It has happened with so many of us that only after we click ‘send’ on a marketing email that we realise the email contained broken links or broken social media sharing buttons or some grammatical errors. This happens even with the savviest marketers. Such unpleasant email marketing behaviours causes loss of revenue opportunities for the sender.
So what can you do to prevent those silly mistakes?
To avoid email marketing embarrassment, send yourself a test email before you send out the real email to your list of email contacts. Here are a few things you must consider before you hit that ‘send’ button:
Double check the subject line
Often it is the last thing you write before you send your email, but it is actually the first thing your readers will see when the email lands in their inbox. So if your subject lines are not catchy and don’t seduce your readers, they may never open your email.
Being the first and only hint of what your message is about, a short, clear and compelling subject line will ensure higher open rate.
You can also include words like “click here”, “act now”, “only”, and “stop” that can induce a sense of urgency and motivate the readers to act fast.
Double check your content
Before you start writing take out some time to think about what you want to write. This will help you to avoid two key pitfalls: unclear communication and incomplete ideas.
Also to catch grammar and spelling errors, take advantage of spell checks built in almost every program that we use.
Besides grammatical errors, the overall tone of the message should not be negative. Use appropriate language to make sure you come across as respectful, friendly and amicable. Finally, be concise while composing an email and get to your point as quickly as possible.
Double check your list
Segmenting your list helps you to send more relevant and engaging emails to your customers. Message sent to a targeted group within your list improves open and click through rates, boosts customer retention and lowers unsubscribe rates and spam complaints.
Double check your design
Testing your email campaign across a variety of platforms is crucial as it looks different on different devices. If not all platforms, you should at least test it across the most popular browsers, clients and devices to find a design that works well. With such responsive design techniques, you can create better experience for your subscribers, thus increasing the click and engagement rates.
Of course everyone has a unique email marketing pre-send check list depending on their own products, company and email objectives. But these few tips provide a baseline for getting started. So start now and save yourself from sending a second email to correct the mistakes in the first one.
