The Biggest Mistake Made With Email Marketing

I see the biggest mistake made with email marketing made my both large and small businesses. I see this mistake made by people who really should know better, including by the email marketing company that I recommend to all of my clients (and to you if you download the guide at the foot of this page showing you 8 proven methods to win new clients).

So what is this mistake? If I share it with you, will you promise to try it out for me to improve your email marketing? OK, if we have a deal, I will share it with you now. The biggest email marketing mistake made is this:

The email is sent as a designed (often heavily over designed) email instead of a very simple, plain looking email.

The email marketing companies encourage you to use their beautifully designed templates which make your emails look more professional (so they say). They encourage you to put your business’ logo at the top of the email, and to use lots of images in your email (often stock imagery which is always a no no not only in email marketing but also in website design – it lacks personality). This is all shockingly bad email marketing advice.

The best emails with the highest readership look exactly like the emails you read from a friend. They start by saying Dear Nick, if your name is Nick that is, then they dive straight into engaging and useful content. They have no pictures, no stock photography, and absolutely no logos. Remember we are talking about small business marketing here, not Amazon or Sony or any of the people selling products. We are talking about selling small business services such as consultancy services, coaching or accounting services. In all of these cases you will have much better results if you use an html email that looks just like a plain text email. (If this point needs clarifying, please leave a comment in the box below and I will answer your question). I am not saying that you should not use the ‘html’ design element of your email marketing software, in fact far from it. You need to use the html part, but just paste into it the words you want to share with your clients and prospects with no design element whatsoever.

If you try this, I assure you that both your readership and engagement from your email marketing newsletters will go through the roof if, until now, you have been over-designing your newsletters. What’s more, it is much easier and faster to prepare a simple looking email than a designed one. Try it and please share your successes with me.

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