Since it’s invention, email marketing has been one of the primary communication channels for professionals. From sending introductory messages to closing a deal, emails truly serve multiple purposes. Therefore, in the business world, email carries a significant value and a few norms are strictly maintained when writing an email for business purposes.
There are tons of blogs on how to write different kinds of business emails in proper ways. For instance, you can check this blog to learn about writing a great sales email. However, alongside knowing the tips and tricks to write successful emails, you also need to know the DON’Ts of email marketing.
In this blog, we are going to list a few common mistakes that can potentially ruin your perfectly-designed email marketing campaign or a nicely carried-on business conversation.
Be sure to avoid these 10 most common email mistakes at any cost when writing a business email!
Mistake #1 - Forgot to write a subject line!
This mistake deserves to be on the top of the list! People often start composing an email without writing the subject line first. Then, after hitting the send button, they realize what they have done. Consequently, they end up Googling stuffs like “how to undo sent email” or “New Jobs Near Me”!
Pro tip: Write the subject line first and then move to the email copy. You can always come up with a better subject line later. A bad subject line is better than no subject line!
Mistake #2 - Error 404: Attachment Not Found
Another common mistake is forgetting to attach any mentioned content. Every professional has become a victim of this mighty mistake at some point of his/her life!
Pro tip: If you plan to send an attachment, attach it before doing anything else. However, make sure it’s the material you intended to send. I remember sending an .mp3 file instead of my resume!
Mistake #3 - “To Whom It May Concern/Dear Concern”
Ah! The classic email mistake that almost turned into a norm. I mean, how long will it take for people to realize that “Dear Concern” is grammatically incorrect? The thing is: it is always better to address someone by their name. People love seeing personalized emails whereas many marketers compose a “Dear Concern” generic email, and then copy 200/300 email addresses in the BCC box to send an email blast. It’s 2020, please don’t!
Pro tip: There are tons of email marketing tools available that are capable of sending thousands of personalized emails in a few minutes.
Mistake #4 - “Reply” vs “Reply All”
Sometimes you receive an email with 10 other people copied in CC. Careful when you reply to these emails. If your intention is to reply to the sender in private (which is a common case), make sure that you clicked in “Reply”. If it’s a confidential message intended only to the sender, exposing it to the entire office by clicking on “Reply All” can create a real embarrassing scenario!
Pro tip: Don’t rush!
Mistake #5 - Spelling Bee
The worst type of email buzzkill is misspelled words. Although it seems like a petty issue that can be ignored, professionals tend to take it very seriously. If you make a mistake in the email body, that can be overlooked. But if you type “Prposal” instead of “Proposal” in the subject line? You might experience a very low open rate.
Pro tip: Keep your spell checker enabled. You can also try online grammar tools like Grammarly.
Mistake #6 - Nerd Mode On
In my life, I rarely reply to emails that are full of jargon and words that can be found only in GRE/GMAT exams and medieval English literature. It is always better to keep your wordings simple.
Pro tip: Don’t right-click on a word and choose a random synonym to make your email sound heavy! It is okay to use a fairly common word “portray”. Writing “delineate” might make it worse.
Mistake #7 - Wrong Details
I’ll keep it simple: never send an email to Mark’s address if the entire copy is dedicated to Karen! While most people will just ignore such mistakes some can be really offended, which might permanently put a lead off your list.
Pro tip: These mistakes happen when you are sending personalized emails manually to lots of contacts. Always create a draft email touch, and then incorporate details in that draft so you don’t end up sending one’s email to another.
Mistake #8 - Boring and Sleepy
People are busy and they love seeing straight forward messages. If you attempt to explain your product, the user manual, warranty policy, and your company’s mission and vision in the introductory email, you will be sent straight to the junk folder (might get blocked as well).
Pro tip: Don’t spend more than one or two decently sized paragraphs in a single email unless it’s absolutely necessary. Also, sending mass emails in plain text format is often boring. You need visual elements to capture your reader’s attention. Using HTML-coded visual emails can do wonders.
Mistake #9 - I…I…I…Me…Me…Me
When you are trying to initiate a business conversation or send out a mass email, only talking about yourself will easily kill the readers' mood. To keep the reader going, an email should be talking about his/her problem, challenges, ideas, solutions, etc.
Pro tip: Talk about solutions, not about your product’s technical details.
Mistake #10 - No CTA
Imagine sending a great email to thousands of prospects, experiencing record-breaking opening rates, but finding ZERO action only to discover that a CTA is missing! Imagine the regret and agony of a marketer! You always need to be clear about a Call-to-Action.
Pro tip: Put a button according to your goal with a hyperlink embedded. For instance, if you want them to visit a site, put “Visit Our Site”.
Want to Avoid These Common Mistakes?
Don’t stress it! Be casual while writing a business email. Most of the mistakes happen when we overthink. Doing so, we lose focus and make silly mistakes. Just craft your email, read it once or twice to find any error, add the subject line, put attachment, enter the recipient’s email address, and then send it.
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