Top 4 email marketing mistakes

Email has been around a long time. I always think way back to the days of AOL and getting so excited to hear the old “You’ve got mail” notification.

The novelty shortly wore off a little and people started to ignore the vast majority of emails bombarding their inbox. Email marketing started to become passé and along the way you may even have heard that email marketing was dead. Maybe before you even got a chance to really use or understand the power of email for your business.

Well guess what? It isn’t dead . . . not even close. Those who think email marketing is dead simply do not know how to use it well.

Here are five mistakes to avoid when getting started with email marketing.

These are common mistakes that almost everyone thinking about starting an email marketing campaign makes. If you find yourself doing any of these, stop and use this article to implement a great email marketing strategy.

Let’s get into it . . .

1. NOT COLLECTING EMAILS FROM EVERYONE WHO VISITS YOUR WEBSITE
I see this in most restaurant websites. There is no offering on the homepage for your customers to opt into. Why wouldn’t you ask anyone who visits your website to input their email address in exchange for a gift? They obviously went to your website for a reason: give them an opportunity to give you their email. If you don’t, you’ll be missing out on one of the best ways to grow your target list.

Offer a discount or a free item in exchange for their email address. It could be something like a weekly giveaway to a dollar amount off their next order. Think of something you could start offering and get started converting those visitors into emails!

2. NOT SENDING EMAILS WHEN PEOPLE SUBSCRIBE TO YOUR LIST
This is something that I talk about with our clients all the time. They get so overwhelmed by the thought of not knowing what to say that they never say or send anything.

Someone who signs up for your email wants to hear from you. However, consumers have short attention spans. If they don’t hear from you, they quickly forget you.

It’s the same as someone calling your restaurant only to find you’re not answering the phone! Then calling them back two weeks later saying “Hey, we are ready to take your order now.”  

They forgot that they even called you. You blew it!

3. ASKING FOR TOO MUCH INSIDE EACH EMAIL
You have so much to say you try and ask for five or six things inside your email. This will only overwhelm your customer and result in them taking no action at all.

When sending your emails, ask for one thing. If you really have to ask for two, put the second one in the P.S.

When we consume emails we are programmed to look at the headline (why we opened) then we scan the email (this is why bullet points or bold headlines are great). Lastly, we read the  P.S. note.

If those grab our attention then we’ll read the rest. If they don’t, you’ll get deleted and disappear forever.

4. NOT MAKING IT EASY TO READ ON A MOBILE DEVICE
Like I said in number 3, we scan, and if it looks good, then we read. Use bullet points, easy-to-read fonts and big type sizes (15 points).

Most of your emails will get read on mobile so before you send it as a broadcast, send a test email to yourself and read it on your phone.

If it looks good and it’s easy to read, your click-through rate will dramatically increase.

Not only that but when you send a future email people will remember yours are easy to read and they’ll get opened.

5. BEING BORING
Too many people write emails they want to send, not that people want to read. Reverse-engineer the process and put yourself inside the shoes of the reader. Would you really care about what you’re sending?

Is it entertaining in the least or are you just saying how great you are or always trying to sell a product?

It’s not always about selling in the email. Tell stories. Be worth reading. If you are, then the sale will come in time.

Thanks for reading and I hope this helped. If you’d like some help or have any questions about becoming an email marketing pro, get in touch. •

Bruce Irving is the marketing visionary behind SmartPizzaMarketing.com and host of the weekly Smart Pizza Marketing podcast. On his podcasts, he interviews the leading minds of the pizza restaurant industry. Irving, an expert marketing consultant and former pizzeria owner, has turned Smart Pizza Marketing into a top full-service digital agency built for pizzeria restaurants, and designed and created specifically to help restaurant owners get more customers. He may be contacted at Bruce@SmartPizzaMarketing.com