{"id":88750,"date":"2023-12-19T11:24:17","date_gmt":"2023-12-19T16:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/?p=88750"},"modified":"2023-12-19T11:25:57","modified_gmt":"2023-12-19T16:25:57","slug":"common-email-marketing-mistakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/common-email-marketing-mistakes","title":{"rendered":"5 Common Email Marketing Mistakes (And What You Can Do About Them)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<div id=\"simple-text-block-block_d28c932de59cc63f6d6f71e07990e3c4\" class=\"block-simple-text-block alignfull \" style=\"background-color:\">\n  <div class=\"container\">\n  \t<div class=\"row\">\n  \t\t<div class=\"col\">\n  \t\t\t<div class=\"copy\">\n  \t\t\t\t<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Did you know an email can display more than <\/span><a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.oracle.com\/marketingcloud\/post\/email-rendering-continues-to-grow-in-complexity-wildly-so-at-the-fringes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">300,000 different ways<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> depending on the email client, device, and reading environment?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In other words\u2026there are 300,000 potential ways an email can break. \ud83d\ude31<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And that\u2019s before all of your stakeholders decide to poke and prod your code in different ways. With <\/span><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/resources\/2020-state-of-email-report-fall-edition\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">60% of companies<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> needing at least four stakeholders to review an email before it goes out, you\u2019re going around and around and around testing and tweaking for every campaign.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Email geeks know that creating exceptional emails has never been harder.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Customer expectations are higher than ever\u2014<\/span><a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.businesswire.com\/news\/home\/20220202005525\/en\/86-Percent-of-Consumers-Will-Leave-a-Brand-They-Trusted-After-Only-Two-Poor-Customer-Experiences\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">86% of customers will leave a brand after only two poor experiences<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. No pressure, right?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We tested five million emails last year. Here are the top five most common email mistakes we see (and how to fix them):<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">1. Deliverability issues<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Did your email make it to the inbox in the first place?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/why-email-deliverability-matters\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Deliverability issues<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> often go overlooked because they\u2019re not directly related to the content of the email (and let\u2019s face it, deliverability can be a pretty tricky technical topic.) But if your emails don\u2019t actually get to the inbox, your email marketing program won\u2019t get much traction.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There\u2019s never a bad time to do a check-up on your deliverability practices. Make sure you\u2019re optimizing every facet of your deliverability. Double check allllll those acronyms: <\/span><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/dmarc-what-it-is-how-it-helps-protect-your-brand-against-email-fraud\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">DMARC<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/spam-filter-tests\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">DKIM, SPF<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and <\/span><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/what-is-bimi-and-why-should-email-marketers-care\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">BIMI<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2. Default preview text<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">68% of emails we tested contained preview text errors. We see countless examples in our inboxes of emails missing preview text, or defaulting to the first line of copy in an email\u2026aka \u201cCAN\u2019T READ THIS EMAIL?\u201d or \u201cVIEW IN BROWSER.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-32140 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/preview_text-808x1024.png\" alt=\"preview_text\" width=\"808\" height=\"1024\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/preview_text-808x1024.png 808w, https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/preview_text-237x300.png 237w, https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/preview_text-768x974.png 768w, https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/preview_text-1212x1536.png 1212w, https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/preview_text.png 1262w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 808px) 100vw, 808px\" \/>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Examples of great preview text in Gmail<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This may be because of a common misconception among email marketers that preview text is the same as preheader text. Preview text appears in the inbox alongside your from name and subject line, while email preheader text appears at the top of the body of the email. However, if you <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">don\u2019t <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">write any preview text, most ESPs automatically pull the preheader text in\u2026resulting in confusion over the terms and a lot of missed opportunities for email marketers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Missing preview text ruins your chance of making the best first impression. That\u2019s because it comes right after your subject line, giving you prime real estate to further entice your subscribers to open your emails. And we all know that without an open, you can\u2019t get a click.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">3. Inaccessible emails<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">90% of the emails we tested contained <\/span><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/ultimate-guide-accessible-emails\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">accessibility issues<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Email geeks, this is NOT okay.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s one thing to miss out on an ROI opportunity with preview text, and another to exclude an entire set of your audience because you\u2019re not adding ALT text to your images or using large enough font sizes (both very easy, very quick fixes!) Make sure you take into account mobile devices, screen readers, and dark mode when you put together your email designs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Inaccessible emails limit the reach of your email, but they also negatively impact your brand reputation by leaving subscribers feeling excluded.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">4. Broken emails<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">96% of the emails we tested contained content issues\u2026aka broken emails. This includes images not displaying properly, wonky formatting in email clients, and classic mistakes like typos and broken links (it\u2019s happened to all of us!)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Still, that\u2019s a LOT of <\/span><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/email-guardian\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">broken emails<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> out there.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When you send an email with a mistake in your content, you\u2019re basically wasting your email campaign. If subscribers can\u2019t take action from your email campaign, you\u2019re not going to generate any revenue. But it also causes subscribers to lose trust in your future campaigns, reducing your email engagement and damaging your brand reputation over time.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">5. Missing email personalization<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Irrelevant, unengaging emails is one of the most common mistakes we see that is much squishier to fix than a typo or weird rendering issues in Outlook.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What\u2019s missing in a lot of these irrelevant emails? <\/span><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/how-litmus-uses-litmus-personalize\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Personalization<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ICYMI, personalization is <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">everything <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">these days when it comes to email marketing. While this isn\u2019t the same kind of mistake as a typo, for example, forgetting to personalize an email (or worse, sending something that says, \u201cHey NAME!\u201d) is a common issue with underperforming emails.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When you take into account that 71% of customers feel frustrated by impersonal experiences\u2014and that 83% would willingly trade personal info for a more personalized experience\u2014then lacking personalization in your email marketing isn\u2019t a nice-to-have anymore; it\u2019s keeping your email marketing program from performing the way it should.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Too many brands leave ROI on the table<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s not a matter of if a mistake will happen, but when. No one is perfect, so don\u2019t put pressure on yourself to be. These common mistakes are common for a reason!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With Litmus, you never have to worry about actually <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">sending <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">an email with those mistakes in it. Not only does Litmus catch errors like typos, missing links, and broken code, our suite of tools works together to help marketers completely maximize their <\/span><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/infographic-the-roi-of-email-marketing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">email marketing ROI.<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Don\u2019t let a common mistake cost your business again. <\/span><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/pricing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Say goodbye to broken emails with Litmus<\/a><b>.<\/b><\/p>\n  \t\t\t<\/div>\n  \t\t<\/div>\n  \t<\/div>\n  <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div id=\"post-cta-buttonblock_d36825966a6b06ef27d83fd6de1e0aa8\" class=\"block-post-cta-button mt-5\">\n  <div class=\"container px-0\">\n    <div class=\"row\">\n      <div class=\"blog-post-cta-button-wrapper col-12 col-lg-10 mx-auto p-4 d-block d-lg-flex align-items-lg-center align-items-start\">\n\t\t  \t\t  \t\t  \t\t  \t\t  <div class=\"blog-post-cta-button-icon col-2 float-start mx-auto float-lg-start float-none background-white d-flex flex-column justify-content-center align-items-center text-center\">\n\t\t\t  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/blog-cta-buttons-issues.svg\">\n\t\t  <\/div><!--blog-post-cta-button-icon-->\n\t\t  <div class=\"col-12 col-lg-9 ps-lg-4 ps-0 text-center text-lg-start mt-3 mt-lg-0\">\n\t\t\t  <h2 class=\"h-sm\"><strong>Ensure your designs come across right<\/strong><\/h2>\n\t\t\t  <p>Broken emails lead to less conversions. Preview your emails across 100+ email clients, apps, and devices to ensure an on-brand, error-free subscriber experience. Every time.<\/p>\n\t\t  <\/div><!--col-12 col-lg-9 ps-lg-4 ps-0 text-center text-lg-start mt-3 mt-lg-0-->\n\t\t  <div class=\"text-center text-lg-end col-12 col-lg-1 ms-lg-2 ms-0\">\n\t\t\t  <a class=\"btn btn-primary\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"\/email-testing\/\">Learn more<\/a>\n\t\t  <\/div><!--text-center text-lg-end col-12 col-lg-1 ms-lg-2 ms-0-->\n\t\t  \t\t  \t\t  \t\t  \t\t       <\/div><!--blog-post-cta-button-wrapper-->\n    <\/div><!--row-->\n  <\/div><!--container-->\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":88752,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[45,9363,10357],"blog_category":[10305],"class_list":["post-88750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-deliverability","tag-email-marketing-strategy","tag-email-testing","blog_category-email-marketing-performance"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.5 (Yoast SEO v27.7) - 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