When done correctly email marketing can be an effective advertising channel but it does come with a number of challenges. Below are three challenges faced by email marketers:
1. Growing and retaining subscribers
The best method to overcome the issue of winning over new subscribers is to clearly state the benefits to your customers. By answering the key concerns people have about what they will gain by giving over their email address you are more likely to get subscribers who are interested in your products or services. If you are providing valuable product updates or giving special offers which are not available anywhere else on the internet, state it clearly on your email submission form.
If you regularly blog, having an email signup button at the end of each blog post can help with new signups. Offering an incentive such as a free trial or sample in exchange for subscriptions is yet another solution.
It may be tempting to buy email lists but you shouldn’t as you don’t’ know if the subscribers are remotely interested in what you have to offer.
To retain your subscribers, make sure to only send them useful information and don’t bombard them with emails every day.
2. Improving deliverability
Passing the spam filter has always been among the biggest challenges faced by email marketers. Non-existent email addresses and full mailboxes are other issues that will affect deliverability.
If your deliverability rate is very low, you may get blocked by internet service providers. Low deliverability can also be a sign of wasted time, money and effort.
You can prevent getting filtered into the spam box by not using spam words on your subject lines. Some common examples of spam words include: buy, cash, make money, save money, sale, subscribe and cheap.
While there’s not much you can do about full inboxes, you can still improve deliverability rates by removing inactive subscribers. Check to see if you have contacts on your list that never open your emails or engage with your site, and delete them.
3. Low click-through rates
Another challenge for marketers is improving email click-through rates and maintaining high numbers. Even if your amazing subject line gets recipients to open your emails, it doesn’t mean they’ll read through the entire email and click on the links inside. If they’re not clicking, your chances of turning them into paying customers are extremely slim.
Low click-through rates may simply be a result of disinterested subscribers. You could fix the issue by conducting a re-engagement campaign each year. By sending out emails asking subscribers if they would like to keep getting your emails and providing them with an opt-out option, you retain only those that are interested in what you have to offer.
Audience segmentation is one of the best methods to ensure your subscribers are interested in what you have to say. By providing relevant information to your segmented audience, you ensure that the right messages are reaching the right people.
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