Because we live in the world of technology, email is one of the easiest ways to reach your customers. The problem is that email can become overwhelming if you don’t check it constantly.
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On a daily basis I receive almost 200 inbox emails (this doesn’t include junk mail) a day with my personal email account. My website’s email receives about 60 or more so it it becomes a chore just to look through my emails. Just recently I had actually won tickets to a NASCAR race but I was so behind on checking my emails that I didn’t claim the tickets in time. Of course now I try to clean out my inbox each day but as I started doing this, I realized:
- Why I don’t open some of the emails.
- Why I delete some of the emails after I have opened it.
- What I like and don’t like to see in the emails I receive.
No Information in the header. Usually I see this either from spammers or bloggers. With bloggers it will usually have something in the header about a “New Post”. For me this means the person didn’t take the time to try to entice me to open it. Even though I try to support other bloggers, this really disappoints me and I usually delete these emails without opening them. You need to give the reader a hint of what is inside the email at the very least!
Sending out too many. Oh my goodness, don’t send out so many emails. Everyone wants to stay relevant and in the public eye but sending out multiple emails in a day or week can be dangerous. You can actually loose subscribers because it’s just too much depending on the quality of the email. Check your opening rate to see how many are actually being opened. If you send out daily emails, do a trial one week and send them out only 3 times to see what your opening rate is and compare it to before. That’s how you find out if you need to make adjustments. I know if I see a daily email or multiple emails in one day, they most likely won’t get opened.
Too much information in the email. Okay you got my attention and I opened the email but now there is about 2 pages worth of material to read and usually there are no pictures included. Give the reader an option to “read more” from your website, not the email. After about the first two paragraphs, you’ve lost my interest because when I’m checking my email, that’s exactly what I want to do – check it and move on. I usually save emails that have stories that I want to read later when I have free time. Don’t write a whole book, just give the reader enough to get them interested and then they can choose if they want to read the whole story or not.
All about the advertising. This is specifically for the bloggers – yes you need to advertise to make money but I get so many emails that there is nothing but advertisements. I like reading stories and posts too ya know. Even I have affiliated links in most of my posts and sometimes in my emails but to send an email that only has advertisements makes your email look like a retailer’s email or a spammer’s, just saying. At least if the reader actually has something to read, you might just get the sale later on.
***One last tip about giveaway/prize emails – It has become popular to partner with other companies and have this huge list of things the person must do to get an entry like: follow on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, send out emails, etc. ~ go back to enter your first name and email address. Once I see this type of “entry” form, I just delete the whole thing. I did go through the process a couple of times but I never received an email about anybody actually winning and now these companies are connected to all my social media pages plus my email. It’s a fast way to get followers but it’s not the way that I want to get them. I’m old fashioned when it comes to doing what is right.***
At Ssouthernlifestyle, I try to send out 1 email weekly that will have 1 – 3 posts. I have a pretty high opening rate and my advertising is normally in the post itself. I try to have a catchy header along with a sub-header so that my readers will have an idea of what’s inside before they even open it. This is what works best for me, right now. If I was to see a downwards drop, then I would consider making a change. Only you know what works best for your business.
The best advice that I can give to you is to look at your own personal emails and/or business emails and evaluate how you screen them. Does the emails that you send out have similarities to the ones that you delete? If so, then it may be time to think about what positive changes you can make to keep your subscribers from just deleting your emails.
Leave a comment below about email mistakes that you have seen or any new ideas on how to make an email better. Sign up on the home page to receive a weekly email from Ssouthernlifestyle and as always have a blessed day!
