Email Marketing is one of the most underused and untapped resources in any sales funnel. But the question needs to be asked – what is email marketing?
It is one of the best ways to communicate, build a relationship, and market to your audience.
The problem is, most people forget that the only way an email marketing campaign can be effective is only if the email is opened. Believing that just sending an email without educating yourself on how to improve the quality and deliverability is a shortsighted way of thinking.
More importantly, it’s costing you money.
Today, I’m going to show you the most significant email marketing mistakes and how to avoid them.
You’ll be able to stay out of inbox purgatory, have your readers’ full attention, and make more sales.
Once you get these tactics down, you’ll be able to grow and scale your business faster than ever with effective email marketing.
Let’s get started. Let’s discuss what is email marketing.
Email? It’s 2020
A lot of misinformed business owners believe email marketing is dead.
Likely it’s because a guru told them it was, but I’m here to tell you that email is still the #1 way to sell your products or services.
… When you use the steps you’re going to learn today, it is far from being ‘dead.’
Below are three valuable reasons why emails are essential your business.
You own the reader’s attention
Once someone opts in to receive your emails, they’ve permitted you to send them messages. This means you have their attention.
Even though you can (and should) be using social media platforms to build an audience, these followers haven’t taken the next step to show they’re interested in what you’re offering yet.
Once someone takes the next step and says “yes” to getting your emails, you have their attention.
This is a micro-commitment and is the first step to becoming a paying customer.
You own the list
Even though you can use social media to build your following, you’re only able to market and provide content through this medium.
So what happens if this platform becomes extinct or dies down by something bigger, better, and stronger?
Sounds scary, but it’s happened before, and most recently we have seen this happen with SnapChat and I know loads of Instagram users who’ve had their accounts hacked and deleted.
If you only build your following on these platforms and something terrible like this happens, you’re screwed. But, if you have your followers’ email addresses, you’re still able to communicate with them.
Email is intimate
Having someone’s email carries more intimacy and attention than social media. For this simple reason, email is viewed as being more important.
This makes learning how to write great emails one of the most important skills you can develop.
Don’t worry, this article will show you how to do that, also the process of how to increase click rate in email marketing.
Email is easy to scale
It seems like every three months the social media platforms change their algorithms. With so many changes, at times, it may make a marketer ask what is email marketing today.
This changes how many of your followers see your content and even though these changes are meant to improve the user’s experience, it can get you blocked from the feed of your fans.
With email you can craft a personal and conversational email and blast it out to your entire list.
If you follow the steps in this article to write great emails, you’ll likely land in the primary inbox. This article will also answer the question of how to increase click rate in email marketing.
When you do this, you can have close conversations and build relationships with tens of thousands of people at a time.
Here’s How To Increase Click Rate In Email Marketing
It’s important to know that email providers like Gmail have the ability to track whether or not a contact opens and clicks your emails.
If someone always opens and clicks your emails, your messages have a better chance of going to the Primary folder. On the other hand, sending emails that your contacts ignore tells Gmail that the user is not interested, and gets your messages sent to the Promotions folder.
To avoid “teaching” Gmail that your contact is not interested in hearing from you, you can leverage an email marketing tactic called “list segmentation.”
In case you aren’t familiar with the concept, list segmentation is when you send emails to your list to get them to “raise their hand” and indicate what they’re interested in.
Once you know a contact’s interests, you’re able to send them targeted emails which they’re much more likely to open, read, and click.
Again, the more a contact engages with your emails, the more likely you are to avoid the promotions folder.
Here are five straightforward email marketing tips that will ensure your emails end up in the right folder and are read. These are great ways to answer how to increase click rate in email marketing.
1. Clean and simple: Use no more than three links (max) and 1 picture. Yes, you can put multiple links, but you want all your links going to the same place, remember?
2. Personalization: The more personalized you can make an email, the better chance you give your clients to open and READ your emails. Email service providers offer you the ability to customize your emails with the reader’s name. Another way to make your emails feel personal is to write like you’re having a conversation.
3. Make sure your deliverability is high: Check with mail-tester.com. You also need to be wary of using ‘trigger’ words that flag email providers. Examples include $$$, 100%, Act now, Amazed, Billion, Call free/now, Certified, Cheap. You can search on Google ’email trigger words’ for a complete list.
4. Add value: Do everything you can to provide great content. Make your reader’s day by providing encouragement, giving actionable information, and telling great stories.
5. Clear call to action: Tells them exactly what to do next. No guessing, confusing choices, or complicated processes. The following is an effective answer in a template to “what is email marketing?”
The key is to build a relationship right from the start and one of the best ways to do that is provide instructions to your subscribers to ‘whitelist your email.’ Building that relationship is a key component to figuring out what is email marketing.
Since they’ve just signed up, they’re interested in hearing what you have to say and are likely going to take action. Remember, this tells their email provider that they want to receive your emails which is great for the long run.
My friend Chris Lang has a whitelist instruction generator which you can see here.
Now that you know what you need to do and how to write your emails, I want to give you five email marketing mistakes you must avoid at all costs.
Common Email Marketing Mistakes To Avoid At All Costs
Mistake #1: Too much imagery
Using multiple links and images in your emails is a fast track to the SPAM or promotions folder. The most engaging, best performing, and highest grossing emails I’ve ever sent are plain text. Try to keep your content text based with 1 image max.
Mistake #2: Different call-to-actions
The more choices you give someone, the less likely they are to make a decision. Each email needs to have a specific goal. If that goal is to take action, the entire email needs to sell that action. Do not tell someone to go to 4 different places in a single email.
Mistake #3: Not checking deliverability
Before you hit the ‘send’ button, you need to make sure you’re going to land in the right folder to get read. Use http://www.mail-tester.com/. If your email scores less than an 8, adjust your email following the tips in this article. Another great site to use to test deliverability is https://litmus.com/gmail-tabs.
Mistake #4: Poor sender name and subject line
Your sender name needs to be personal and from a person, not a company name. You want your emails to feel personal, intimate, and conversational, remember? No one wants to read a boring email, written like an encyclopedia.
Mistake #5: Selling 24/7 and not doing anything else
On an average apply the 80/20 rule. 80% of the time you should be giving away high quality content that your readers can benefit from. Only 20% of the time you should be asking for a sale. Help, encourage, and add value first.
Tons of marketers are making these mistakes but the good news is, now you’re aware of what not to do.
In Closing
Your email list can be one of the most powerful revenue streams in your business, so taking the time to educate yourself with this article is definitely worth it!
Personally, 70% of my revenue comes directly from my email list and by following the simple steps outlined in this article, you will improve your chances of landing in the proper inbox.
If you play the long game and show up consistently, you’ll progress leaps and bounds while others are still making these mistakes.
All you have to do is follow the steps I outlined in this article… and remember, ALWAYS test the deliverability of your emails with https://litmus.com/gmail-tabs and http://www.mail-tester.com/.
By doing this, you’ll avoid the most common mistakes, build trust, give value, and make sure you land in the right inbox that actually gets read and helps generate sales. This is a true idea of what is email marketing.
