Stupid Email Marketing Mistakes You Can Avoid

Stupid Email Marketing Mistakes You Can Avoid

One of the joys of marketing is to gain ideas and lessons from other marketers. No one owns a principle, technique, concept or idea. If you want to become a better marketer simply pay attention to what happens around you and learn from the triumphs and the failures of others.

Take a few lessons from this email that I received.

Here is the opening paragraph:

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First
Hi to All....And
Second
sorry to mass massage u All,But
Our site XXX is about to launch for helping all the writers and industry profession to become better writers....
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My email address was one of nine addresses listed in the “to” box. I changed the site name to XXX for two reasons – no need to advertise for them and no need to embarrass anyone at this time. This is a learning opportunity.

What’s wrong with that opening? You can probably notice at least a few things. Let’s list them.

Talk to Me

The email wasn’t addressed to me. My name was simply part of a list. Any good writer and especially a marketing writer recognizes that you must speak to one person. The reader of your writing must believe that you are talking directly to him or her.

Don’t Spam

My name was part of a list of people who I didn’t know. That means that each of those recipients has the potential to abuse the list by Spaming the list. That indiscretion can cause stress to recipients and demonstrates the sender’s lack of awareness, caring and professionalism.

Personalize

Because the email was sent to a list my name was not included in the message. Instead it starts with “Hi to All” which is impersonal. When you send a message you want to connect with the recipient by using their name. The rule is to personalize.

Mind Your Typos

At first glance five typos jumped out. If you study it again you might discover 12 or more typos and grammatical errors.  Before they try to help others with writing they might want to learn how to write. One could argue that this person is simply a sales rep and not one of their writers. That might be true, however, this message represents the company. If the expert resources can’t help this writer why should you buy the service?

Be Sincere

There is an apology for the mass massage (message) which is followed by the word “but” – which effectively retracts the apology. When a person tells you they are sorry but… you know they are really saying that they aren’t sorry.

Who Cares?

Apparently the reason for the impersonal, offensive and unprofessional nature of this message is to announce a new website – as if that would be important to any of the recipients.  How many websites are launched every day? Who cares?

Are You Talking to Me?

Why should the recipient care? What is the benefit? Apparently the promise is to help “all the writers and industry profession (professionals) to become better writers”

A few things wrong with this phrase:

It switches to third person “the writers” which distances it from the recipient.

It uses the absolute “all the writers” which also does not talk to the recipient.

The use of “all” also suggests that the target audience isn’t clearly identified.

When an absolute (all) is used it is usually a lie.

As marketers we can learn from the triumphs and failures of others. This particular email contained mistakes that you can avoid.

I might examine the rest of this email in another post.

George Torok Keynote Marketing Speaker Co-author of Secrets of Power Marketing Get your free copy of "50 Power Marketing Ideas" Power Marketing on FaceBook Marketing Zoo on Twitter