The 20 most common email marketing mistakes (and how to avoid them)

Email marketing is one of the most powerful levers for engaging customers and generating sales. In fact, 8 out of 10 companies use email marketing as part of their marketing strategy, making this channel an essential part of any marketing strategy. Email marketing allows you to maintain customer relationships and drive conversions. On the other hand, many companies make mistakes that reduce the effectiveness of their campaigns. This is particularly true of small businesses, 64% of which use email marketing.

Email marketing, though powerful, can quickly become a waste of resources without a well-defined strategy. What are the most common mistakes, and how can you avoid them?

Below are the 20 most common email marketing mistakes, with practical solutions to avoid them.

Irrelevant or poor-quality content

One of the main pitfalls in email marketing is sending irrelevant or poor-quality content. Receiving an email that is full of spelling or grammatical errors, incomplete, poorly written or badly designed is not a sign of seriousness. Poor content affects not only brand image, but also all other metrics (open, click and unsubscribe rates tend to drop drastically).

It's essential to take the time to write quality content and carefully proofread each email to avoid spelling or grammatical errors. Careful attention to the content of emails sent maximizes brand credibility and the impact of mailing campaigns.

Neglecting calls to action

It's very important to have at least one CTA for every piece of content you create. CTAs help to build momentum in email exchanges, and guide the recipient towards the next action to be taken.

To create a relevant CTA, you need to know the purpose of the email you're sending: to communicate about a promotion, to inform about a new product launch, to register for an event...

The next step is to make the button easy to find and visually distinct. Each email should contain a single action, easily identifiable and aligned with the message content through the use of punchy action verbs and eye-catching design.

Erroneous, Broken or Missing Links

In addition to the importance of CTA buttons, including links is a very good way of increasing the conversion rate. Not including links, or including wrong or broken links, can be very frustrating for the recipient. For example, redirecting recipients to a discount page that doesn't work not only wastes conversion opportunities, but also creates frustration and erodes their trust.

To avoid these problems, it is advisable to systematically check each link before sending the email to ensure that they redirect correctly to the desired pages, work on all devices, and offer a smooth user experience.

Not testing before sending

Testing an e-mail before sending it doesn't just stop at testing the links. Each email should be previewed and tested before sending, to identify and resolve any problems linked to design, functionality or compatibility with different email clients. Ignoring this step means risking sending messages with layout errors or display problems, which can alter recipients' experience and negatively impact open and click rates.

You can also go a step further and use A/B testing. A/B testing involves creating two versions of an email, then sending each version to a random group of subscribers. The aim is to compare the performance of the two to determine which is more effective.

Ignoring Customization

Consumers expect ever more personalized experiences, and generic emails increasingly decrease engagement while increasing the risk of unsubscribing. For example, using content that doesn't match the recipient's specific interests, or addressing an email to "Dear subscriber" rather than using their first name, can feel impersonal. Personalizing emails using available data such as the recipient's name or recommendations based on their previous purchases would then increase engagement.

Failing to segment your audience

When there is no distinction between recipients, without taking into account their behavior and preferences, the core message of emails will tend to become generic, as the content is not adapted to the specific needs of each sub-group. Sending a promotion for women's clothing to people who only buy men's clothing would be counter-productive. It is then necessary to classify leads according to factors previously identified through common interests. Once potential customers have been segmented, it will be easier to write emails and recommend products that customers will find more relevant and more in line with their interests. Be careful, however, not to multiply campaigns aimed at the same audience.

Poor e-mail frequency

The #1 reason people unsubscribe is because they receive too many emails. Indeed, sending too many emails can be perceived as invasive and intrusive, which could lead to an increase in unsubscribes or reports of spam. It is generally recommended to send no more than two emails per week, and no more than one per day.

On the other hand, sending too few emails is also a poor way of keeping contacts engaged.

When emails are too infrequent, recipients can forget or lose interest in a brand, reducing brand recognition and lowering the chances of conversion. Insufficient email frequency can also give the impression of an inactive company or one that lacks interest in its customers.

 It is then necessary to strike a balance by defining a sending frequency adapted to the different segments previously identified. This means regularly analyzing the performance of emails sent, taking feedback into account and adapting the frequency of sending according to the target segment.

Lack of Visual Coherence

Confusion can arise among recipients when email design varies considerably from one mailing to the next, diluting a brand's identity and impact. Frequent changes in colors, fonts or overall email style can not only blur brand recognition, but also give the impression of inconsistency and lack of professionalism. That's why it's crucial to maintain visual and branding consistency across all emails sent.

It's highly advisable to clearly define brand guidelines, including colors, fonts, tone and visual style before you start sending emails. Once these guidelines have been established, it's possible to implement standardized email templates that adhere to these principles. This not only reinforces brand recognition, but also improves recipient confidence.

Overloading with Information

It can be very tempting to include as much information as possible in an email, but emails that are too long or complex are a common mistake in email marketing. Sending an email with too much information can quickly overwhelm recipients and reduce the effectiveness of the communication. Recipients may feel overwhelmed and not know where to focus their attention, losing interest in the message or failing to grasp the essential message. This can lead to lower readership and engagement rates, as key information can get lost in the flood of details.

It's important to be concise, clear and direct when communicating. To facilitate comprehension, you can also break down information into smaller, more easily digestible elements, or use visuals.

An Unattractive Mail Subject

Email subject lines play a crucial role in the effectiveness of email marketing campaigns, especially when 47% of users open an email based on the subject line alone. In a context where the average person receives and sends more than 120 professional emails a day, it's essential to capture recipients' attention in a matter of seconds.

The email subject is the first impression left. If it's misleading or doesn't accurately reflect the content, it can lead to disappointment and a loss of trust on the part of recipients. To maximize open rates, the subject line must be both eye-catching and relevant. Wording should be short, clear and to the point, ideally under 32 characters. It's advisable to add value in the subject line, which will encourage recipients to open the email.

Sending an Email That's Too Big

It can be tempting to include a lot of content in an email: adding videos or gifs to your emails can increase click rates by 300%.

On the other hand, emails that are too heavy take longer to load, especially on mobile devices or with slow Internet connections, which can create frustration and cause recipients to give up reading. What's more, some email providers may block or redirect to the spam folder emails exceeding a certain size (usually around 100KB), thus reducing their deliverability rate.

It's therefore advisable to limit email size by optimizing images, avoiding heavy embedded videos, and compressing attachments. Choosing the right image format is also a good way of limiting email size, and using links to external content rather than embedding it directly in the email helps redirect recipients to larger content.

Not optimizing for Mobiles

More than one in two emails is opened on a mobile phone. To avoid losing almost half of all recipients, it's vital to optimize emails sent to mobile devices to avoid offering a poor user experience, with problems such as text that's too small, poorly resized images, or call-to-action buttons that are difficult to click.

To avoid this, emails should be designed in responsive design, i.e. they should automatically adapt to the size of the screen, whether it's a smartphone, tablet or computer. It's also advisable to take inspiration from email templates specially designed for mobile use.

Unsubscribe

Not offering an easy unsubscribe option, in addition to generally being an illegal practice, is not a good idea. Hiding an unsubscribe button can create frustration, increasing the risk of spam reports and tarnishing recipients' trust. What's more, dissatisfied or disengaged recipients who fail to unsubscribe will also harm overall engagement rates, as their interactions with emails sent are likely to decrease. A contact who wishes to unsubscribe is therefore a very good source of information, as it clearly indicates that they are not part of the target audience.

To maintain a relationship of trust with your audience, it's advisable to include a clearly visible, easy-to-use unsubscribe link in every email footer. This link should be simple, requiring only a few clicks so that the recipient can unsubscribe without complications.

Avoiding compliance

As we saw earlier, not providing an unsubscribe button is an illegal practice in email marketing, as is sending emails without first obtaining the necessary authorizations. Compliance with email marketing regulations is therefore essential to avoid legal sanctions. Laws such as the CAN-SPAM Act in the United States, the RGPD in Europe or the Anti-Spam Act in Canada call for obtaining explicit consent before sending any email, guaranteeing transparency on the origin of the data collected, and providing a clear and easy option to unsubscribe. Compliance with these rules is not only a legal obligation, but also helps ensure an ethical and trusting relationship with recipients.

Buying Email Lists

Buying email lists is generally a bad idea. In addition to often being obsolete or inaccurate, purchased email lists often contain addresses of people who have not given their consent to receive certain communications. This can lead to low open rates, high bounce rates, and an increased risk of being flagged as spam, which in turn can damage your deliverability and result in penalties from email providers.

To build an effective, long-lasting email list, it's best to focus on collecting real subscribers who have expressed genuine interest. Using strategies such as website sign-up forms, lead generation campaigns, or subscription incentives are currently an excellent way of attracting qualified contacts.

Neglecting List Cleaning

Building an e-mail list is only half the battle, and then it's time to maintain it. An unmaintained list can seriously affect campaign performance. An obsolete e-mail list, containing invalid or inactive addresses, can lead to high bounce rates, lower open rates and an increase in spam reports. Regularly removing inactive addresses and managing bounces ensures that subscribers are genuinely interested in the content, and therefore more inclined to engage.

Not taking advantage of inactive segments

A list is considered inactive when there has been no activity for a long period. Inactive users often reflect a significant proportion of total contacts and represent temporarily untapped opportunities.

In order to use this lever, it is first necessary to clean up the inactive list. Once this stage has been completed, the remaining contacts need to be re-engaged, for example by offering incentives such as exclusive discounts.

By setting up inactive segments and sending them personalized offers or relevant content, you can not only improve open and click-through rates, but also optimize the quality of the various lists.

Using No-Reply email addresses

The use of no-reply email addresses is not recommended, as they don't encourage feedback or rapid exchanges with recipients. By using a no-reply address, a barrier is created that prevents recipients from easily responding to messages, thus limiting opportunities for interaction and dialogue. This can damage the sense of community and engagement, as well as depriving recipients of valuable information about their needs and preferences.

To strengthen the relationship with recipients and encourage two-way communication, active and accessible email addresses, such as "contact@" or "support@", should be favored. This fosters a sense of engagement, in addition to gathering useful information to improve campaigns, refine content strategy, and respond more effectively to recipients' expectations.

Focusing too much on sales

Although business objectives are essential in any company, sending only sales-oriented emails is not especially the best strategy to adopt. Constantly sales-oriented content can tire recipients and diminish their engagement.

To optimize the effectiveness of mailing campaigns, it's crucial to offer a balanced mix of useful, informative and promotional content. By integrating relevant resources, practical advice and interesting information, it's possible to keep recipients interested.

Neglecting Analytics

It doesn't matter if you've followed all the advice to the letter and run a flawless email campaign, if you can't quantify the results of your efforts. Indeed, neglecting to measure the success of e-mail campaigns is a missed opportunity for growth and improvement, as it results in a significant loss of opportunities for improvement and inefficient management of resources.

Numerous solutions exist for evaluating key metrics. Mailtrack for Gmail, for example, is a free, comprehensive tool for analyzing data from email marketing campaigns, particularly with regard to open rates and interactions.

Why choose Mailtrack for Gmail?

Mailtrack for Gmail makes it easy to track open rates. Mailtrack for Gmail provides real-time notifications when emails are opened. It is then possible to view the number of opens for each email. The tool also tracks how many times an email has been opened, offering insights into recipient engagement. Finally, with Mailtrack for Gmail, it is possible to segment data according to campaigns or types of email sent, enabling performance comparisons between different campaigns and identifying what works best for each segment.