The business world is fast-changing with most businesses opting for the online business platform due to the numerous benefits. These include the ability to reach a large number of users at the click of a button. This is due to the new technological advancements–which continue to impact the culture, relationships, and efficiency of businesses.
As a result, most people rely on online marketing tools, basking in their effectiveness when it comes to sales conversion. You worked hard to build these sales, don’t make marketing mistakes that cause unsubscribes and kill your email marketing campaign!
Email marketing has gained ground as one of the commonly used online marketing tools. It now holds a great role in consumer targeting. Not only is email marketing inexpensive, but it has also been proven over and over again to be a highly effective means of marketing your business. Therefore, as a marketer, creating beneficial content will help in building your email list of subscribers.
However, the task doesn’t end there. You must always ensure that you aren’t irritating your readers, as this may cause them to unsubscribe from your campaigns.
Here are 3 of the common email marketing mistakes that will cost you your subscribers:
Spamming Your Subscribers
Needless to say, everyone hates spam. Look at it from a personal point of view. You know that there’s nothing worse than opening your email’s inbox only to find a barrage of unwanted advertising that you know you never signed up for! Your subscribers feel the same way.
Yet, over-done email targeting is one of the most common practices that cause outrage among readers. This leaves your users with no option but to press the unsubscribe button.
Here’s a practical example to help prevent this from happening. Let your readers choose their preferred email frequency (how frequently they’d like to receive your emails), and some may opt to sign up for one email/week. Then, don’t practice bombarding their inboxes with frequent emails (contrary to their subscription profile). This would only trigger massive unsubscribes.
Remember that it’s easier to keep a current subscriber happily opted in than to get a new subscriber to sign up to receive your marketing newsletters. Just like it is to get an existing customer to buy from you as opposed to trying to acquire new customers.
Ignoring your Readers
Everyone likes being valued and ignoring your readers will always leave them feeling unappreciated. Always ensure that you respond to all their email questions, concerns, and suggestions as this will boost their confidence in your services. Remember that real-time responses work best to ensure that your readers or customers aren’t kept waiting–which could also make them feel neglected.
Have you ever emailed or phoned a company to report a complaint, only to find your plea for assistance was ignored? Have you called a contractor for a quote, but he never stopped by your home? Examples of poor customer service abound everywhere! Most of us have experienced it. Show your customers you care and you will build a relationship that allows them to feel at ease when they do business with you.
This has implications that are further reaching than just your email marketing program. Your customers are more likely to engage with you in the future if you have been responsive to them. Customers have many options from which to choose when making their purchase. Indeed, they want–and deserve–great customer service. Your response (or lack thereof) will speak volumes about your business.
Taking the time to answer their questions can lead to increased sales. And isn’t that the entire point of your marketing campaign to begin with?
Non-inclusion of a contact form
Your emails could be educational and beneficial to every user. But, how do they reach you for more of your services? It’s not enough to just have an email address. Additionally, you need to have a contact form where your readers can connect with you or take action.
Consider your contact form to be your round-the-clock salesperson. When you leave work for the day, your website can still be hard at work. It can capture data from users from all around the world, outside of your own business hours, if you set it up for success. Therefore, it’s an essential tool that can help your users even when you aren’t available to do so.
Other than reachability, a contact form also serves as a marketing form and for various other purposes. Of course, these include:
- Convenience–Always ensure that your contact form is easily accessible to your users so that they won’t have to open their email software in order to contact you. Easy-to-use contact forms also encourage your visitors to consult more on your services–which implies increased business.
- Clarification–A contact form with specified details that seek to inquire your visitor’s specific service needs will help to ensure that their needs are aptly addressed which then translates to maximum satisfaction and hence repeated business.
- Security–In as much as you want to make it all easy for your users, you also need to ensure the security of your site. Exposed email addresses can make you vulnerable to spammers, and so, the use of a contact form helps to protect your inbox from all the uncalled-for promotional emails.
Conclusion
Building an email list is work on its own. Why lose your hard-won subscribers just as a result of easily avoidable mistakes? You could be already witnessing unsubscribes. Or, maybe you’re fearing that unsubscribes may soon happen to you. Either way, taking deliberate steps to avoid both these seemingly small and glaringly large email marketing mistakes can lead to increased leads and subscriptions hence increased business.
The steps include ensuring real-time response to all your users’ email question and concerns, availing contact form to your users, respecting your users’ decisions (when it comes to the sign-ups they make), and always try as much as possible to personalize your emails as this makes your users feel valued and acknowledged.
About the author
Deborah Tayloe is a freelance digital content writer and contributor to EmailMeForm. With over 25 years of marketing, customer service, and sales in both B2B and B2C companies, she loves to share her knowledge of marketing processes with business owners.
