Why Your Email Marketing Practices Make Subscribers Run From You

Does your email marketing make your subscribers love you or loathe you? Are you subscribers responsive, or are they quick to find the unsubscribe button?

Social media has not replaced email, or has it?

Social media has its place in the inbound marketing funnel, but email marketing can be targeted and specific to people who want your content, want your offer, and are interested in corresponding with you.

People that opt-in to your email list are telling you that they want to extend the relationship, they want to go beyond social media and listen to what information you have to offer.

When you get an email subscriber, keep them enlightened, entertained, informed, and interested in your content.  Do offer something of value when I open your email, value reserved just for subscribers. Otherwise, there’s no point in me subscribing.

Email marketing works! I can point to articles galore with stats to back this up. If you want a brief overview of email marketing, see my earlier post Email Marketing Is Alive and Well.

Quantity counts, but only in theory

Which would you rather have:

• • a mailing list of 1000 random people, with a 1% open rate and 0% click-through rate, or
  • a mailing list of 100 people with a 30% open rate and a 15% click-through rate?

If you use email for sales and marketing, you need people to open your emails and take action. It’s that simple. You want to have a responsive email list, full of people who want to open your emails, read your highlights, and become repeat customers of your business. This is why quantity counts, but only in theory.

I want to take a different approach, one that’s not talked about enough.
We need to talk about the ways people screw up their email marketing, how they get it wrong.

What Not to Do With Your Email Marketing

If you have an email list, it is your responsibility to adhere to email best practices. The problem is that there are too many offenders who love to spam us!

Here are few of my email marketing don’ts I think most of us can agree on.

• • Do not add me to your email list because you received my business card. This is spam and I will report you.
  • Do not add me to your email list because I provided my email to you for a completely unrelated matter.
  • Do not constantly sales pitch me. Nobody likes this, so stop already.
  • Do not give the same content that I can find on your website or social media posts. You’re not giving me any reason to stay on your list. I want special stuff!
  • Do not add me to your list because you “think” I want to be on it. Oh my gosh, stop being spammy. Ask people first.

Have you had any of these unwelcome emails delivered to your inbox? It’s annoying isn’t it?!

Learn more reasons why your email marketing practices are causing subscribers to unsubscribe, so you can get them to stay!

Infographic by Business2Community

Do you have any email marketing don’ts to add to the list?

Ciao,
Miss Kemya