You have to focus on conversion if you want to maximise profit from an email campaign. Here are the mistakes that stop your emails from leading to conversions.
You’ve heard people tell you that email is dead.
They couldn’t be more wrong. A study conducted between 2016 and 2018 shows as much. It found that the average click-through rate for an email campaign in 2018 stood at 8.33%.
Better yet, the conversion rate for those that clicked through was 17.75%.
Email still works.
So, what’s going on with your campaign?
Why aren’t you seeing those sorts of figures?
Often, it’s got nothing to do with the product or service that you’re offering in the email. Instead, you may have made some simple mistakes that cause people to delete the email almost as soon as they open it.
This article looks at some of those mistakes and what you can do about them. But first…
Why is Conversion Rate Critical?
Optimising conversion rates is so important for a number of reasons.
Improving the return on your investment is the biggest. Focusing on conversion rates allows you to lower your cost per acquisition. It also drives revenue as the campaign becomes more effective due to more recipients choosing to buy your product.
Simply put, you get more bang for your buck.
However, analysing conversion rates also gives you more insight into how people react to your emails. For example, you may make a small change to design or content. Stacking the conversion rate of the new email against the old shows you if those changes proved effective.
If you’re not doing it, you have no idea one way or the other. This can lead to you adopting a campaign that’s less effective than a previous one.
The big issue with email campaigns is that so many people focus on open and click-through rates. They’re important metrics but they’re not the most important.
All of the opened emails in the world don’t mean anything if you’re not converting the people who open them.
If that’s not happening for you, it’s possible that you’re making these mistakes.
Mistake #1 – You’re Sending Emails to the Wrong People
Every business has a sales funnel.
In simple terms, your funnel represents the customer’s journey with your business. Those at the top of the funnel have just found out about you. Those at the bottom are ready to buy from you.
How does this apply to conversion rates?
If you’re sending a specific sales pitch email to a person who’s at the top of the funnel, you’re not going to get a conversion. You may even put that person off from checking out other emails that you send.
If you’re sending an introductory message to someone at the bottom of the funnel, they’re going to pass over it. You’re missing an opportunity to make the sale.
The mistake being made here is that you’re sending the wrong emails to the wrong people.
This often happens because businesses don’t segment their email lists. Instead of figuring out where people are in the funnel, they just blast the same email out to everybody. Some recipients will convert. However, the majority won’t because they’re not ready yet.
You can solve this issue by using segmentation to group your prospects based on where they are in the buyer’s journey. Most CRMs include a tagging option, which you can use to highlight where somebody is in the funnel. You could also implement a lead scoring system to figure out when somebody moves from one stage of the funnel to the next.
These are both tasks that Automation Agency can help you with. We can also set up your automated email campaigns for each segment.
Members of our Concierge service can send a task to the Automation team to get started.
Mistake #2 – Not Using A/B Testing
We briefly touched on this when talking about analysing campaigns earlier.
So many people make changes to email campaigns without assessing them. They see something isn’t working so they alter everything. And they do it without giving thought to any positive aspects of the previous campaign.
Even those who have campaigns that convert are guilty of this. They have a new idea and implement it without analysing the results.
A/B testing helps you to see what works and what doesn’t when it comes to email conversions.
The idea is that you start with an email that you’ve created. Then, you create a second email that’s similar to the original but with a change. For example, you may change the position of the CTA or a design feature.
From there, you run simultaneous campaigns for a set period of time. The results come in and you analyse them to see what effect the change had.
If it worked, you implement it. If it didn’t, it stays in the email.
You may then run more A/B tests with changes for other aspects of the email.
It’s a constant tweaking to see what options work best. The end goal is to end up with an email that’s optimised towards getting conversions.
And it’s another thing that Automation Agency can help you with. If you need help with setting up A/B email tests in your CRM, just send a task to the Concierge Service.
Mistake #3 – Misleading Subject Lines
In a previous article, we spoke about how to create a great subject line.
But let’s focus on a specific problem here – clickbait.
You’ve seen these sorts of subject lines and headlines before:
“You won’t believe what Sandra did to get rid of wrinkles for good.”
Clickbait subject lines make a promise to the reader. But if you’re not delivering on that promise with your content and product, you’re going to see conversion rates drop.
The issue with clickbait subject lines is that they’re good for getting people to open an email. However, they fall down when the email doesn’t deliver on the promise.
Avoid clickbait and use the tips we mentioned to craft something more effective.
Mistake #4 – Poor Email Design
A chunk of text and a link to your product don’t cut it when it comes to emails anymore.
You’re now able to add all sorts of visual elements to encourage the recipient to take the desired action.
However, this involves more than dumping a bunch of images into an email and calling it a day. And an email that’s cluttered with imagery will make it difficult for the recipient to figure out what you want them to do.
Poor email design is as bad as no email design.
Every aspect of the email’s design needs to lead the recipient on a journey. It’s almost the same as writing a piece of content. Each design element must flow logically into the next. The images that you use have to reinforce the point you’re making. Plus, you need to maintain clarity in purpose all of the way through.
Ultimately, the design needs to direct the recipient to your CTA.
This is another issue that Automation Agency can help you with. We can help you to set up an email template inside your email marketing platform. Plus, we can also design imagery that makes your emails more effective.
Send a task to the Concierge Service to find out how.
And speaking of CTAs…
Mistake #5 – Not Having a CTA
We’ll keep this one brief.
If your email doesn’t have a clear call to action, how can you expect to improve conversions?
You need to show the recipient what you want them to do. The rest of the email essentially acts as supporting evidence for why they should take that action.
Your email design has to incorporate the CTA in a logical place. Again, our template and A/B testing services can help you to figure out exactly where that is.
Creating Email Campaigns That Convert
Your goal isn’t to get everybody on your list to open your emails.
That’s never going to happen.
Your goal is to ensure that you convert as many people who open the email as possible. The tips we’ve shared in this article will help you to do that. And better yet, we can handle several of the tasks that you may need to complete on your behalf.
If you’re a member of our Concierge Service, don’t hesitate to ask us about A/B testing, segmenting, or creating email templates.
And if you haven’t signed up yet, why not find out if Automation Agency is a good fit for your business? Our Right Fit Chatbot will help you to find out.
