Email marketing, despite how it looks on the surface, is still an integral aspect of marketing, and many businesses use it regularly as part of their marketing and lead generation strategies. And in this day and age, there is no shortage of different email marketing strategies for businesses to utilise in their quest for boosting sales or generating awareness.
But while there are great things you can do, there are also many mistakes and traps you can fall into, too, if you’re not paying attention.
Email campaigns don’t fail because email doesn’t work; they fail because of small, repeated mistakes in the planning, execution, and review stages.
Let’s find out what these mistakes are.
No Clear Purpose
It’s that simple: if the email has no clear purpose, it’s not going to hit any mark, least of all the one you need it to.
You should never send emails out simply because “it’s time”. There needs to be a specific action pinned to every single email you send out.
It can be driving pop-ups, pushing traffic to a specific page, or re-engaging inactive contacts. It doesn’t matter — you need a clearly defined action to go with the email you’re sending out, or why are you sending it?
You won’t be able to judge the impact or make future decisions on emails with no purpose. Plus, this will usually lead to mixed messaging and unfocused content, and a campaign that technically looks fine on the surface but doesn’t deliver anything meaningful.
Treating All Subscribers the Same
Many businesses still use one master email list to send out communications, and everyone on the list gets sent the exact same emails. This isn’t a great approach for any business at any stage. While you can indeed focus on and learn how to build an email list, if you’re not segmenting it then you’re not really maximising its potential.
You need to differentiate between groups such as new subscribers, long-term customers, inactive readers, and repeat buyers, as these all have different behaviours requiring a different angle and approach from your emails.
If you don’t do this, the result is reduced engagement and increased unsubscribes, as well as limited growth, simply because your emails stop keeping people engaged. It doesn’t need to be complex, but you do need to understand your email list so you can send out appropriate emails.
Weak or Inconsistent Sign-Up Points
There are some email campaigns that are destined to fail before the first one ever goes out. Why? Because those businesses rely on one sign-up form, placed in one location, and then assume that’s enough. FYI: it’s not.
This is where potential customers are lost in real life, because opportunities are limited, hidden, unclear, or inconsistent.
This is where understanding your email list and your audience matters, as you know what they need and can reposition your messaging and sign-up points accordingly.
Chasing Short-Term Engagement
Open rates and clicks are easy to track, and this means they usually become the focus.
But the issue here is that campaigns are only optimised for short-term engagement and can undermine long-term growth. Over-promotional content, constant sales messaging, or sending too frequently might deliver spikes but reduce trust over time.
And for the most part, this activity can lead to shrinking email lists, even when a particular campaign appears to be doing well. Sustainable growth does not come from short-term results; it comes from balancing immediate engagement with content that gives people an actual reason to stay subscribed.
