Many marketers send great email campaigns and look after their audience. However, some simply annoy their audience. Which one are you?
When is too much email, too much?
With so many emails flying around over the past few weeks, we've seen some amazing campaigns!
On the other hand, we've also been annoyed by quite a few of them (for various reasons).
Now, you may wonder what you could be doing to annoy your audience.
Allow us to enlighten you with a few of our email pet peeves in the hopes that you consider these in your email strategy:
You're sending unsolicited emails 🙈
Are we the only ones who received a ton of BFCM emails that we never signed up for (or forgot that we had)? We'd be willing to bet that we're not alone here.
It's actually pretty simple:
If you send marketing emails, make sure you have your audience's consent and make sure you're sending often enough that they won't forget they've signed up in the first place.
There are very few actions that detriment your email environment like sending unsolicited emails. People across the globe despise spam, so don't be part of the problem.
Ensure that you:
Only send emails to readers who have subscribed
Ensure that new subscribers are aware of how often you'll be emailing them
Create a way for subscribers to easily opt out of promotions or future campaigns
The final point here is a hidden gem! If you're going to increase the frequency or cadence of your emails over a period such as Black Friday or Cyber Monday, create a separate segment or email list for your readers to elect to become part of.
This will keep interested readers and potential buyers informed while not bombarding subscribers who aren't keen on receiving promotions, yet continue to receive your newsletters or regular campaigns.
You're hiding your unsubscribe link 🙊
Tempted to hide your unsubscribe link (or not include one at all)? If this is you, we can't be friends...
Okay, we can remain friends, but we're here to convince you that this BS needs to stop!
We counted 6 emails received with no unsubscribe link or the unsubscribe link set as the same background colour as the email. This was in the space of only 2 days.
Not good.
If someone doesn't want to receive your emails, why keep them in your database? You're only tarnishing your relationships with potential customers and jeopardising your email-sending reputation.
Trust is a big component of any email strategy. Not allowing subscribers to leave your email environment is going to result in further issues.
Spam reports
Getting caught by spam filters
Potential legal issues because of bad practices
These all add up in a big way.
Do the right thing. Make sure your subscribers can unsubscribe at any time and make it easy for them to do so.
You'll foster trust and ensure that you're keeping the right email audience at all times.
You're sending too many emails 🙉
A few marketers had us unsubscribing over the past few weeks simply because they sent way too many emails in such a short period of time.
We get it...
You want to create hype and drive your sales, especially at this time of the year.
However, you need to strike a balance to avoid bombarding your audience with incessant emails.
Test your frequency and cadence before major promo dates to find a sweet spot. You can also ask your audience how much they want to hear from you by:
Running surveys our questionnaires before your next promotion
Assessing results from your previous promotional period campaigns
Segmenting out customers based on their recent purchases or interactions with your business.
It's not too difficult, but it is pretty important.
You're showing your audience that you care about their inbox, and sometimes, less is more, especially when sending emails
Preventing the 3 Ways You May Be Annoying Your Email Subscribers
There's a reason for the saying "prevention is better than cure".
The last thing you'll want after running a promotion is an audience who feels that you've taken advantage of their time and inbox.
We always encourage our readers to send emails in a way that they'd like to receive them, so take this advice and send better emails
Use it. Don't use it 🤷♀️
Let's be better and send emails that people ACTUALLY want to read. That's how you'll prevent the 3 ways you may be annoying your email subscribers.
In case you missed it, click here to grab a copy of our detailed Database Growth Playbook for Email Marketing to help you grow your database further and support your efforts 👇
Want more tips like these? Get our expert email guide today! Click here to find out more
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