Don’t let anyone tell you email marketing is dead. Email marketing still reigns supreme among marketing tactics for businesses. In fact, email marketing tends to garner a higher return on investment than other marketing tools like blogging and social media.

The key to successful email marketing, however, is doing it right. Nothing can doom your email marketing campaigns faster than easily preventable – and common – mistakes. Here are nine email marketing mistakes to avoid:

Using Old Email Lists

Your bounce rate is the percentage of your emails that get returned to you, just like postal mail that comes back as undeliverable. Needless to say, the lower the bounce rate, the better for your business. To minimize bounce rates – and avoid violating the spam law – you must keep your business email list updated. Be sure that you do not send email to prospects who have unsubscribed from your company.

Neglecting Segmentation

Sending the same email to every company, even in the same industry, is never a good idea. Take advantage of email segmentation to target your email list as specifically as possible. The fact that some prospects are all in the same industry does not mean that they all have the same needs or the same budget. Consider factors like geographic location, company size and more to break down your list and distribute email accordingly.

Not Optimizing Your Campaign For Mobile Devices

Executives and key staff are busy people, always on the go. Odds are that they are checking their email on their phone or other mobile device, which means your email campaigns must be mobile-friendly. Avoid long blocks of text and lots of images that may not display properly on a phone. Otherwise, you risk losing subscribers.

Not Welcoming Subscribers

New subscribers took the time to sign up for your email list. Show them you appreciate that by welcoming them promptly. Show that you care about them and are ready to assist them whenever they need it.

Forgetting A Call To Action

What do you want your email recipient to do on receiving your message? Don’t forget to tell them that! In the flurry of preparing your marketing campaigns it’s easy to overlook that all-important CTA.

Sending too many emails

Flooding a recipient’s inbox with messages is a surefire way to lose subscribers. It can also put you at risk of potentially violating the CAN-SPAM Act, the law that regulates commercial email.

Delaying Campaigns

There’s a balance between sending too many emails and too few. Don’t delay campaigns, thinking you’ll wait for more subscribers. Your current subscribers need to hear from you regularly. A long delay can allow prospects to forget about you, or worse, be enticed by a competitor.

Sending Unprofessional Messages

Take the time to polish the copy and proofread it carefully to eliminate typos. Make sure it is properly formatted. Check for incorrect or broken links. Send yourself a test message to ensure that it displays properly and the links all work. Your email campaigns are a reflection of your company, and you want your company to be perceived as professional.

Not Reviewing The Data

Without monitoring your email’s analytics, it’s impossible to develop and increase your email marketing strategy. Monitor the click-through rates, open rates, unsubscribes, and best time of day to send your emails.

Overall

Email marketing is thriving, which means you should make your email marketing a top priority. The B2B marketing experts at Demand Works Media can help.