New Year. New Mailer’s. Same Mistakes

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In any business venture, you should begin with the end in mind. For email marketers, the end goal is to execute a successful email campaign. For those new to the email marketing industry it is important to know “what works” in order to achieve such success. The first step for new mailers is to become fully acclimated with the CAN SPAM Act (This will save you headaches and possible litigation!) Unfortunately, there is no how to book which leads to the ultimate success of an email campaign. Seasoned email marketers achieve a favorable outcome through old fashioned trial and error, marketing research and strategic list segmentation. Below are several bloopers, blunders, and impractical errors that newbies of email marketing should be sure to avoid.

No permission to Send Mail– Sending mail to users who have not opted to receive campaigns is a violation of the CAN SPAM Act. You must first get permission to mail to users. A great way to do this is through a newsletter offered on your site. Allow the user to receive promotions based on their individual interests. For example, “Sign up for our daily health newsletter” is a great way to find users to market diet offers toward. This is also a great way to begin segmenting your list and gain insight into the interests of your users. In the long run, you will see solid customer retention!

No Clear Unsubscribe Link– Unsubscribe links should be clearly defined on each email offering. Just as you need user’s permission to send mail to their inbox, you also need to provide them a way to opt out from receiving any further promotions. The unsubscribe link is a necessity. Be mindful, that once a user requests to opt out from receiving promotions that they are removed from your list or added to a suppression file for that specific advertiser within 7-10 days.

Not Testing the Promotion- An offer may have several creatives and variations of subject lines. How do you know which will be the most effective for your list? Sending a test drop to track the best converting creative and subject line is a lesson any new mailer does not want to learn the hard way. Some marketers like to depend on their account representatives for this information, which is a great source of information. Keep in mind that it is important to test in order to learn what the specific individuals on your list respond to.

Not Masking links- A common mistake for new mailers is keeping affiliate links. Any successful mailer with tell you that redirecting the affiliate link is a wise way to ensure deliverability and add credibility to a product or campaign.

Not Analyzing Reports– It is crucial to check stats! Most mailers check stats up to the minute and constantly learn from their reports. EPC is an important metric, but you can learn more than simply how much commission you can expect to earn. When you efficiently optimize, based on the data you have collected, a successful email campaign will be in your reach.

If you are new to email marketing, be sure to follow the mandatory CAN SPAM Act. Also, learn from other’s mistakes. Steering clear of the aforementioned common errors will make for a successful execution of a perfectly targeted email campaign!

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