These days business is booming at the e-mail service provider (ESP) level. More brands are looking to e-mail because it is a measurable medium and the cost of entry is fairly low.
But as more marketers enter the space, consumers are getting more bombarded with messaging. Not to mention the fact that consumers are being bombarded on all of the other digital media channels they use, including mobile and social networks.
This creates a challenge for e-mail marketers. So, e-mailers need to be careful about their execution and be savvy about their messaging to get the attention of the consumer.
E-mail marketing service provider Emailvision has put together a list of five common e-mail flaws that they recommend to keep brands from alienating customers.
The first is to be careful of the words used in the subject line, as historically, headlines such as “WIN A GREAT PRIZE,” have not always gotten through the spam filters.
The second is not to create image e-mails with no text and then have them render incorrectly. The way to get around this is to make sure that e-mail is designed for different kinds of inboxes so that it renders correctly. My Hotmail account isn’t the same as my Gmail account.
Emailvision’s third complaint was e-mails with missing information. “There is nothing worse than Dear____ because the first name field is not completed,” the Emailvision rules point out.
Their fourth tip is to give consumers the right to reply. “Replies can provide valuable information from problems with the e-mail to inquiries about the product,” recommends Emailvision tip #4.
And the final tip is not to try too hard. In other words, keep the design simple, so that customers will receive the e-mail that you designed for them to receive and it doesn’t come through unrendered. Giving them a link to a well-designed Web site is a great way to get them to interact with rich media content.
