Let’s not kid ourselves, we’re all busy people, and mistakes can happen when you’ve got a lot on your plate. Most mistakes are easy to rectify, but in one area of marketing once you hit send, there’s no turning back!
Have you ever sent out a marketing email to then discover that the call to action link was broken?
If only there was an “un-send” button! So, for our second email marketing blog this month we thought it might be helpful to provide you with an email checklist to tick off the common areas errors occur in email marketing, before you press send.
Check and check again every single link.
Rule 101 is to avoid broken links – it’s the stuff of nightmares for most marketers, especially if you’re cloning previous emails. But, there really is a simple fix – check and check again every link. It’s the only way to be sure.
Don’t forget adding in links
Imagine this scenario – a client receives your email and is interested in your services. They go to click on the button next to the service listed in your email, and – nothing happens. Ensure that everything that should be linked is, including CTAs, anchor text and images.
Check your social sharing buttons
The third and final broken link warning is for those social buttons. These buttons are notoriously easy to break, so it’s important to check every time that they are in working order.
Prevent distorted images
Are your images stretched or pixelated? This is not a good look. Check that the images are formatted and sized correctly, and that you associated the right alt text with each of them. Otherwise when people hover over them the text that displays might not make any sense!
Prevent colour issues
Ensure your font colour is easy to read and is set against a simple and clean background. Hard to read text will put off your clients, so keep it as simple as possible. To be safe, ensure that the visibility of your email copy doesn’t depend on the background colour of your email to be visible. Background colours are not always rendered, meaning that light text on a dark background could turn invisible in some cases. You have been warned!
Don’t dismiss the option to view on the web
Just in case anything does display incorrectly, ensure your email includes a link to view on the web.
Steer clear of spelling and grammatical errors
Spelling mistakes and grammatical errors are easy to fix, so ensure you double check all copy, and ask your brainiest colleague to do your email a onceover too. You can also use tools such as Grammarly to check your spelling and grammar as you go.
Avoid bad formatting
Ensure all text is within its own text box and entirely legible. It’s also important that paragraphs and bullet points are displayed properly.
Don’t include attachments
If you need to send a PDF, provide a link within the body. This will help keep your email out of your client’s junk box because of email size.
Get your subject line and sender name right
Does your email look like it was automated by a robot? Sending emails from the name of someone on your marketing team followed by the company name will likely increase the open rate significantly. Also, remember to keep your subject line short and sweet, so as much of it as possible is displayed for your subscribers (especially if they are using a mobile device). Check out our blog on 10 Tips for Writing Brilliant Email Copy for more advice on creating engaging content.
Don’t violate your marketing platforms’ terms
Ensure you take the time to review your marketing platforms terms of service before signing up. Many platforms including Mailchimp don’t allow firms to use purchased or other third-party mailing lists they didn’t compile themselves. If you do this, they can shut down your account, and even blacklist your domain.
Play by the rules
When GDPR changes took effect in late May of 2018, the world of email marketing changed. To comply with GDPR, firms are required to show proof that customers have opted to receive emails or you can prove a legitimate interest.
Don’t forget your mobile customers
Research suggests that if your email doesn’t display properly on mobile, nearly 3 out of 4 people will delete the email in seconds. It’s therefore crucial to not neglect your subscribers that use mobile – in today’s world most of the will.
Check your dynamic tags
If you’re using any dynamic tags (e.g. [FIRSTNAME], etc.), check to make sure they’re functioning properly and pulling in the correct information. There’s nothing worse than getting a subscriber’s name wrong, or calling them their surname instead of their firstname. Also double check your list, if names are pulling through from data forms on your website be wary how lazy some people can be. Names written in capital letters or all lower case, make sure you continually tidy your data, otherwise it will look strange when you send.
If you’d like advice on your email marketing, get in touch with us we’d love to have a conversation.