I just listened to an insightful podcast by Justin Wise titled, “Thinkdigital 003: Six Email Mistakes You Might Be Making” and I wanted to relay some of his key points. Email marketing is important to every organization with an email list for effective and efficient communications. At CMG we use email marketing as a key strategy in our marketing mix and I learned a lot of actionable advice from Justin. Here are the highlights from his podcast on the six email mistakes you might be making.
Mistake #1: Your emails are too cluttered
- Online readers are scanners and only read 20% of the text on a page.
- Readers look for bulleted and numbered lists, short blocks of text and bolded key points.
- If your emails are too cluttered people won’t read them.
- This is a problem of form.
Mistake #2: Your emails are too wordy
- You are sending emails and not novels to your readers.
- Point your reader elsewhere. Think of emails as the appetizer and not the main course.
- Keep it simple and to the point.
- Emails are 1350% more effective than social media marketing.
- Read your emails out loud to refine and remove what isn’t needed.
- This is a problem of function.
Mistake #3: Your emails lack a call-to-action
- You don’t ask your readers to do anything or not enough.
- You are not making it clear to your readers what to do.
- Lead your readers on a journey and then ask them to do something.
- Never send an email without a clear call to action (an ask).
Mistake #4: Your emails are too infrequent
- You are not sending enough email.
- The data shows that the more emails you send, the lower the unsubscribe rate.
- Don’t push it too hard, but be consistent and don’t make your readers an afterthought.
- Test and see how much your community can take.
Mistake #5: Your emails are too assumptive
- Give your readers options and a way to say no.
- Formula: your ask + another viable option = an opportunity for your reader to gracefully say no.
- Respect your readers time and they will be more receptive to you in the future.
Mistake #6: Your emails are all about you (the reader)
- Readers care about what is in it for them.
- Craveable content always has its centre in it’s online community.
- Write from a readers perspective. Why should they read it and so what?
- What do you readers benefit from it?
Check out Justin’s podcast and listen to his other engaging podcast episodes.