By: Todd Wasserman
(Mashable)
Click HERE for link to original article
inShare Mar 23, 2011 –

If e-mail seems a little old school to you, you’re right. E-mail turns 40 this year, and it’s being outpaced by texting, instant messaging and Facebook messaging. As Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg pointed out last year, e-mail is too much of a “cognitive load” for younger people.

Yet you probably haven’t given up your Gmail account yet, have you? That’s because, despite the stigma of being a middle-aged technology, e-mail is still useful and universally accepted. In fact, those who make a living from e-mail marketing say there’s never been a better time to do what they do.

“E-mail marketing is getting more exciting because of some of the things you’re able to do with it,” says Chip House, vice president of relationship marketing at ExactTarget, “because of the ability to bake in social sharing. You can follow me on Facebook or tweet about this.”

Want to read about more marketing mistakes? Check these out:
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How To Lose A Customer In 5 Ways

For small businesses, e-mail still represents a cheap, effective way to establish or maintain a relationship with clients. But there’s the rub. While the medium is fairly neutral to positive, the content has the power to either attract or repel. So before you hit “send” on your next batch of e-mail newsletters, take heed of these six common e-mail marketing mistakes.

1. E-mailing without permission

Getting an e-mail newsletter that you didn’t sign up for feels like an invasion of privacy. As House notes, small businesses often start their e-mail marketing campaigns by buying a list and then hitting everyone on that list. “There’s probably not a worse thing you can do,” he says. “You get started off on the wrong foot, and people expect to start receiving spam from you.” The moral? Don’t take shortcuts. Build up your list organically by having an opt-in form on your website or, if you have a brick-and-mortar business, using a sign-up sheet.

2. Having ineffective or irrelevant subject and “from” lines

You can’t guarantee that someone will open your e-mail, but a good way to make it unlikely that they’ll open it is to use a boring subject line. Mark Schmulen, a general manager at Constant Contact, says a subject line should promise short, digestable information that is likely to be of interest. One example: “2 Things Facebook Can Do to Help Your Business.” The reader only has to worry about reading two things and, if the e-mail is properly targeted, there’s a good chance he or she will click through to see what it’s about.

The “from” lines are also important. Schmulen points out that few people are likely to open an e-mail if they don’t recognize the sender. Plus, make sure you use an e-mail address that uses your company’s domain—a Gmail or Yahoo address is a tip-off that the company is small-time, he says.

3. Blasting irrelevant content

Make sure your e-mails are relevant to the audience you’re blasting them to. Suppose you have a family and you signed up to get e-mail from a travel firm. If you get a few e-mails with information about singles vacations, it’s not only going to be irrelevant to your needs, but it’s likely to sour you on the company, too. At that point, Schmulen says, “even if the fourth one is for families, you’re already checked out.”

4. Not looking at the numbers

You just sent out a batch of e-mails—any idea how many were opened? How many bounced back? If you don’t have that information, you’re operating in a vacuum and have no way to determine if the program is a success. Make sure you’re analyzing and comparing the numbers, which can help you get the most out of future e-mail blasts. Metrics can provide useful information to boost e-mail marketing efficacy, including the best day and time to send the e-mail, the most effective subject lines and the content that most resonates with your audience.

5. Having no purpose

According to Schmulen, many people start an e-mail marketing program with only a vague notion about why they’re doing it. “They haven’t really thought about what their true goals are or what’s in it for the subscriber,” he says. So what are your goals? To educate? To start a dialogue? To inform your consumers of news and events in the industry? Having a purpose will dictate your content, so figure it out before you start typing.

6. Providing no entry for dialogue

House says that a good e-mail is like a good tweet or a good blog entry—if people like it, they will pass it around. So to maximize the chances that your message will be shared, write provocative and interesting content. And don’t be afraid to ask your readers for their own content. “It’s important to state your point of view,” House says, “but you should ask readers to share their thoughts, too.” A good conversation sparked by an e-mail marketing campaign can easily go online and spread on Twitter and Facebook.

Image courtesy of Flickr, aless&ro.

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