The Do’s and Don’ts of Email Marketing

Many people think that email marketing has had its day, but it can really enhance your existing marketing efforts, it’s a powerful tactic that should not be overlooked.

Email as a form of communication is still very much ingrained into our daily lives, both as professionals and as consumers. Still not convinced? It is expected that there will be 4.4 billion email users by 2023, that’s over half the population.

So why use email to engage with potential prospects? Well, you can bet that your competitors are using it and as the saying goes you’ve got to be in it to win it, but make sure you’re ticking all the right boxes and not falling foul to some bad habits. We’ve compiled a list of basic do’s and don’ts that should keep customers opting in time and time again.

Do plan out an email strategy if time constraints allow, you’ll find it much easier to keep track and evaluate your email marketing if you come up with a schedule in advance. You can tie your emails in with your marketing strategy as a whole. That way these communications stay relevant and topical (think national holidays and seasonal activities)

Don’t send out emails for the sake of it, a lot of people’s inboxes are saturated with emails as it is, don’t end up in their trash can. Make sure what you’re sending is relevant and worth reading. You can spend all the time and money you’ve got on setting up an email campaign, but if the content isn’t any good, it’s probably not going to generate the response you’re looking for.

Do Segment your lists, this will enable you to tailor emails to specific groups. You don’t necessarily want to be sending the same email to potential clients that you’re sending to your existing customers.

Don’t try and cram in absolutely everything your business can offer into one singular email, less is more as the saying goes.

Do follow up quickly if a potential prospect has requested more information from your business. If you’ve got email automation integrated into your marketing strategy then a small thank you email, could be set up. Emails can be a great way to follow up a potential lead by re-exposing them to something they’ve already expressed an interest in.

Do Make sure you follow GDPR-compliant practices and ensure you have the right to be emailing the prospect in the first place. If you need to find out more about GDPR click here.

Don’t forget to check your emails are optimised for mobile. Yes, a lot of emails are still opened via desktop apps and web browsers, but Mobile devices account for 41.9% of all read emails. According to a survey conducted by SaleCycle 42.3% will simply delete non-optimised emails, while just 11.3% will read it anyway.

Do offer an obvious “unsubscribe” somewhere within your email, so that consumers can opt out with ease.

Don’t spam people’s inboxes with countless emails, regardless of how good the content is. Instead opt to send one or two emails a week, apparently 10am on Tuesday is the optimum time to send an email.

Don’t send your email without testing, some software enables you to ‘preview’ your email as you go, but even if that is the case, it’s always worth doing a test run before sending it out. Does the “sender” appear as it should be? Is the design consistent across different web browsers, mail clients and monitor sizes? Checking for things like broken links and typos can also be beneficial in the test run.

Do regularly evaluate your approach to email marketing. As technology and buying habits change, so will your approach to email marketing. Keep yourself educated and keep an eye on marketing blogs/resources to stay up to date.

If you’d like to find out how LOCALiQ can help you streamline and manage your marketing efforts then please feel free to contact us.