Busting Email Marketing Myths

email-marketing
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There is no doubt that, as a business person, you have been using some sort of Email marketing campaign. Interestingly, there are many myths that surround Email marketing campaigns and it is a good idea to dispel them here and now.

Customers are overwhelmed by an influx of brand Emails

This is a misconception. It is true that some customers feel overwhelmed by the number of Emails that they receive on a daily basis; however, that number may be much smaller than you would imagine. Some people react to what they perceive are a lot of Emails when, in fact, they many only be a few. Various people become overwhelmed at different points. It isn’t the same for everyone. In fact, research shows that most people do not receive more than a few Emails a day. Another interesting fact is that many people are much happier receiving Emails than other forms of communication because they feel that Emails are less intrusive and disruptive to their day.

One particular time is better than other times to send Emails

That is totally not true. The success of the Email marketing campaign will most likely have little to do with whether the Email is sent first thing in the morning, in the middle of the day, or late at night (with the intention of the person seeing the Email first thing the next morning). There is an implication from this that customers have nothing better to do with their lives than wait around for Emails to be sent to them. It also assumes that as soon as the customers receive Emails, they will do whatever the Email is asking them to do. In reality, there is a great chance that the Email recipient either will not do whatever is being requested in the Email or will not do it for a while. The chance that the person will just hop to it and do it immediately is very slim.  In fact, you may be waiting a very long time.

It is fine to ignore Email recipients who you have not interacted with in half a year

The idea that people with whom you have not interacted in several months basically fall off the face of the earth is absolute nonsense. If you give up on those people, you may be short-changing your business from getting involved with people who can be valuable to you and can help you to achieve great professional success.

Customers automatically think that all Emails are spam and delete immediately

This is a definite fallacy. In fact, research shows that the majority of people who receive Email marketing materials take the time to read them and are not at all quick to delete them right away.

The more Email you send to potential customers, the more they delete

The truth is that you will get a certain amount of people who will receive Emails and delete them without thinking too much about them. However, there is certainly not a direct proportionality between the number of Emails that the customer receives and the number of Emails that the customer deletes. In fact, it can work in a positive way. The more exposure the customers receive (and you must be careful not to become obnoxious about it), the greater your chance of increasing your business’s revenue. However, it is very important to do it the right way.

You will do better if your Email subject line is concise

You would definitely assume that that would be the case; however, that is not necessarily true. It is true that a concise Email will get customers to open the Email more readily. When it comes to the customers really paying attention to what the Email marketing material is trying to convey, a longer subject may work more effectively because it gives the customer a better idea of what is contained in the material.

Emails end up in the Trash folder based on the subject line

This is definitely a myth. For a very long time, it was believed that keywords and key phrases had a lot to do with the success of the Email and how it was retained by customers. Apparently, that is less often the case than what was originally believed. There are many different reasons why an Email might end up being discarded, not just one particular reason.

Conclusion

Running a successful Email marketing campaign is not easy and requires dedication and a high degree of skill. A great deal of pressure is put on marketers to make sure that the campaign is successful and the right message is essential to that being the case. Even if you believe that your Email recipients will be annoyed by your Emails (or have some other negative reaction), sometimes it is worth taking a chance and if you do it the right way, you will probably be rewarded.

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Author

  • Michael Cohn

    Michael Cohn is the founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of CompuKol Communications. He has decades of experience in IT and web technologies. Michael founded CompuKol Communications to help small businesses and entrepreneurs increase their visibility and reputation. CompuKol consults, creates, and implements communication strategies for small businesses to monopolize their markets with a unique business voice, vision, and visibility. Mr. Cohn earned a Master’s degree in project management from George Washington University in Washington, DC; and a Master’s degree in computer science and a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, NJ.

6 Responses

  1. Dan Bowers says:

    Via LinkedIn Groups
    Group: Social Media Marketing
    Discussion: Do Email Marketing Myths Slow You Down?

    Liked the article, thanks for sharing. There are a few points I agreed with but I am still not convinced that Timing doesn’t matter.I have seen more responses in my analytic’s between Tuesday-Thursday from 10-2. When I shot them an email around 4 in the afternoon I got a much lower response rate (tried multiple different email formats and offers.). What do you think? have you noticed that?
    By Dan Bowers

    • Michael Cohn says:

      Dan, that also depends on the geo location of your audience and their demographic. If they are all in the same geo location as you than yes there is a greater chance that they will open the email on the same day during business hours. However, if you audience is spread globally than the time of posing is irrelevant.

  2. Dan Bowers says:

    Via LinkedIn Groups
    Group: Social Media Marketing
    Discussion: Do Email Marketing Myths Slow You Down?

    I did not consider the global geography scale. In that case, I do agree with that point. Although, one should still keep in mind the local geographies and their most popular engagement times. I think it all comes in handy in the end.
    By Dan Bowers

  3. Michael Boezi says:

    Very helpful, thanks. There’s certainly an art to this and it makes a big difference to how your message is received. I always tell my clients that there’s no one right answer—it all depends on the character of your particular audience.

  4. Bernard Zimmermann says:

    Via LinkedIn Groups
    Group: Jewish Professionals
    Discussion: Do Email Marketing Myths Slow You Down?

    I know I am culling emails simply because I feel I have too many already coming in.

    Furthermore, I have seen research that shows that people are more likely to read emails if they sent about lunchtime others say about 6:00pm, I suppose it depends on the product.

    I do agree about not ignoring people that have not answered in six months; it cost nothing so you may as well keep sending. The problem here is they may have made a filter to get to delete your email automatically. A good idea is to send an email with a different heading, sender email address and format very occasionally to test if this is happening.

    I also agree that customers do not think all emails are spam, today they can unsubscribe. An entertaining story that happened to me was I refused to send an email advert because I felt we had sent so many similar before it would be seen as spam. I was convinced to send it one more time, and I got no complaints and some interesting leads.

    The email subject line is important. I know I often delete emails without reading them if the heading is suspect or uninteresting. Today you have to get the person attention right at the top, and they will drop out as they go through the email. Put your call to action on the top
    By Bernard Zimmermann

  5. Lisa Smith says:

    Some Email marketer thinks that sending millions of email brings thousand dollars business, they are wrong. First allow the users to unsubscribe who are not interested to receive you email it will decrease the spamming, complaints and bounce backs. Quality work always better than the quantity. Middle part of blog was worth to read.