8 Common Yet Deadly Email Outreach Mistakes to Avoid

The success of your email outreach campaign can make or break your efforts for online marketing and link building. Since search engine algorithms emphasize the need for generating a higher number of links to improve your rankings, outreach is a necessary process for every growing brand that wants to stand out from the rest. Even then they say that only 8% of outreach emails receive a response. So the obvious strategy to generate results is to send responses to send emails to multiple recipients, instead of a single one for an increased response rate. However, in the process of reaching many people, and actively seeking responses, it is easy to overlook some mistakes that might seem common, but have a deadly effect on the results of your outreach efforts. Here are some that you should definitely avoid: 

#1 Not personalizing the outreach content

Personalizing your outreach mail can be crucial for defining the overall performance of your email campaign. When you have preset goals that you want to achieve through an outreach campaign, it is important to maintain a balance between the right content and personalization. When you are trying to create a good first impression, you do not want to get too personal in the emails, but you also do not want to sound mundane. If you are approaching a recipient that has quite a bit of domain authority, chances are that their inbox is flooded with emails with similar messages. If you want to stand out from the rest, it is imperative that you personalize your email text, and ensure that you include information that suggests that you are aware of their work.  Pro tip: Talk about their work and highlight how your content can fit within that context. 

#2 Addressing the influencer incorrectly

Imagine receiving an email addressed to someone else – what would be your first thought? That the email was not supposed to be for you. That the sender could not be bothered to know your correct name before sending you an email. All of them are valid thoughts, but not ones that you want your potential associates to have.  When you are drafting an outreach mail, one of the first things that you need to do is study up on the recipient, and collate a few points that you would include in the email so that they know that you conducted some basic research before contacting them. That is always reassuring and can help you set the right tone from the start. Moreover, you should also make it a habit to double-check your email drafts before hitting send so that you do not send the wrong emails to the right recipient by mistake.”For operating this and having visibility into your email channels, you can start to use the Dmarc report and track email deliverability issues”. Pro tip: Always proofread and edit your draft till you are convinced that the recipient would be happy with it. 

#3 Asking for links right away

No one likes to receive a strange email asking them for favors or to do something when they are not expecting it. While every professional knows that you are not contacting them simply out of goodwill, not talking about your requirements right away or explicitly shows a lot of restraint and professionalism on your part. In fact, a person of influence might be inclined to help you more if you do not openly specify your needs right away.  When it comes to outreach, the recipient would look forward to getting to know you first, understanding the alignment between their vertical and yours, and then finally whether the exchange could be mutually beneficial. If all these parameters work in your favor, you definitely would not need to “ask for links”. Trust us, they would be happy to integrate it within their website once an initial rapport is established.  Pro tip: Take an organic approach towards outreach and send them links of your work that they can go through, to understand your work and skill sets. 

#4 Not fixing broken links before sending them

The worst thing to happen when you are trying to make a great first impression is for it to shatter because you overlooked basic things. Every element in your email plays a part in making the recipient’s decision-making process a bit more simplified. However, when something as simple as checking whether the links you are sending work or not, is not done, the recipient might feel that you are not as serious or diligent as you have been indicating in your email.  Such a mistake could derail even the most well-defined and curated email that you could send them. While sending emails, one aspect that you should always remember is that they have plenty of options to choose from, so the onus of ensuring that they choose your content is on you. Many websites now make it easy for you to track broken links, and there are also online SEO guides that can guide you with the process. Pro tip: Always check the links in the email body before you send them so that you know whether they are working or not.

#5 Not focusing on the quality of the copy

Needless to say, ensuring the quality of your email copy is as important as defining the rest of the aspects and elements of your that you include in it. The images, the information you provide, or the way you approach them can all take a backseat if the copy does not meet the mark. Some of the basic things you want to do include checking the copy for grammar and structural errors, and ensuring that all the useful information is present.  Moreover, offering an effective pitch that is tailored to the recipient that you are sending the email to, can be important in defining its ability to achieve the goals that you are targeting through these emails. Ensuring thorough research will also be vital in such a scenario and will reflect in your copy’s quality.  Pro tip: Use grammar and other proofreading software to ensure that you polish the draft of your email copy and tailor it based on the recipient. 

#6 Using a preset template excessively

When you are writing something new but important, finding the right template can be a godsend. You might feel like you have found the right tool to meet your deadlines and goals, however, that might not always be the case. There are plenty of readily available templates online which can be directly used for composing an outreach email. Of course, several templates are so detailed that all you need to do is change the names and other specifics.  If used smartly and sparingly, such templates can be quite useful in your outreach campaigns. Some of these templates even offer great ideas for content managers and outreach specialists in writing email copies. However, when these templates are used excessively, they can be detrimental to these outreach campaigns and do more bad than good. What’s more – chances are that these templates have already been used by others and sent to your recipient multiple times. In such a case, they can immediately recognize that the email copy is unoriginal and reject it. Pro tip: Refer to multiple templates and pick specific parts from them to integrate within your unique email copy. 

#7 Talking too much about yourself

Whenever you are initiating a conversation with an individual with whom you want to start a business association, it is important to be brief but add value – right from the beginning. It is quite easy to get carried away and become wordy while pitching your ideas but what takes more skill and portrays more professionalism is conveying your point briefly while retaining only the most valuable points and information.  Instead of boasting about your skills, or prowess in the field, you can opt to show your experience and expertise by talking about the niche that is common to both of you. You can also highlight the specific links or articles that you have complete faith in, and ensure that you align them with the subject area that your recipient is interested in so that they are motivated to provide you links.  Pro tip: Maintain a healthy balance between talking about your skills and their work so that they can recognize the value in having a conversation with you right away.

#8 Talking too much about them

If you are sending an outreach email to someone, chances are that they have been doing this for a while now. They are experienced in the field and have been receiving and filtering through mails for several years. So trust us, when we say that insincere flattery does not get you very far in this regard. A professional will always see right through it and it might work against you in their decision-making process.  Almost always, what helps is proving to them that your content quality is great and that your interest areas align with theirs. While talking about their work, and what prompted you to contact them is a good idea, adding too much fluff under the veil of compliments might be interpreted as unnecessary flattery, because your work may not meet the standards. Needless to say, it is never a good idea to start with this impression. Pro tip: Pick the right aspects to focus on, for preparing an effective copy that will grab their attention and generate a definite response. 

Closing Remarks

In conclusion, the quality of the email and the efforts that you put in curating these emails can make all the difference when it comes to email outreach. The effectiveness of these emails, depending on the quality of the copy that you have included, can make or break your outreach efforts. Making some of the mistakes that have been specified in this article can make it difficult for you to get the desired results, however, proactively avoiding them can ensure that you are already ahead of many others. 

Author Bio

Lucy Manole is a creative content writer and strategist at Marketing Digest. She specializes in writing about digital marketing, technology, entrepreneurship, and education. When she is not writing or editing, she spends time reading books, cooking, and traveling.