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Why Your Email Marketing Is Ending Up in the Trash

Anyone with an active email address has at one point come across messages trying to promote a certain kind of product or service which, more often than not, go directly into the trash folder.

As an email marketer, this makes you ask yourself if you are actually employing effective strategies for your email marketing services. How important is this kind of digital marketing strategy, anyway?

You can ask any digital marketing agency and they will say email marketing is still among the most valuable tools in your arsenal since it is one of the most effective ways to reach and engage your audience while providing an attractive return on investment. It’s so attractive that a study from eMarketer shows that its median ROI is 122 percent, which is four times higher than any other digital marketing strategy there is. The good news is that it doesn’t stop there.

With the growing number of email users each year, email marketing remains to be a huge factor in getting a high ROI. It’s still an attractive strategic option for companies that want to grow their brand by engaging their target audience due to its affordability. Companies similar to Ram Digital can provide some useful information on the topic outside of this article if you’re interested.

In fact, a report by Constant Contact says that for every dollar a company spends on email marketing, it can expect to earn $38 on average, which certainly translates to huge returns. However, the problem is that not everyone is doing the best practices to hit these numbers. Thus, emails end up in the trash folder.

6 Reasons Your Email is Ending Up in the Trash and What to Do

Your subject line is boring

The subject line is the first words you will read about an email message, making it a crucial factor in your email marketing strategy for higher chances of engagement.

If your target users receive dozens of emails a day, an attractive subject line can spell the difference between the trash folder and high conversions.

Keep your subject line short but catchy, while making sure you pique your target audience’s curiosity. Avoid misleading words and always be precise.

You forget to personalize

Email users click to open a message when they know it’s for them, so a generalized approach won’t be an effective strategy.

According to a Statista report, personalized email messages had an 18.8 percent open rate versus a 13.1 rate for non-personalized messages.

The most effective way to optimize this strategy is to divide your target market into segments based on similar categories they all share and create a personalized message for each group. This will help you address specific needs and engage them in a more personal manner.

Your email is not relevant and targeted

If your emails don’t hit your target audience, you’re doing it wrong, which is the reason why targeted email marketing works to your advantage.

According to a Jupiter Research study, marketers who separate their lists into segments and utilize quality email targeting can improve conversion by a whopping 355 percent and boost revenues by 781 percent.

To properly identify your customer base and group them into specific segments, you should build profiles around them. This can help you know what they are likely to buy and make engagement easier with relevant emails.

Your email list health is poor

Sending emails to a poor mailing list will result in being ignored, marked as spam, or worse, sent to the trash folder. This typically happens when you send your messages to people with no prior relationship with your business, which are frequently on a list that has been bought, borrowed, or rented.

To clean up your email list and target more engaging customers, data cleansing is your best solution.

You have a bad taste for design

Visually pleasing emails is a huge plus when it comes to customer engagement, so a good design can encourage them to engage, and thus, boosting the likelihood of conversions.

Remember, your brand will reflect on the content of your email, so the logo, images or video clips, and even the color tones can make a big difference.

Keep it simple, but eye-catching with a call to action that takes them directly to your website.

It’s not optimized for mobile

If your entire email marketing campaign isn’t optimized for mobile devices, you are clearly behind the times.

According to statistical data, the global mobile population is at 3.7 billion unique users as of January 2018 out of 4 billion active internet users. That number alone tells you the need to optimize your campaigns for mobile to make it both easier and more attractive for users to make your email marketing strategies work.

Create fluid layouts that are both easy on the eyes and functional. It should have an easy-to-navigate user interface to deliver a pleasant user experience.

The constraints imposed by mobile devices can be challenging, but developers should keep it simple, responsive, and still visually appealing. An excellent combination of all these can encourage users to engage, making conversions as easy as a few taps on their screens.

These are just a few of the reasons why your email efforts may go to waste. Avoid having more emails being sent to trash by implementing new strategies moving forward and integrating email marketing services.

Need Help with Your Email Marketing? Contact Us Now!

Rob FitzGerald

Rob Fitzgerald is the Founder and CEO of Connext Digital. He has amassed a wealth of digital marketing experience since the late 90s. He is authentic in wanting to help businesses increase their bottom line through strategic customer acquisition efforts. Outside of work, Rob enjoys watching Notre Dame Fighting Irish Football and the Washington Redskins. He lives to watch his kids play sports and is very active in coaching youth athletics.