Email marketing for a long time was one of the most underrated forms of social marketing. There are tons of stats that prove the efficacy of well designed email marketing campaigns. Unfortunately many email marketing efforts are sorely lacking for a few simple and fixable reasons. Which mistakes are you making?

1. You're boring

Boring subject lines, boring images, boring copy, boring zzzzz.. Like social media, blogging and every other form of digital engagement you must grab your target's attention quickly. Snazz up your subject lines with an outside the box question or statement. There is evidence that unusual subject lines can go a long way to increasing open rates. Touch your targets pressure point without punching them in the gut. After all if they never open your email you've failed before you even started.

2. Your intrusive

Ask any girl who has ever been at a club with her girlfriends what it's like to have a strange guy lamely dance his way into their circle of trust. That is how your prospective clients feel about your spammy emails. Trolling company websites for emails and buying lists is not only cheesy, it's resource consuming and inevitably produces a big zero in terms of ROI. Build your list the right way put out engaging content that people want to subscribe. Better yet, practice your elevator pitch, press some flesh.

3. You're rigid

I currently have three devices (phone, tablet, laptop)  from which I read email from three different platforms (Gmail,Yahoo, and GoDaddy). That's nine different potential email experiences all encompassing different sized screens with varying protocols and computing power. I need to be able to clearly read your email and see your images on them. Your email, like your website, needs to be fully responsive or your painfully crafted message is bound for the trash.
Thanks to the guys at Email Critic for this masterpiece.

4. You're non-specific

Want a lesson in specificity? Ask a child what they want for their birthday. A child will tell you the name of the toy, how much it costs, where to get it and the most direct route to get there.Your email marketing campaigns should do the same. Segment your contact lists so you can talk directly to those who need to hear your particular message. Otherwise you can end up looking as bad as they folks at Shutterfly. Craft a strong and clear CTA so that your recipients know what to do next and give them something fovalue for doing so ("Click here for a FREE e-book!")

5. You think you can do it by yourself

You have put a lot of effort into automating your life. Your floors are cleaned by a self charging robot, your bills are on autopay but for some reason you are trying to handle your email lists, graphics and email copy by hand. Instead of cobbling together your own campaign why not use a service like GetResponse? Automate your campaigns with features like social sharing, form builders, email templates and autoresponders. Run A/B tests to nail the best way to convert your email list into contacts.

Original Source: technorati.com