Email Mistakes You Need To Avoid

According to studies, there are around 5.6 billion active email accounts today. This is perhaps one of the reasons why email is still one of the best sales and marketing tools in the age of social media.

However, everybody else is using email to communicate with each other. Many inboxes are filled with emails not only from co-workers and family but also from relatives and other marketers. How do you stand out?

One of the best ways to do so is by avoiding the following email mistakes.

Using a Misleading Subject Line

Some emails have subject lines that read along these lines: “Next Week’s Meeting” or “A Follow-up On Yesterday’s Call”. The problem with this type of subject line is that you might not have spoken with these people or are going to be in a meeting with them.

These subject lines are lazy, dishonest and should be relegated to the spam folder immediately. Email marketers are always looking for attractive subject lines that will get recipients to open the email. However, deceptive subject lines are not the right way.

Lazy Greetings

One of the best ways to get recipients to engage with you is by personalizing emails. This can be a gigantic task especially if you have a big email list. The good news is that there are many email marketing tools you can use to make personalization easy. This is why greetings like “To Whom It May Concern” are not only lazy but also a turn off.

Not Formatting Message

According to a study conducted by Litmus, 46% of email recipients open their emails on their phones. This means that if you like to write long emails with multiple paragraphs without bulleting or formatting a large number of people will close your email without even reading the rest of the body.

Let’s be honest. Nobody likes to read long emails even if they’re using their desktop or laptop. Do yourself a favour and make your message short. Best of all, format your email so that it is readable on mobile devices.

Start with a killer subject line and then introduce the reason for your email in the first paragraph. This will immediately grab the reader’s attention and prevent them from closing your email.

No Call To Action

The purpose of an email is to get receivers to do something. You want them to go to a landing page to buy a product or to subscribe to your newsletter or blog. This means that emails with a purpose should have a call to action.

Calls to action should be specific. Instead of sending another email to announce something or to make a request, tell them what you really want. For example you can include something like “click this link to subscribe to our blog”.

Using “Decorative” Font

Is your favourite font Curlz or Lucida? Do you think these fonts help you express yourself better? It’s better to save these types of fonts for personal use. If you’re sending a professional email better stick to the classics like Arial or Times New Roman.

These fonts are easier to read. For example, Times New Roman has contrasting line weights that help guide readers eyes from one line to the next. Arial has similar looking letters that gives your email a non-invasive look that is appealing to many readers.

Following-up Too Soon

Do you think waiting 24 hours for an answer is enough time? Sending a follow-up email within this time frame can be disastrous. Readers will think that you’re rude, impatient and have nothing better to do.

As a rule of the thumb, wait 7-10 business days before sending a follow-up email. This will give receivers time to answer your email or acknowledge that they were too busy to respond to your request.

Avoiding these mistakes will help you avoid miscommunication with your readers. Better communication in turn can help boost understanding of your product and service which can lead to improved sales.

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