5 email marketing blunders you must avoid

March 25, 2009 | Edited by Ken Beaulieu

Permalink: http://www.fuelnet.com/?p=1696

In today’s economy, the return on investment of a permission-based email marketing campaign is more important than ever. Every dollar spent is now analyzed and scrutinized by senior stakeholders. “Companies can’t afford to be making simple mistakes and missing potential sales,” asserts Olivier Piscart, managing director at Emailvision US (emailvision.com). “The fundamental aims of any email marketing campaign should be high deliverability, targeted mailing, maximum click-through rates, and basic personalization.”

Many businesses are losing customers due to fundamental flaws in their email marketing strategies, Piscart notes. He should know. Emailvision has worked with more than 1,700 clients worldwide. Based on his experience, Piscart says companies would be wise to avoid these five direct email marketing blunders to achieve maximum ROI:

1. Trying too hard. Designing a targeted email marketing campaign as if it were a Web site is a waste of time and money. Content that uses Flash or JavaScript often doesn’t render properly in the finished email and can be complicated to design. It’s better to keep it clean and simple, allowing the reader to click through to a Web site.

2. No reply. If you use a nonfunctioning return email address to avoid filtering responses, you’re missing an opportunity. Replies can provide valuable information about problems with the email, or lead to inquiries about a product. If you don’t want to receive emails directly, create a dedicated in-box account and check it regularly.

3. Missing information. Having a comprehensive and segmented database is fundamental to the success of any opt-in email marketing campaign. There are few bigger turnoffs than a generic greeting like “Dear customer.” It makes your communication look unprofessional and cold.

4. All image, no text. Many Internet service providers (ISPs) don’t automatically download images in an email, so recipients are left with blank boxes. This makes it hard to track response rates. Send a test email to yourself to see how it will appear in your in-box.

5. Stopped as spam. Words in subject lines such as WIN A GREAT PRIZE will often fail to get past spam filters. Always test the deliverability of the email before sending it out.

For more email marketing tips, download the FuelNet Smart Report Online Advertising Tips for Growing Your Business.