5 Obnoxious Ways To Ruin Your Email Marketing Campaign

We’ve all had to deal with at least one obnoxious person in our lives at some point or another. Perhaps it’s that sole person on the AM commuter train who insists on singing along with his iPod while everyone else attempts to snooze. Or the mystery food “critic” at your office, who takes it upon himself to “sample” everyone’s lunch in the refrigerator-without their permission.

Whatever scenario you’ve had the misfortune of experiencing, the sentiment is clear: You don’t want to be that guy. However, when it comes to your email marketing campaign, unless you’re following best practices for email marketing, you may come off just as rude to your subscribers. That’s why we’ve listed five surefire ways to annoy your audience and sabotage your email campaign.

Familiarize yourself with these obnoxious ways to ruin your email marketing campaign-then do the opposite.

1) SCREAM AT YOUR READERS: Nothing turns people off quicker than yell
ing at them for no reason. When you abuse the caps lock button that is essentially what you’re doing. We know it’s tempting to use capital letters to get your readers’ attention or to emphasize a particular point, but caps are the equivalent of screaming. Plus, the people notorious for using caps in the subject line and email body are spammers-the most obnoxious people in the online sphere.

Solution: Use italics or bold certain words in order to make your point.

2) Try out your standup comedy routine: Some people have a great sense of humor. It’s an admirable skill to have if you plan on becoming a comedian, but it’s not so great for growing your email list. When people read your emails, they can’t hear your voice, and, thus, your tone. There’s a risk your attempts at humor can fall flat or even give offense.

Solution: Unless you’re a real pro, have someone outside your organization read over your humorous copy. Or play it safe and keep the tone of your emails neutral.

3) Hold your readers hostage: Let’s face it, no matter how great your email marketing is, some people are just not going to appreciate its awesomeness. So when readers unsubscribe from your campaign, don’t keep them hostage. Do the ethical and lawful thing: Remove them from your list in a timely manner.

Solution: Removing subscribers who want to leave both improves your email reputation and frees up your time to focus on those readers who appreciate you and your marketing.

4) Send out a lot of emails in a short amount of time: Logically speaking, it would seem sending more emails means higher CTR rates, right? Not according to a Mail Chimp study, which discovered consumer engagement and email frequency are negatively correlated, meaning the more frequently you send out emails, the less likely your readers will respond.

Solution: Segment your readers and deliver their content to them as often as they want. Delivering content in this way can help to increase your email lead generation.

5) Create Long-Winded Subject Lines: An effective subject line entices readers to open and read the email. People are on-the-go and like to receive information in bite-sized pieces-you have to get their attention and succinctly communicate the benefit of your content. Studies of email subject lines have proven that subject lines with 49 characters or fewer had 12.5 percent higher open rates than those with subject lines containing 50 characters or more.

Solution: When it comes to email subject lines, less is more.

The best practices for email marketing are those that put your readers’ and their needs first-the more you do this, the more likely they’ll engage with you and stay on your list. Remember, only obnoxious people regard themselves as more important than everyone else.

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