10 Common Email Mistakes
Are you making any of these 10 common email marketing mistakes? Any of which can cut your income dramatically…
1. No Empathy
Use stories to let them know you understand and care about their situation. You’re not just a guru above them, but you’ve also been there. You put your pants on one leg at a time. In addition, those same stories allow you to share emotions while holding their interest.
2. Wishy-Washy
Take an aura of authority. You are an expert at something. Act like it. Look through your email to see if you’re being wimpy in your suggestions instead of directing your readers to the best actions.
3. Robotic
No emotion. No excitement. Or possibly you go all the way the opposite direction with exclamation points everywhere. Instead of being a robot, be a real person. This means you share anger at times, sadness, etc. Some of my BEST emails have been written when I was angry at something. Let your emotions shine through on your emails to build relationships with your readers.
4. Paragraphs Too Long
Keep your paragraphs short and inviting to read. I look for 5 lines or less on the paragraphs, often shorter. In many cases you want to have ONE sentence or one line paragraphs to keep the reading very simple to go through. The moment someone sees a paragraph with 10 lines it looks difficult to read.
5. Links Too Late
I’ve tested and found the same link multiple times improves clickthroughs. Get one of those links above the fold in the first screen for maximum response. On the same note, you’ll find the first link in an email almost always outpulls any other links when you test (that’s an almost always – not 100% of the time).
6. From Address
Many people look at the from address BEFORE the subject line. Make sure you’re using a real person’s name instead of a company name. This also shows just how important your reputation is to your readers. They’re looking for publishers who give them content and value…and not just a load of sales pitches.
7. Salesperson
Part of the value of using personal life stories is to develop a friendship with your readers. The last thing you want to be seen as is just another salesperson trying to sell the product launch of the day. This doesn’t mean you can’t sell or participate in product launches. It just means you need to be different and more personable than the routine email they’re receiving.
8. No Multimedia
This isn’t required and you don’t want to do it on every email. There should be emails though where you use additional relationship tools such as LINKING to audio and video presentations. You’re going to find you can take relationship building to a whole different level when you add in video presentations along with the your normal emails (note I’m suggesting you link to the video instead of putting it in the email).
9. Boring
Even delivering just content, content, content can get boring. Use some humor. Be entertaining. Act exciting. There is an old saying in business that your clients will forgive you of almost anything except being boring! Then they’ll just ignore you.
10. Inconsistent
Be consistent in your follow-up. Don’t send one message this month and 8 the next month. Be someone they can rely on whether that’s sending an email every work day or only once every two weeks. Your subscribers should know they can count on you to deliver good quality info on some type of regular schedule.
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Terry –
This is a very helpful blog post. My own biggest pet peeve with email messages is long paragraphs. They truly are an obstacle to reading.
And I like to use subheads in long copy so that a person skimming can quickly get all the main points.
Phyllis
My pet peeve is pathetic subject lines. I get hundreds of emails every day from vendors. Some of them will send a dozen attachments to a single email and the subject line will be “Promotions.” There won’t be any text in the body of the email, just attachments. So, I have to open or download all these PDF’s to even see if they’re relevant for me.
Great tips, Terry. I agree with all of them.
Recently, Daniel Levis, me, and other guys in our group were on a Mastermind call. And Daniel mentioned that it seems consistency outperforms excellence.
In other words, better to be average and consistent than brilliant and inconsistent. This certainly applies to email marketing.
Something to think about!
Ryan
For myself and my clients I find that #10 is a pretty big challenge. Following what I’ve seen you do, I have gone to using either blog posts or articles in my email. I don’t publish the whole post or article. I post the compelling keyword rich title with a teaser of about 2 or 3 sentences. That way if I have scheduled to write blog posts and articles I don’t have to think to hard to schedule a weekly email.
Yes, I use keyword rich titles in my subject line – for search engines? No. I find that if the words and phrases are what my prospects & clients are search with the same words & phrases then seeing them in my subject line will be relevant topics to the subscriber.
I always learn so much from you Terry! Thanks.
Terry,
Great post. The first 3 items are critical. They could be summed up as, “Write as you talk.” If you must, talk your letter into a tape recorder as casual as you would to your buddy, then transcribe it.
Email copy is so different than other sales copy. It is a more intimate form of communication. The psychology of speaking to someone from their inbox is a far more personal message than, say, a website.
Yet commercial email tends to look and act like a web page.
If you can let your everyday speech shine through, than item 7 is a breeze – people will bond with you.
As someone who makes a third of their income writing emails, I can tell you that every single issue you brought up is true. Thanks for bringing attention to this little understood but very important part of business – online or offline.
I would personally add two more to these:
11. No Long Emails: Emails should not be longer than the standard article, i.e., Emails should be less than 400 words. This is becuz folks go into their emails with the pre-designed intention of getting in and getting out; few want to get in and then find they should have brought their sleeping bag~!
12. No Hype In Subject Lines: I never open 2 of three emails I receive because of the excessive hype in the Subject Lines…if the Subject Line offends me, then actually reading the email would make me that much more upset; so duh, why open it? Why not Unsubscribe, you ask? Well, 1 of three emails from these folks are actually geared towards their more sophiscated readers, and are quite valuable in content. –In the Subject Line, Just Tell The Truth~!
Hi Terry
Another great article and Oh so very true. I have printed it out for my files.
I spoke to a friend recently who described how he “gets in and out” real quickly with sales on line. I replied to him, do you get to know your clients at all? He stared at me with a blank look. Figures. Repeat business will disappear.
Having spent 26 years in car sales both on the floor and in management, the first lesson is to have the right attitude. If your attitude stinks then you need to go back to bed.
The second and most important rule is “get to know your client..make them your friend..let them know you care..and then start the sales process”
I am an Irishman living in Fresno,CA with my American wife for the past 4 years, and you would not believe how often my Irish accent opens doors for me.
Since it works face to face, I make it work on line also by sharing some personal info with my clients. It relaxes them and they feel more comfortable with me.
I also share with them an Irish web site where they can check up on any Irish interests they have. They are delighted. http://www.goireland.com is the site.I don’t have an affiliate to this sight. It is for information only.
We need to let people know we care and not someone just looking to take their money (although that will be the eventual result but in a nicer way)
Thanks again Terry.
Looking forward to your next article.
Regards
Tom
Hi Terry!
Couple of question. Can No. 1 (showing empathy) and No. 2 (showing authority) pull in opposite emotional directions sometimes? Or are these two sides of one’s personality that both should show through in any given email?
I’d also be interested in knowing why you suggest links to videos rather than putting them in emails (N. 8). Shortens download/opening time? Fewer email rejections / dumping emails into spam boxes?
Thank you for the tips. They seem quite sensible.
Peter
Another nice one Terry!
I struggle with number 8, but am finding ways to overcome it.
I can write English fluently, no problem with that.
My spoken English is not as fluent as my written English and I have an asian (Singaporean) accent when I speak English. Do you have any tips on how to overcome number 8?
Cheers!
Welly Mulia
GREAT additions everyone to this list! This is the kind of discussion where every comment has added a lot of value.
Peter: I don’t see #1 and #2 in conflict. When I say take on authority, I’m not saying take the attitude of “do no wrong.” You make mistakes. I make mistakes. You’ll notice I talk about my mistakes often. I also refer to improving my sites by testing (if the tests improves the site then the original version wasn’t perfection). So while we’re speaking with authority, we’re never speaking down to our subscribers or like we’re Mr. Perfect you should all duplicate. So I don’t see a problem with #1 and #2 together.
I don’t like videos in the emails because I can see many technical issues occurring (getting blocked, it not appearing correctly in all emails, too large files, etc.). I have recently read some tests where movie theaters have used a animated gif that looked similar to a video in an email. If you clicked it, it took you to the real site for the video.
Welly: The accent is still going to be obvious, but you may just have to speak a little slower for us to understand (our fault not yours). Notice how Tom said his Irish accent is actually an advantage for him. I would script your whole video or audio out and start with shorter ones. You may not use video or audio as much as many do, but I would still try it a few times.
HI!
Very good post actually i liked the tip that you gave in 4th point to write the paragraph short very good post……Thanks
Right Terry.
Thanks for the tips.
What do you say about outsourcing to a western person to do the audios and videos?
Or do you think I should do them myself so that the audios and videos have my own unique characteristics and personal touch?
Thanks once again!
Welly Mulia
Excellent tips!
Another thing to keep in mind when writing emails is not to get hung up on the fact of getting it absolutely perfect!
No I’m not saying go and send an email that has spelling errors or does not make sense but many people first starting out doing email marketing spend too much time on writing the content.
70% is just as good as 100% in the email marketing world because that’s really how much your recipients pay attention to!
[...] into a certain job type or role. Many of these folks could use some serious business coaching. 10 Common Email Mistakes March 23, 2009, By Terry Dean Are you making any of these 10 common email marketing mistakes? Any [...]
Great tips here! I personally just like to give a little teaser, followed by a link. Make sure you have a strong headline, so people actually open it up.
Terry,
One thing you seem to be consistent with in all your emails is sincerity. It comes through in all your communications. It makes you credible, real and authentic. I appreciate all your advice. You are the real deal. You give me hope that not all Internet marketers are Bozos.
Daron
Sound Advice! I enjoy your e-mails because you are you. Your clients know who you are and you are not just saying you need to build a good relationship with your list; you do an outstanding job doing it. I have learned a great deal from you about creating a relationship of trust with my e-mail lists.
thank you
ya I think empathy is really important. You wanna talk to your prospects like you talk to your friends.
All great copywriting tips. I ususally only have one link in my emails (and I put it at the end). I’ll start testing with more than one link, and get it early in the email (above the fold). Thanks!
You are a very smart person! Great post indeed.
Nice article!
An easy way to inject humor is through a catchy subject line.