By YEC

Email marketing campaigns can be a cost-effective way to reach a large number of people in a very short time. However, many companies rely on inefficient practices, like cliched subject lines and recycled “limited time offers.” These practices can be annoying to readers and lead to your email ending up in the trash.

Here, members of the Young Entrepreneur Council share their biggest email marketing pet peeves and why you should avoid them.

What’s your email marketing pet peeve, and why are businesses better served by avoiding this strategy?

1. Failing to provide value

“Failing to provide value is by far my biggest pet peeve. If someone wants to contact me and sell to me via email, I would expect them to offer some value in exchange for the product or service. that he’s trying to sell me. I’m shocked at how much I receive marketing communications that don’t add any value, but expect the recipient to put in their time and effort.” —Arian Radmand Turn onPost

2. Using clickbait email subject lines

“People are tired of the negative subject lines of ‘here’s what you’re doing wrong’ emails. After the past two years that we have collectively lived through, we don’t want fear in our inboxes. » —Leila Lewis, Be inspired RP

3. Sell constantly

“No one wants to open weekly or bi-weekly emails just to see you sell your stuff. People love quality content, news, ideas, tips, how-tos and valuable content. Give them a reason open the email and even forward it to their friends and family. Spend time and money creating value, and you’ll get the return on your investment. Also offer special offers not found on your site. —Scott Levy, online fuel

4. Not doing research before reaching out

“One of my pet peeves is when a marketing agency contacts me to improve my website, the exact same service that my company provides! our specialties needs to be improved, which can be insulting and deter me from considering their business. If you’re going to send cold emails, research the company in question before sending.” —Duran Inci, Optimum7

5. Forgetting to personalize

“It’s very clear when a company lacks personalization in its content. An email that starts with “Dear Customer” or a “Hey” and a blank space immediately makes me think this message isn’t for me. Businesses should go the extra mile to personalize their greetings to a minimum. To do this, offer lead magnets where you can pick up the customer’s first name and interests. » —Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner

6. Emailing Too Frequently

“Relentless messaging reaches a point where it becomes spam. All of this just scares away customers or, thanks to the sophistication of email inboxes, ensures that your marketing campaign ends up straight in the spam box. You need to be smart about how you handle email correspondence with customers. Put yourself in their place. Bombing gets you nowhere. —Nick Venditti, PointGolf

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7. Ignoring preferences

“I don’t like it when I sign up for a mailing list to receive specific types of messages, only to have my preferences rejected in the hope that I click through to their website. If you ask users to choose their preferences for personalization purposes, keep your promise, otherwise your emails will probably start landing in spam folders. —John Brackett, Smash Ballon LLC

8. Make Content Too Business-Focused

“Some marketing emails are only about the business and not about what’s relevant. No one cares about your logo or the performance of your business. They don’t even care about your reviews. People want to know what’s relevant and if it’s relevant to them. Share a short list of things people can do to save time or money or bring joy. It’s more appealing than a self-promotion campaign. —Givelle Lamano, Lamano law firm

9. Break up text without strategy

“I understand that it can improve the readability of your copy if you break it up into smaller paragraphs, but it’s possible to take it too far. Sometimes I get marketing emails that separate each sentence into its own paragraph, I so you have to scroll endlessly to read the whole thing. Just because you have essentially infinite vertical space doesn’t mean you have to use it all!” —Bryce Welker, Real estate intern

10. Sending daily newsletters

“Daily newsletters are boring and ineffective. Even if customers don’t unsubscribe, they will stop paying attention. Instead of cliched newsletters, companies can try blogging, single-topic emails, or social media. If you’re on a newsletter, you can try using other words, such as “Inside Peek”, “This and That”, or something creative to freshen up the traditional newsletter. —Shu Saito, Godai Soaps

About the Author

Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invitation-only organization of the world’s most successful young entrepreneurs.