Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be posting my 7 Rookie Email Marketing Mistakes here on Business 2 Community (follow me on twitter for a heads-up when each post goes live).
If you recognize any of these mistakes in your own campaigns, it’s time to step up your game and start seeing what real email marketing success looks like.
Mistake #4: The Dubiously Acquired List
Email Marketing owes most of its success to the fact it is permission-based. This means that your subscribers have given you their permission to contact them with relevant marketing information. When you acquire or buy a list, the individuals contained on that list have no prior relationship with you and have not given their consent to be targeted by you. At best, acquired lists will not yield great results. At worst they will have you marked down as a spammer. Buying a list is often thought of as a cheap way of reaching new customers. But you should remember, there is no such thing as cheap marketing. Only marketing that works and marketing that doesn’t work. iContact, along with most reputable email marketing providers DO NOT permit the use of bought or acquired lists.
Mistake #5: The Big Picture
A picture is worth a thousand words. But not when that picture pushes text from the top of an email out of sight, is not seen until the recipient gives their permission to download that image, or is so big it takes forever to download. Use images carefully and never use an image when text can be put to better effect.
See Also:
Rookie Mistake #1: The Monthly Newsletter
Rookie Mistake #2: The Shotgun Approach
Rookie Mistake #3: The Wrong From Address
Stop Making Rookie Mistakes – Download iContact’s 10 Rules for Successful Email Marketing GuideToday.