Tips for keeping your email out of the junk folder

With every email you send, it gets easier to fall into old habits. Before you know it, they all start to look the same, or even worse, to incorporate some flagrant email marketing errors. If you haven’t taken the time to flesh out your “To Don’t” list, start by correcting these common mistakes:

1.  Failing to Design for Mobile Devices

With roughly 20% to 30% of users checking the majority of email on their phones and almost 90% doing so at least occasionally, you can’t afford to fall off the bandwagon. To get you started, here are some quick tips that will make your next email more mobile friendly:

  • Use fonts that can be easily read on tiny screens.
  • Put space between clickable elements to accommodate touch screens and clumsy fingers.
  • Enlarge the call to action buttons, making it stand out from surrounding content.

2.  Sounding Too Formal

Email is a much more intimate communication venue than, say, a magazine ad or even a Facebook post. Your writing should reflect that intimacy by sounding less formal, more relaxed, and more playful where appropriate. In other words, write like you speak.

3.  Subject Lines That Don’t Communicate

What’s wrong with the following headlines? “Grab a great deal!” “Re:News.” “Hello!” “The perfect gift.” These email subject lines, all of which appeared in my inbox over the past month, all make the same mistake: they don’t give the reader a clue about what’s inside.  By choosing a generic subject line, you encourage your subscribers to skip over your email or simply click the delete button.

4.  Failing to Showcase Your Unique Value

Every marketing campaign should center on your unique value proposition. In other words, it should communicate what makes you better than the competition. And that, in turn, should show up in every interaction you have with customers. Do you offer free shipping on orders over $50? Highlight that!

5.  Relying on Gimmicks Rather than Substance

Sure, it’s great to try new ideas such as including an interactive interface, linking to a video, or creating a game to get people to engage with your message. But when the message becomes obscured by the gimmick (people love your game but have no idea who you are), it has outlived its usefulness and it’s time to focus on better content creation.

If you recognize your emails in this list, it’s time to start planning your email marketing strategy more proactively. eConnect Email can help you craft your email from start to finish, including customizable templates, image hosting, managing, and editing, campaign testing, and inbox previews, all with the goal of making you stand out from the crowd.