the email. So yeah, it’s healthy to think about the topic. But certainly don’t spend a lot of time on it.
What to do?
Feel free to brainstorm a topic for Friday’s email. Write down all your thoughts. Choose the finest 2-5 of them in your view.
And do what every intelligent marketer does. Could you test it out? Prepare an A/B test for volunteers. Learn more about A/B texting HERE
This implies that you send multiple emails to different people and observe which one performs better.
Only the recipients themselves will show you which mail is the greatest and beautiful enough.
You have various possibilities, and you will speed up your decision-making. You don’t have to pick and wager on one card for an extended period.
I have been surprised numerous times by the outcomes of A/B testing. My favorite was a failure, and the topic I just attempted won outright.
You may then use the test findings as a foundation for producing subsequent emails. And most importantly, you have arguments for debates with your pals.
7. When precisely should I send the newsletter?
Everyone who chooses to send email newsletters selects the optimal time and hour for sending.
You want the consumer to get your email precisely the moment he sits down on the Internet and checks his email.
He gets hundreds of emails every day, and you want him to see yours first when he opens his inbox mainly so that he doesn’t get lost in the stream of others.
How to pick the periods when you are developing a sales campaign that lasts just a few days?
Is it preferable to send an email in the morning and have people read it on their way to work? Or, on the contrary, in the evening when they are exhausted and heading home from work?
Suppose you’re interested in knowing the optimal time to send your email. Please read our guide on When to Send Newsletter.
Why it doesn’t matter when you send the message
People have disorders in their life and every day is different from others. If you ask the people around you – except for a few “strange” individuals – most would tell you that they would want to experience something new every day. And yet we go to work routinely.
People adapt to their circumstances. When they have to go to work from 9 to 5, they clench their teeth and walk.
They become accustomed to it. They grow accustomed to the news beginning at 7 pm. They got into the habit of purchasing a newspaper on the way to work at that run-down pharmacy shop on the corner of the block.
They will also grow familiar with what time you deliver them your regular newsletter.
Consistency is far more essential than discovering the golden grail of the exact day and time to send.
If you send your emails every Saturday at 4 in the afternoon, the receiver will become accustomed to them and anticipate them that day.
What to do?
When searching for the perfect time for a regular newsletter, conduct one test and stick your finger firmly in the weekly calendar.
Even more fingers. Most of us have up to 20. But who needs to prepare the material anyhow, right?
When testing, consider sending out letters to random areas of your contact database on various days and hours.
Based on the findings, you will learn which day had the most outstanding outcomes after some time. Or you will discover that it actually doesn’t matter. The outcomes are comparable and rely on whatever phrase you select.
For sales emails, the suggestion is straightforward. There is no ideal moment and day. Just start sending more emails.
When required, I also send several hundred emails every week in campaigns.
Those who have had enough of the offers will log out or stop reading them.
8. Isn’t the email too long?
If you create a brief email, the receiver will read it quickly.
But… It indeed requires being a master of words to express clearly what’s going on, why it’s vital for a person to do it, and so on.
As the proverb goes, “If I had more time, this letter would be shorter.” (The author of the quote is disputed, so let’s assume it was) – Benjamin Franklin.
You will concentrate on resolving any complaints and discuss everything in full… And it will be so lengthy that consumers won’t read the email and won’t click on the essential item – the purchase link.
Why does it not matter how long the email is
The length of the email itself is not crucial. There is no rule that shorter emails are more effective.
I dare suggest the opposite: the longer, the better. This article is also fairly lengthy. His minimalist variant would have ten lines with the instruction, but it doesn’t solve it in the end.
Sure, shorter content will be read by more people. But what would that do you?
Your purpose in an email is to persuade the receiver to do something. He clicked on the link. Completed the registration. He viewed the video. You ordered.
It would be best if you comprehended what you want to tell him. What do you give him? What do you want to introduce him to?
What to do?
The length of the message relies on how much commitment the reader has to make – both financial and time. The New Year’s wish will be brief. The launch of the new product will be extended.
I feel that the trend of lengthier emails is beginning. Emails containing 500 or more words are no exception.
Allow yourself to articulate precisely what you want the reader to accomplish. Present all the advantages of your product. Describe in minute detail how your service works.
If the content is lengthier and you wish to attach extra links, feel free to add more. Make it such that at any point, the reader has the link in sight and does not have to scroll to it.
Bookmark the links, and you can see which link received the most clicks in the statistics. Then you may quickly find out how far most receivers have read.
9. No one in our field does this
“Nobody does it. It’s not tested. I don’t know how people will respond to it. None of the rival coffee businesses issue a regular coffee newsletter.
After all, no one sends numerous emails a day. Sure, it’s feasible in your field, but our consumers are cautious.
It is not possible to sell our unique product over email. I have to meet with the purchaser and adequately demonstrate it to him.”
You are standing on the verge of an abyss. You have a unique product, and no one else has provided it yet.
You have to employ a different manner of selling. You are the first, and you don’t know how others would respond to your offer. What if they are not interested? What if they don’t like the price? How to advertise when no one is doing it? What if it doesn’t work out?
Why is it not essential to wait for others
There are two categories of entrepreneurs – pioneers and copycats.
Both sorts may generate a lot of money, but the first is just one. Whoever is first has a significant advantage and larger margins, and people remember them more.
This applies not just to the items themselves but also new marketing trends. One man in a t-shirt began shooting films at his workplace, sampling various wines.
Until then, it was the territory of starched sommeliers. In conclusion of those videos, he created over 1000. His name is Gary Vaynerchuck, and his Wine Library pushed him to become one of the top wine sellers in the US.
As a pioneer, you have the advantage that consumers or prospects have nothing to compare with.
He doesn’t know how to make things appear perfect. Therefore he’ll forgive you a lot of inconsistencies.
Either they trust you and purchase the stuff, or they don’t. Don’t think about it at all. Prepare the best you can at the time, and it will work.
What to do?
Make your “disadvantage” your advantage. You are the first to provide a product or service in this “non-traditional fashion” – through email. Take a mouthful of the most significant piece of cake.
Take pioneering as a test. If it doesn’t work, you quit doing it. Just tell yourself how you know it’s not working.
Send one or two emails, and maybe nothing happens. And the fifth email may start an avalanche. On the other side, if you submit the tenth and still nothing, it may not actually make sense.
If you are indeed the first, then after the initial emails, you will undoubtedly get comments that will help you further.
10. This is not worth mailing
You informed yourself ahead of time that it wouldn’t work. Does it make sense to spend time composing an email if I “know” that my consumers won’t be interested? I merely irritate them, and they unsubscribe from me.
I won’t remind them about our event anymore. After all, they’ve already heard about it so many times that it must be crawling up their necks. I will not send an email for one order and will irritate the complete database with it.
Why it’s not vital to address the immediate return
You can never predict in advance how an email campaign will play out. Even if you have the paperwork and outcomes from previous campaigns in hand.
Just because something didn’t work out last time doesn’t imply it won’t work out today. And conversely. Just because it worked last time doesn’t ensure it will work today.
The outcomes from previous campaigns are solely for you to figure out what went wrong and well in the past. And now, you may learn from it and do it differently. Better.
Email marketing offers the greatest return on digital technologies. If it doesn’t return with you, then the fault is somewhere other than in the actual sending of emails.
Most commonly, the issue is between the chair and the keyboard. Let’s be a bit “politically acceptable” and state that it may be in the content, frequency, context, tone of communication, and on the website itself.
What to do?
Every email you send should have a purpose and a precise aim. You should know why you are sending it. The receiver may not necessarily realize this at first look, but you need to be precise.
You are sending a sales email because you want to sell today. You send an invitation to an event because you know you will sell at it.
You are submitting a fascinating subject since you are arranging an event on this issue in a month. You are sending an interesting topic since you are planning a massive campaign in a few months.
Email marketing should have structure and guidelines if it is to be a lucrative tool. Feel free to go to the local coffee shop, get a latte, and establish a communication strategy at least three months in advance. Then it cannot happen that you prepare an email that is out of context.
It’s not time to start on the spot
They say, “He who hesitates never eats, ” which is doubly true in web marketing. Everything is speeding, and our consumers and competition are not resting. Every indecision costs something.
I trust that throughout the post, you got fresh insights on how to handle what may be holding you back.
Of all, everyone has their priorities. Everyone considers something different as vital. If it doesn’t immobilize you but energizes you (whether in the form of work pleasure, excellent customer feedback, or orders), be persistent with it.
