In this series, we're going to tackle not only the limitations of email marketing but also the uses and advantages. With this series, you'll learn what markers to look for in the effectiveness and ineffectiveness of what you're doing.
At first blush, to any email marketer, these seem to be a trick, a slight of marketing hand. But, truly, limitations of email marketing exist. Understanding what these limitations are will not only help you improve your entire online strategy but provide you integral insight into your customers.
These top tips underscore what exactly the limitations of email marketing are, but also areas in which you and your marketing strategy can improve.
- Customer Reach: Often overlooked (or, quite frankly ignored outright) is the true reach of your email marketing campaigns. These endeavors are only subjected to those customers who opt-in for your emails. And, that's the catch: you only reach those customers that choose to hear from you.
- Effectiveness: What does "effectiveness" mean for an email marketing campaign? Well, for starters, it signifies whether your emails are relevant, time-sensitive, and necessary to warrant sending out. If you're not creating or developing content that is relevant, then your campaign isn't that effective. It's that simple. Always check the data for each email campaign sent to gauge your customers' reactions and activity. The lower the activity, the less effective your emails are.
- Content: As touched upon in the previous point, content is everything. Beyond whether you're writing relevant and effective emails, sometimes it just boils down to the actual writing. Are you writing captivating and intriguing emails? Is your content regurgitated from other campaigns? Are you writing anything that is fresh? Take a look at not only the content itself, but the manner in which you write: formal or informal, personal or conversational. It all matters.
- Design: Part of the overall limitations of any email marketing campaign is the layout and design of the piece. Typically, email marketers either go for awesome content at the expense of quality graphics or create spectacular-looking emails without any content. This isn't an either-or situation. What does limit your email marketing is your inability to strike a balance between being informative and visually stimulating.
- Frequency: If you're sending your emails too often and don't have a mechanism in place that allows your customers to choose their preference of frequency, then you're in a whole world of marketing trouble. The frequency at which you send your emails is a limitation. If you're sending your emails far too often, then your emails have less impact, and therefore have less open, conversion, and sales rates.
Whatever your problems may be with email marketing, you have an obligation to recognize the potential and actual limitations of the communication tool you're using.
No one marketing strategy is foolproof and nor should you expect it to be. However, when you understand what your emails can and can't do, will help you design around these issues and create the most effective direct marketing link.
Watch for more tips on email marketing, Twitter, autoresponders and other online strategies in future blogs.
Questions about the limitations of email marketing?
Contact us today if you have any questions about the limitations we've shared here, or let us know if you've discovered any of your own. Sign up for a free one-on-one demo of the SimplyCast platform by clicking the button below and see how our email marketing software can help you track and analyze some of these limitations of email
