Most of us are guilty of making these 6 simple mistakes that keep people from reading your emails with out knowing it
It is often stressed to make your Subject Line count when sending out emails to clients. And while this is very important, you need not stop there. If your subject line captures their attention enough to open the email, don’t disappoint with what is inside!
Avoiding these mistakes will help make your emails more readable and memorable.
Top 6 mistakes that keep people from reading your emails
1. Non-Responsive Design
According to Techsmith, the majority of digital media consumption now takes place via mobile devices. I’ll be you spend a lot of time on your phone online right?
Mobile usage now accounts for 60% of time spent, while desktop-based digital media consumption makes up the remaining 40%.
“Responsive” is a term that is getting lots of attention as more people are reading and searching the Internet via their mobile device.
Email opens on Mobile devices are up to 53%.
What does this mean to you? It means if you want readers to open and continue reading your email, you need to make sure that it has responsive design and is easy to view.
Images are a great way to ensure that your emails stay responsive. You don’t want big images in your emails because they will throw off the page and break up or make the text really small to compensate for the image. Your image should never be larger than 300 pixels wide. And be aware of using too many images. One or two should be plenty.
Also be aware of text size. There is nothing worse than opening an email and having to zoom in and then slide back and forth to read the content. Most people simply won’t do it. They’ll close out, even if it is something they really want to read.
The best way to confirm that your email is responsive enough, when you test your email, open it on your device. You will be able to see for yourself if it is working or not.
2. Blah Content
Even if the purpose of your email is to ultimately lead to a sell, don’t start off with that. No one likes a strong sales pitch and your email may be quickly closed out if the reader feels bombarded at first glance. Make it worthwhile for them to keep reading. Know your target audience and give them something they can use. It can be a short tutorial or a few tips on how to do something. Just as you would in your blog post, capture their attention with content.
This doesn’t mean you can’t promote or link to a product you want them to buy, just don’t start off with it. Readers are more likely to click through and make a purchase if they feel they have been edified by what they’ve read.
3. Weak Formatting
Keep your emails simple and to the point and don’t fill them with long passages of text. Just as you don’t want too many images, lots of text will also turn away good readers. Keep the formatting simple and varied. Use bold headings, break up text and make good use of bullet points. Get the point across in the least amount of space as possible. Emails are not the place to get long winded. Don’t be afraid to use white space and short, easy sentences and paragraphs. These work very well to hold the attention of your reader.
When MarketingExperiments.com ran a test a couple of years ago. They discovered that:
- Emails that use lots of graphics and formatting got 34% fewer clicks than plain text emails.
- Emails that had a little bit of formatting: the occasional underline or bold text and highlighted links got 55% more clicks than plain text.
4. Unclear headlines
Not having a clear or compelling headline could be the death of your email. Everyone’s email boxes are constantly swamped with emails daily.
You need to make sure you are writing about what your tribe is interested in and make it clear in the headline.
5. Not proof reading
You want to put your best foot forward so spend time proofing for spelling and grammar errors. Be sure to check and double check before you click send.
6. Making mistakes that get you into the spam folder
Certain attention grabbing words will land your email into the spam folder
You know those words like “sex”, viagra etc….but did you know that these are also trigger words:
- Income from home
- Amazing stuff
Who would have thought that seemingly harmless words like those get flagged?
Stay away from using too many all caps or too many exclamation points.
And Using an out-of-date email list with bad addresses on will get you into the spam folder so be sure to periodically clean your list. And only send marketing email to people who have opted in for it, when you get marked for spam or complaints you may end up in the spam folder too.
So make every word count, be aware of how you format those words and keep it all responsive. You’ll be on your way to more emails being read and clicked through which ultimately means more success for you!
Are you guilty of making any of these mistakes that keep people from reading your emails?
