6 Email Marketing Myths

Everyone knows you shouldn't send the same email twice, right? Wrong.

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Email marketing is one of the most effective ways drive traffic and increase sales. But there are many misconceptions about how to make a great email pitch. Many companies don't send enough marketing emails--and the ones they do send rarely get opened. Here are some of the myths that could be getting in your way of becoming an amazing email marketer.

Myth 1: If you send a lot of emails, you'll annoy your customers.
In our extensive testing, we have found that as long as your e-mails and subject lines feel fresh, varied, and not spammy-feeling, it is nearly impossible to send too many emails to your clients. Yes, some people may unsubscribe. But the impact you get from sending more emails far outweighs the loss of a few subscribers.
Besides, you can reduce the number of unsubscribes by giving customers an option to reduce the number of emails they receive rather than unsubscribing completely. For example, our unsubscribe page helps us retain more than 10 percent of people who wanted to unsubscribe.

Myth 2: You shouldn't send the same email twice.
We always send the same email twice, but with a twist. Every email that we send is followed 48 hours later by what we call a "remail." Basically, it's the same content, but with a different subject line. We send remails only to those customers who didn't open the first email.

We've found that remails can often double our results (we see a 60 percent lift, on average). And all without the effort of writing more copy or designing a second email.

Myth 3: Emails should be short and sweet.Sure, all of your emails should have a primary call to action, which is above the fold and very obvious. However, don't have the email end there. Some customers want to scroll to learn more or see other content. So give them what they want. Add a row of “best sellers," new products, client testimonials, or other useful information.

Myth 4: You should always create fresh copy.
Some of the best performing emails are emails that you have already sent. No point in reinventing the wheel! Routinely go back and look at the best performing emails from 4 to 6 months back. Retool them and send them out. Clients won’t remember, and this is a great way to complement the new copy and creative, with far less effort--or creative juice.

Myth 5: You need descriptive subject lines.
Actually, unless you are having some sort of outrageous sale that people just can’t resist, descriptive, transaction oriented subject lines don't usually perform very well. What does perform well? Creative, catchy, eye-catching subject lines. So feel free to be creative, witty, and funny. If you make people smile, they won't reach for the unsubscribe button.

Myth 6: Companies should send email newsletters.
It's not so much that the classic monthly newsletter is completely ineffective, but rather that the substantial time generally spent on newsletters is time better spent sending a greater frequency of emails. The fact is, people like tiny nuggets of digestible information, which means your carefully crafted newsletters are getting read far less than you’d like. If you spend that effort on creating more emails with lighter content, you'll almost always get a higher return.

Courtesy of Inc.com: http://ow.ly/hGfO1