Common Email Marketing Rookie Mistakes

If you're new to email marketing, you're probably excited about sending out lots of emails to your customers. But before you dive right in and start "blasting out campaigns," we've put together a list of common mistakes that we see "beginners" and "rookies" make when they first get into email marketing...

Mistake: Not having permission

Before you can send email marketing, you MUST have permission from every single one of your recipients. If, in your head, your initial reaction was, "but what if..." then you do not have permission. Permission means people requested email marketing from you. Before investing your time and money in an email marketing program, start getting permission from your customers. It's easier than you think, and it'll result in fewer spam complaints, better deliverability, decreased legal liability, and most importantly, better open and click results. Click here for some tips for growing your list.

Mistake: Confusing "Transactional" emails with "Email Marketing"

Got a list of customers who have purchased products from your e-commerce store? They'll be expecting email receipts, and email shipping notifications. Those are "transactional" emails. Those emails should be sent from your own server.

When you send email newsletters, coupons, and promotions, those are "marketing" or "commercial" emails. If you were to send "commercial email" to a list of people without their permission, that's "unsolicited commercial email (UCE)" otherwise known as spam. Understand where that line is drawn, because if you cross it, you can expect a call from the FTC for violating their CAN-SPAM law.

Mistake: Being in a rush

The biggest mistakes happen when marketers "have to get this campaign out yesterday!" They don't do the proper design and coding. They don't think through the content. They don't plan their subject lines (perhaps the most important factor in your open rate!). They don't make sure their list is clean, and totally opt-in. They ask the sales team, "Hey everyone, I'm blasting out an email. Gimme all your contact list!" What happens next? Broken emails go out to lots of people who never opted in, who forgot who you are, don't remember ever signing up for your emails, or who haven't heard from you in years. So what do they do? They click the "this is junk" button in their email program (studies show that anywhere from 10%-30% of recipients have done this, even to emails they requested, thinking it was the only effective way to "unsubscribe" from a list). Then what happens? Alerts get sent to their ISPs, who in turn blacklist the sender for spamming.

Slow down. Take a deep breath. Email marketing is not the same as sending a quick email to a buddy. It takes a good amount of planning, testing, and measuring.

Mistake: Assuming people actually want to hear from you

Did everyone on your list specifically give you permission to email them? If not, then you're just assuming they want to hear from you. Big mistake. They're going to report you for spamming. Even if you spent lots of time putting together that list of prospects. Even if you "spent lots of money for this opt-in list." Even if the list is made up of "people in your industry who have certainly heard of you."

If they didn't specifically ask for emails from you, and you put them on your email marketing list, you're sending "unsolicited commercial email" (more commonly referred to as "spam").

This concept seems to confuse a lot of people. They usually say, "But I get emails all the time from people I never heard of, and I appreciate it." It's different if someone sends one email directly to you, with a sales pitch. But when that same person crosses the line and "blasts" his sales pitch to an entire list of people, it becomes spam.

So don't send email campaigns to a list of mere "prospects," and don't just compile all your sales contact lists (some of them will just be 'possible prospects' who've never even heard of you), and definitely stay away from purchasing lists (even if they're "opt-in"). You should only send email campaigns to a list of recipients that specifically requested emails from you. If you have a list of clients and customers that know you, but they haven't exactly opted-in for newsletters from you, send them personal, individual email invitations asking them to join your marketing list. You might even give some incentives and free prizes.

Mistake: Assuming people remember who you are

We've seen some marketers who created nice email signup forms a long time ago, and are only just now getting around to sending emails. Even though they responsibly acquired every recipient's permission before sending, those recipients forgot signing up. So when they suddenly get a full blown email newsletter "out of the blue," they report the sender for spamming. This happens way more often than you think. A lot of email experts say that permission goes stale after only 6 months. If you're not regularly contacting your list, assume the old emails have already forgotten you. You'll need to send them a "remember me?" email. Here's some information on how to do that.

Mistake: Purchasing email lists

By now, everyone should know better than to buy a "totally legitimate list of 30 million opt-in emails" via some sketchy piece of spam they got. That's pretty obvious. But there are still some vendors out there who are selling "opt-in" lists the old fashioned way. They collect email addresses, and ask members if they'd like to "receive special offers from 3rd parties." Then, they just sell those email addresses to other people. Technically, that's not illegal (but it's stupid). The correct way to do it is to keep the list, and then send special offers on behalf of 3rd parties. Be wary of any groups that'll just give you a big list of emails. They should be doing the delivery for you, so that their recipients will recognize the sender, and so that you won't get reported for spamming.

Mistake: Not double-checking the list before sending to it

This one mostly applies to agencies sending on behalf of their clients. We've seen some people send email marketing campaigns to lists that are obviously not permission-based. You're breaking our terms of use, and the CAN-SPAM law when you do that. Yes, you can be held liable for spam when sending on behalf of someone else. Did you build a website for a local dry cleaner? Did they ask you to handle their email marketing "e-blast" too? Ask them how they got the list, and if it's permission based or not. If it's a small shop, but their list is 25,000 recipients, use some common sense.

Mistake: Thinking "BLAST" instead of "Relationship"

We always cringe when someone asks us if we can help them "blast" an email out to people. For one, the word "blast" should only be used for missiles and tanks. Not permission marketing. Secondly, when people say "blast," it usually means they think email is just a way to shoot out a bunch of emails, whether people want to hear from them or not. Email is all about getting permission from customers, sending them stuff they want to read, and listening to their feedback (either directly from them, or via open and click reports). You don't just blast and walk away. It's a long term relationship.

Mistake: Writing content like a used car salesman

Since email can be so affordable, it's often the first attempt at "real" marketing that small businesses make. Unfortunately, small businesses aren't always experts when it comes to writing good content. Instead of thinking, "Hmm, how would XYZ company write this email?" you should stop and ask, "Hmm, what would my customers find useful in my email?" Don't use pushy sales copy, like "BUY NOW!!!!" or "LIMITED TIME OFFER!!!" In email, using ALL CAPS is the equivalent of screaming at the top of your lungs. It's obnoxious. Spam filters will penalize you for screaming, using pushy sales copy, using bright red fonts, too many exclamation points, and other spammy content. For more information, read "How Spam Filters Think"

Mistake: Not testing your campaign in lots of different email programs

HTML emails look different, depending on which email program you use to view it. Just because it looks good in the preview window, or when you send a test to yourself, it doesn't mean it'll look like that for all your recipients. You really need to setup a few accounts with free email services like Yahoo!, MSN, Hotmail, and Gmail. If possible, setup "home accounts" like with AOL, Earthlink, Comcast, and Roadrunner. Test on different computers and operating systems, like Macs and PCs. If you don't have the budget to build test computers (who does?) just enlist a few volunteers at the office, or family and friends. Send them tests, and ask if they can tell you if the email looked weird in their programs. Here are some tips for testing campaigns.

Mistake: Sending with a personal email address in the "reply-to"

When you invite customers to your office, would you rather it be a big, professional office building, or your house? When you give someone your business card, would you rather it be printed on nice, professional paper stock, or hand-written on a sticky note?

Same goes for email marketing. Don't send a big email campaign to your customers, and use your "@yahoo.com" or "@aol.com" home email address. You have a website, don't you (if not, you probably should be sending any email campaigns at all yet)? Use your website's domain! You should already have email accounts setup under that domain. Some people like setting up an additional "newsletter@companydomain.com" address for their emails.

Mistake: Ignoring their campaign reports

The nice thing about email marketing services like MailChimp is you can measure results after every email campaign. They're not 100% accurate, but they're still tremendously useful. That's why we're still amazed to see some marketers sending dozens and dozens of campaigns, but never looking at their reports. They don't notice that their open rates have slipped from 60% to under 10%. They don't notice that their list is very steadily shrinking after every campaign. They don't notice that their key clients are using email filters that reject their emails as spam.

You should check your email stats after every single campaign you send. Look for trends. Make changes to campaigns to see if you can improve your open rates, click rates, and most importantly, your conversions. What's the best day to send your emails? What's the best time? How can slight adjustments to your template affect sales? Always be checking!

Other Useful Resources:

• Free Email Marketing Guide
• Inbox Inspector: Generate screenshots of your email designs in all the major email programs, test all the major spam filters and email firewalls, and scan for spammy keywords in one click.

Free Email Marketing Tips/Tricks

Will your campaign make it past the spam filters? Check your spam score with MailChimp's Inbox Inspector tool.
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Do you know if your email's rendering correctly in all the different email programs? MailChimp's Inbox Inspector generates screenshots of your campaign in 16 different email programs. With one click.
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