Whether you’re the new kid in town or your newsletter is going strong, there are some common misconceptions about email marketing. You may have encountered and recognized them yourself, but there are probably a few that you’re not aware of. Being familiar with some of the email marketing myths will push you ahead. That’s why in this article, we’re going to talk about the most common misconceptions in the email space.
First, why send an email newsletter?
Email newsletters have become so prevalent that many customers ask for them. Why? Because they know it’s the best, most efficient way to stay informed about the services and products they care about. It can also be a terrific way to learn about great deals and promotions. Some companies provide exclusive coupons only to the subscribers of the newsletter.
Your email newsletter can help you tell the story of your brand and create a connection with every person who signs up. However, your attention to detail is advised. The style of writing, even the font choices, colors and formatting all communicate things to your readers. Smart planning of your email newsletter can build loyalty and foster a mutual respect between your readers and your company.
Misconception: Your email newsletter must have many subscribers
If you’ve decided you’d like to start an email newsletter, it can be very intimidating. After all, the world of email newsletters has even created celebrities. Many people proudly proclaim how many subscribers they have. You may come to the conclusion that you’re already dead in the water. How can I compete with somebody with 150,000 readers?
First of all, you don’t know this for certain. People have been known to inflate numbers to make themselves look good. Furthermore, it’s better to have a small list with great engagement than a huge list that a lot of people don’t bother to open.
There are small email lists that are frequently forwarded by their readers because people find them useful or enjoyable. They may have a smaller number of subscribers, but their potential is great because of the positive feelings people have with the list.
No matter where you start or how much enthusiasm your newsletter begins with, you have the ability to reach people. You may not be the biggest, but you can certainly be the best.
Misconception: Your email newsletter subscribers are all real people
Most people are familiar with bots and know that not every “person” they encounter on Facebook, Twitter, etc. is real. There are all kinds of invalid or fake email addresses too. Being aware of them and having a strategy for handling this issue is imperative if you want to keep your newsletter going.
- Temporary email addresses. Having a promotion or giveaway like an e-book, audiobook download, infographic or other freebie is a great idea to encourage people to sign-up to your list. However, some people want the free item and don’t really want to get your newsletter. So, they sign up with a temporary or throwaway email address. It’s not a real email address where they send and receive emails. It’s shelf life could be days or even just hours.
- Spam traps. These don’t belong to real people. Organizations set up these addresses to find and block spammers. Unfortunately, some email lists become infected with them.
- Invalid email addresses. You remember when your best friend in elementary school moved away? Well, people change their email addresses all the time too. In fact, some do it quite frequently. They move from Yahoo to Gmail or they were using a work or school address and stop for one reason or another (changing employment, graduating from school, etc).
This is just a few of the bad or fake types of email addresses, but there are others. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have a score called a sender reputation score. Having even a couple of these undesirable and fake email addresses on your list can cause a decrease in your score. A low score can cause all of your emails to begin being classified as spam. In this case, it’s as if you never sent those emails. In the junk folder, there’s little chance anyone will see them.
The important thing is that you use an email verifier to regularly remove them. Whether you have a small or a large number of subscribers, you simply upload the list to the platform of a trustworthy email validation service. The service will identify those fake and problematic email addresses so you can readily remove them.
Misconception: Your email newsletter can be sent whenever you feel like it
This is one of the most common misconceptions out there. Some email newsletter creators feel like they can get some subscribers and only send an email when they want to accomplish something, like announce a seasonal promotion. The rest of the time they stay radio silent.
Have you ever signed up for an email newsletter and all of the sudden the emails stop? A few months pass and you’ve forgotten about them. Then you get the apologetic email that says how it’s been a long time and they’re sorry about that. Well, this is very bad form.
It’s bad practice for more reasons than one. First of all, it makes you seem unprofessional and inconsistent. Secondly, a lot of the people who subscribed do in fact forget. They are likely to mark you as spam which is also very bad for your sender reputation score.
So, send your email newsletters at regular intervals. Generally, once a month is the minimum. Depending on your business, you may want to send them weekly. If you do, it’s smart to send them on the same day of the week. It’s good for the health of your list and keeps you from being suspected as a spammer.
Personalize your content for best engagement
Finally, another common misconception is that once you have an email newsletter, any kind of content will work. You’ll find that’s not true. If you want to get the best email engagement, personalize the content you send so that it serves the needs of your audience. You can segment your email list using criteria such as: shopping behavior, gender and location and craft relevant content for each of your groups. You’ll get better results and a faithful list of subscribers that will look forward to your email newsletter.
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Author: Paul Leslie is a Content Writer for email validation company ZeroBounce. He has a rich background in content creation as a writer, researcher and interviewer. Paul has conducted more than 800 interviews distributed via radio and podcasts.
