Top 6 Email Marketing Myths

The evolution of digital marketing has produced a keen development of “best” practices to follow when it comes to email marketing, but as the digital landscape continues to evolve and expand, more and more, these practices are changing and adapting to the needs of the audience.Businesses are now using analytics and data based on their tailored audiences to determine the best way to market to their customers. Below we take a look at some of the more popular email marketing myths and see if they hold true when examined closely.

There is a set best day or time to send your emails.

Everyone who uses email as a marketing tool asks the same question – when is the best time to send emails? In the morning? At noon? On a Wednesday? The only way to really know is to study your audience.

Different types of emails fare well at different times. A news update or information on a sale might be best sent out early in the morning during the middle of the week, whereas a content email featuring a short video may do well on a Friday evening or even Saturday, when most people are home relaxing.

When choosing the best time to send your emails, A/B testing and experimentation are key and studying your data and analytics helps you learn from your own unique audience.

Email campaign platforms like Emma and Mailchimp have done some research in various industries and can provide excellent information relevant to the state of email marketing.

Only send email campaigns once a month. 

This is one of the most subscribed to email practices to date, but is progressively practiced less and less as smartphones become the more popular device to engage users on. The increased use of mobile devices allows for companies and brands to engage with customers more frequently and in turn, these users are more open to receive increased emails from the companies they support and subscribe to.

Sending one email monthly isn’t necessarily a bad practice, however, it’s a mistake to think that it is the “standard” practice. Relevancy plays a huge part in sending emails and a lot depends on the audience, industry, and the type of content that is being delivered.

In actuality, users who receive email from the same business often, as long as they have opted in, will be more likely to click through on the email and attach more trust to the brand. In many cases, monthly emails can be overlooked and even considered spam.

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Only send out content emails. 

One of the things that can trip up businesses is the self-created pressure that in order to engage customers you need your own content. This is a myth that can stall growth if not debunked quickly. While creating your own content is definitely something you want to implement into your marketing campaign, it’s not an end-all, be-all for sending out emails.

Different emails serve different purposes. 

You can always repurpose other content to include in your emails or use automation to deliver important messages and follow up on events with emails to customers. Customer service emails also go a long way when enforcing your brand and nurturing leads and consumer relationships.

You should only look at how many people are opening your emails. 

Too many email marketers and businesses focus solely on the open rate metric. They do this without putting the open metric in context with other important data, like click-through-rates, unsubscribe rates, and social follows.

Focusing on this metric alone doesn’t paint the whole picture of how to improve and change your strategy. Looking at multiple data sets allows you to see what is working and also where improvements can be made.

Marketing Myths Debunked_1

Keep that subject line short! 

Following this practice without A/B testing and experimenting means that you’re missing out on what really resonates with your audience. Subject lines are all about engagement. Shorter subjects can work, but whatever engages and attracts is really what matters, even if it’s a few extra characters long.

In many cases, businesses find that a descriptive subject line that’s a bit on the longer side can really stand out and arouse a user’s interest. Plenty of websites and blogs breakdown best practices in email subject lines, but just to reiterate, find the subject lines that work best with your audience.

Email marketing is less effective than social media. 

Email marketing ranks consistently as a top tool for businesses to turn leads into customers. In the all-important sales funnel, emails are what really drives a customer into that final stage of a conversion. More importantly, email facilitates discussions with customers after they’ve made a conversion. This keeps them in the loop and connected with the brand.

Each business’ audience has their chosen social media sandbox to play in, and some people utilize multiple platforms, but email is the universal channel that we all share, regardless of what our social media preference is and it is a powerful marketing tool that is here to stay.

Segment, engage, study, repeat! 

As email marketing continues to develop and transform, it is important to always be concerned with the needs of your own unique audience. Using segmentation and engaging content ensures that your emails will reach the right readers.

Further studying and analyzing data will help you determine what really works with your audience and can help you continue to plan successful campaigns in the future.

Menachem Ani ()

Online Advertising and eCommerce Expert with over a decade of success developing high-impact marketing strategies for online retailers and lead-generation clients.