Email marketing "don'ts" outlined

A number of things email marketers should never do has been outlined by business experts, marketingvox.com reports.

Businesses using email marketing to reach their customers are often given lists of what they should do to ensure a campaign is successful. Now, however, experts have outlined ways in which marketers can ensure they are not involuntarily sabotaging their own campaign.

One of the most common stumbling blocks marketers face is the email heading. Businesses often struggle to capture attention without sounding "spammy" or activating an email provider's spam filter. To avoid this, the words or phrases, 'buy direct', 'pre-approved', 'hello' and 'limited time' are all best avoided.

Elsewhere, businesses are also being urged to concentrate on their from line, with long-tail email addresses and illegible text best avoided in favour of easy-to-read text.

Businesses are also advised to ensure they explicitly have the permission of recipients before they send emails or risk alienating them and encouraging unsubscribes.

Once all this is accounted for, businesses should then focus on their content, shunning anything superfluous that will not be relevant to the recipient. Instead, the content should be punchy, accurate and relevant to ensure all of it is read.

Speaking to customerthink.com of email's power, marketing expert Yo Noguchi explained: "Often, small business users do not know what they are doing wrong or that what they are doing is illegal according to the Can Spam act of 2003.

"For small businesses, email still represents a cheap, effective way to establish or maintain a relationship with clients. While the medium is fairly neutral, the content has the power to either attract or repel. So before you send out your next batch of email newsletters, take heed."