5 Email Marketing Myths BUSTED

Is email marketing dead? This question is asked everyday by skeptical business owners. And the answer is: that would be impossible. More than 90% of people from the ages of 25-64 use email. Some of them are checking their email more than 20 times a day. With the option of having email on your phone, people are more connected to their inbox than ever before. So let’s leave that myth in 2019, along with these 5 email marketing myths that we’ve busted for you.

1. If you send too many emails, you will annoy your customers.

Not exactly. Take note of your client’s behaviors and email KPIs. If you’re sending 1-2 emails a week, and your emails have a 16-21% open rate with a 2-3% click-thru rate, then keep up the cadence. Those are the average benchmarks across industries like medical, dental, health, and fitness. If you’re noticing your KPIs are below benchmarks, try segmentation and sending bi-weekly emails instead. If you send too many emails that are not relevant to your customers, then you will certainly annoy them. With every email you should ask yourself – who would this benefit most?

2. You should send every message to your entire list.

If you’re making a big announcement like launching a new product or service, then it may make sense to send it to your entire list. But nine times out of ten, there’s a specific message for a specific type of customer. With promotions, for example, why should your VIP client who has spent $500+ at your business get the same discount as a prospect who has never made a purchase? They shouldn’t – they should get the VIP treatment. 

Start with simple segmentation – active and inactive email subscribers. Active subscribers want to know if your gym has a new class, but subscribers who don’t open often and are mostly inactive may only open an email that’s about an important update like new business hours. The more you segment your emails, the higher your KPIs will be.

3. There is only one best time to send an email.

Do you feel that way about the emails you receive in your inbox? Probably not. Are there better times than others to get higher email KPIs? Yes. Unless it makes sense for your business or message, for the most part you should avoid sending emails on the weekends. This is because everyone is relaxing and purposely not checking their email the typical 20 times a day. But outside of Saturday and Sunday, feel free to experiment different send days and times with your audience. 

Most people think emails have to be sent first thing in the morning, but actually that’s when your audience is typically heading to work or school. Try lunchtime, or during the classic 3PM slump. It’s times like those that most people are taking a break and checking their email.

4. Your open rate is the only metric that matters.

Open rates are important, but depending on the goal of your email, they may not be the end all be all. If you send an email and the goal is to get appointments out of it, then there’s really three important metrics there: your open rate, your click-thru rate to make an appointment, and the conversion rate of the appointment being made. But if your goal is to create awareness on a National Health Observance, then your open rate would be the most important metric because you’re only looking to get your email read. Setting a goal for every email you send is the only way to truly measure success.

But it’s true if your audience doesn’t open the email, there’s no chance of them converting. So make sure your subject line is 30-40 characters long, and enticing. For example, ask a question, or create urgency with a promotion that’s running ‘today only.’

5.  You can’t use the word ‘free’ in your subject line

If your business has a good sender reputation with the main email providers like Gmail, Outlook and Yahoo, then you have more leeway to use the word free in your subject line, or include the discount amount to a promotion. Your email sender reputation score is assigned by an Internet Service Provider and determined by a variety of properties. 

Although there are tools that focus on the deliverability of your emails, there are several factors that determine your score, including: how many recipients mark the email as spam, how many emails bounce because they were sent to unknown email addresses, how many recipients unsubscribe, and more. If you often have a safe unsubscribe rate (0.2%-0.5%) and spam rate (0.1%-0.3%), then test the use of the word ‘free’ in your subject line if it applies to your message.If you’re new to email and need some tips on how to get started, read our blog on the key steps to keep in mind when creating an email your subscribers want to read.

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