More than 300 billion emails are sent per day. Not all of them are opened, and far fewer are read. There are a number of factors at play, but there are three major email marketing mistakes that likely contribute to poor open or clickthrough rates. Get to know these three email marketing mistakes so you can avoid them. Even better? We’ll show you what to do instead.
1. Oversending to Your List
The temptation to send more emails to re-engage a list is strong. But did you know it can have the opposite of your intended effect? If you notice a decline in opens and clicks, the answer is not to flood their inbox with more unopened email. Instead, you should re-engage and reactivate them outside of the inbox.
Email service providers look at the health of your list through total interaction or engagement. This means that continually emailing an unengaged subscriber could have detrimental effects to your list overall. A winback campaign on third-party sites can remind subscribers why they signed up and give them the jumpstart they need to open your next email. The best part? You can target specific emails from your list. And you only pay for those that actively engage. Win-win!
2. Sending Too Infrequently
While you don’t want to send too often (especially if you aren’t seeing engagement), you also don’t want to let long gaps go between emails. The right cadence will vary based on your unique list, your industry or buying cycle, and maybe even time of year. But consistency is key, whether it’s once a month or once a week.
Create an email calendar and stick to it! You may vary longer form emails, like newsletters, with quick tips or more promotional messaging. The key is to ensure you don’t allow so much time to pass that your subscribers are confused by your emails or have forgotten who you are.
3. Emailing Unsubscribers
This is an obvious no-no, but worth repeating. You should not email unsubscribers under any circumstances. But that doesn’t have to mean they’re lost to you forever. Just like your unengaged users from mistake number one, you can target unsubscribers outside of the inbox. Here, your goal is to get them to resubscribe and join your email marketing list. An offer can help with this.
Again, you only pay for those confirmed subscribers. Once they have rejoined your list, you can email them just like any other subscriber. We always provide proof of opt-in, so you don’t have to worry about their previous unsubscribe.
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