4 Mistakes to Avoid When Sending Your Next Email Campaign

We have all done it: hit that send button just a little too soon, only to immediately realize we made a glaring error in the text. Now, imagine that mistake happens on a marketing email that is set to reach the mailboxes of hundreds or thousands of your audience members. That is embarrassing. Fortunately, most of these mistakes are easily avoidable. Make sure to always double check your work and look out for these common email marketing faux pas.

Broken Links

This mishap is arguably one of any marketer’s worst nightmares, especially when the purpose of an email batch is lead creation. That is why, as the first item on this checklist, we stress the importance of double-checking your links for functionality. Click on every single one of them, every time. Does the correct page appear to be loading? Do you get a 404 error when you try to access a website? You must repair any broken links you come across.

Distorted Images

Have you previewed the layout of your photos? Are they condensed or stretched? Pixelated? Are they excessively large? Did you remember to associate alt text with them when they didn’t render? Check to see if your photographs are appearing the way you want them to, and if they aren’t, make the necessary adjustments.

Broken Social Media Sharing Buttons

Let’s talk about how easy it is to break those pesky social networking buttons. One of the most damaging things you can do for your campaign is to make it difficult to use social sharing buttons for social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Once a potential customer clicks a button that does not work, you rarely get a second opportunity for them to share that content. The moment has passed. Always test those sharing buttons in your test send, whether you are using an email tool or tackling it alone.

Sender Name and Subject Line

Is it clear that your email was sent by a person, not a machine? In other words, are you using your company name or the name of someone at your organization as your sender name? In some cases, emails sent by a real person are more likely to be opened than those sent by a company name alone. The length of your subject line is another element to consider. Is it going to be cut off? Keep your subject lines as short as possible — 50 characters or less is a reasonable rule of thumb. You want as much of it to show up in the email pane as possible. Carefully take mobile devices into consideration as they use secondary subject lines as well.