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.