Top 6 Email Marketing Myths Busted

Email marketing is far from dead.

It’s still used every day by over 200 billion people worldwide. On average, every dollar spent on email marketing returns $38.

Since we’re on the topic of removing preconceived notions, the first myth we had to bust is that email marketing doesn’t work—it does. Hopefully, we’ve removed any idea that email marketing isn’t worth the time for you or your client. Implementing a solid strategy can be easy if you’re not afraid to go against the grain a bit.

Here are our top myths about email marketing, officially busted.

People want your e-newsletter—they don’t.

Adding a popup or a form on your site that simply tells people to “stay in the loop” and then asks for an email simply won’t cut it. Everyone has an e-newsletter and most people don’t care to get yours.

They do, however, want you to provide value on a regular basis. Let people know what they’re getting themselves into and tell them exactly what a subscription means. Give them an incentive to subscribe with discounts, downloads, or whatever else they’ll get in return for their email address. Remember to deliver on the value you promise on a regular basis.

You can’t bombard your subscribers—you can.

This is one of the first areas marketers start to feel shaky when implementing email marketing. It’s extremely common for marketers to feel like they can’t send more than one email a week—or even one per month.

Email marketing is essentially a numbers game. Most industry standards for conversion rates on mass emails are less than one percent per email, so no single subscriber is going to open every single email. If one subscriber is getting several emails from you, they’re going to leave some unopened or delete before reading—and that’s okay. If they don’t read all ten emails you sent this month, it’s no skin off your nose. If they read one of them and don’t unsubscribe, we’ll count that as a small win.

If they opened even just one email, chances are, they weren’t offended by getting the other four; they were just busy in those moments. If they really didn’t want to hear from you or gain value from subscribing, they wouldn’t have subscribed in the first place. If they’ve since changed their mind about wanting the value you’re providing, they’re free to unsubscribe.

It’s tragic when people unsubscribe—it’s not.

Having an engaged email list is more important than a huge one. When people change jobs or their interests change, they unsubscribe. If the only way to keep a subscriber is to not email them, you’re both better off if they unsubscribe.

If they don’t have a use for the value you provide in your email marketing, there’s no point for them to hear from you.

You have to sell something in every email—you don’t.

A good way to think about your email is an ongoing conversation that continues to provide nuggets of value to subscribers. They’re allowing you to enter into their email inbox, so doing everything you can to keep the relationship going is in your best interest.

Much like going on a first date, making more conversation about them than yourself is extremely important. Don’t just give updates on what your company is doing every week, never stop adding value for your subscribers.

Though you can always add shameless product plugs—it’s kind of expected—don’t make it the reason for hitting their inbox. Give them freebies, promo codes, insider info and exclusive access. You can even add a members area to create a level of exclusivity.

Emails have to be well-designed and photo-heavy—they don’t.

Coming from a company that likes things to be well-designed, this is a big one. Though heavily-designed emails may seem like the best option or look the most fly, the data actually shows that less design and more personalization will yield better results. It improves both click-through and conversion rates.

You have to spend a lot of money on email software—you don’t.

Most email providers like Gmail are free, with cheap premium options. If you want to upgrade to something like Mailchimp, plans are relatively cheap and easy to implement. You don’t need the fanciest software with all the bells and whistles, you just need to get into inboxes on a regular basis.

Email marketing is completely necessary and one of the easiest ways to connect with a huge number of people on a personal level. Luckily for you, you now know a handful of tips that your client’s competitors don’t. These tips are based on current research and constant testing. Give things a try and always be testing for yourself.

Are there other tips that have helped your email marketing strategies? If so, drop us a line in the comments or on Facebook.