Skip to main content

Do Not Send an Email to Mike When it’s Pat’s Mailbox

Email mistakes could be funny, or they could be serious.

Imagine, your department is working on their end of the year campaign, the company's biggest sale of the decade.  With care, photos are placed with the correct colored border to emphasize the offering, the text, after going through many renditions is flawless and the landing page is ready to inspire sales with the perfect call-to-action.  The email will go out today the sale starts 10/1/18.  Somehow the proofreader misread the final copy and, the date was mistakenly changed to 01/1/18.

Bad Mistake?  It could be, considering the last email campaign you sent misspelled boot for boob.

How can these email errors be avoided, because, besides embarrassing mistakes can be costly  To avoid is to be informed, so first, know what the common errors are:
Broken Links:  Links that bring a visitor to a landing page, form or anywhere, are important or they should not be in your email message.  If the link goes nowhere or is broken,  most likely your message will get trashed.   Therefore links should:

  • Be defined, by color or underlined
  • Direct someone to click on the link, instead of saying, “click here” - consider saying "more can be found at" or "read this"
  • Be ranked, with the most  important link at the beginning of your email
  • Engage your reader
  • Include some that are permanent, ones that should always be in your messages. i.e. refer a friend, social networks.
  • Match your content
  • Be in the same place in every campaign. Use a template so your readers can find your links easily
  • Be used as needed. Do not inundate your readers with too many links
  • Be tracked so you know which were the most successful.
Duplicate Dupelicate Errors:  Sometimes typos go unnoticed, even with spell checkers on board. so, have more than one set of eyes reading your content from the Subject Line to the footer.  Subject Line typos are particularly bad, misspellings may signal spam to the recipient.  Try to;

  • Use a spell checker and grammar checker, such as Grammarly
  • Read your content out loud
  • Avoid using placeholders in your work “Lorem Ipsum” is really meaningless to the reader
Stale Information:  Read the example above, an incorrect date can cause subscriber confusion, they may be unsubscribed because they are annoyed that the sale date has passed.
Unacceptable Personalization:  Personalized emails work.  With care using the right syntax, turn your greetings from Dear “First Name” to Dear Pat, which is a proven way to increase open rates.  If you are diligent with your profile pages you can avoid sending:

  • Dog Food coupons when they don’t have a dog
  • Men swimwear discounts when the subscriber signed up for Women’s’ fashion
  • An email to Mike when it’s Pat’s mailbox
  • A timely email for an event, such as a Birthday with no special offer.
Cannot reply to a no-reply address: Include a "comment here" at the end of your email message.  The subscriber might have something important to tell you and a no-reply address does not give them a warm fuzzy feeling.



Most of these common errors can be avoided if you employ a routine when developing and sending out an email campaign.  Look for issues, such as missing fields in your information list and other discrepancies. Always have a plan-  if the user didn’t give you their first name, and you are sending personalized email, insert another term for the name field: Dear Customer.  Test your messages, read them before you mail, verify the links and review the message on all devices before you hit that send button. .
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Revolutionizing Group Communication: How DiscussionListServices.com Leads the Wa

  Tammy runs a nonprofit organization and there is so much to do. It’s a position that comes with its fair share of challenges and rewards. Managing a nonprofit means wearing multiple hats, including organizing events to coordinating volunteers and everything in between. With so many tasks and conversations happening across various groups, it's no wonder Tammy finds it hard to keep up. Was it Amy who said she would work with the kids on Wednesday and bring chairs, or was it crayons? And the weekend brunch—was it scheduled for 12 PM at 1 Main Street or 1 PM at 12 Main Street? YIKES!  Amidst the clutter of apps , digital reminders, and calendars, the details do get lost. Lost details lead to confusion and miscommunication. Overworked and stretched thin, Tammy needs a solution that simplifies communication without demanding more of her limited time. This is a common scenario for many nonprofit leaders, and the solution lies in effective communication tools. This is where group email o
Post a Comment
Read more

Understanding Permalink Structures In WordPress

 In WordPress, a permalink (short for "permanent link") is the URL to a specific post, page, or other content on your site. The permalink structure refers to how these URLs are formatted. WordPress allows you to customize the structure of your permalinks to make them more user-friendly and SEO-friendly.   Types of Permalink Structures in WordPress   Plain   URL example: http://mybookstation.com/?p=123   Description: This is the default setting and is not very user-friendly or SEO-friendly .   Day and Name   URL example: http://mybookstation.com/2024/05/22/sample-post/   Description: Includes the year, month, day, and the post name.   Month and Name   URL example: http://mybookstation.com/2024/05/sample-post/   Description: Includes the year, month, and the post name.   Numeric   URL example: http://mybookstation.com/archives/123   Description: Uses the post ID in the URL.   Post Name   URL example: http://mybookstation.com/sample-post/   Description: Uses the post name (slug)
Post a Comment
Read more

Exploring Green Website Design: Sustainable Solutions For A Digital Future

Do my online activities impact the environment? Quite possibly. It’s important to remember that everything has a cost, even seemingly free Wi-Fi. Accessing the internet consumes energy, from powering our devices to running wireless networks. Each of these actions releases a few grams of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. But have you ever wondered where all this data is stored? Whether on standalone servers, networked systems, or in the “cloud ”, storing our endless data streams requires a significant amount of energy. This is where the concept of a green website comes into play. Using less energy to access websites, data, and information is not a solution most of us have. However, we can minimize the ecological footprint on a smaller scale with a green website design. This method, while minimizing the ecological footprint, can maximize functionality and appea l. What is Green Website Design? The principles of Green Website Design start with a holistic approach to web design and de
Post a Comment
Read more