Are You Tricking or Treating Your Email Subscribers? 5 Tips

Email recipients are a lot like trick-or-treaters on Halloween. They may not be decked out in their scariest costumes, but they’re definitely pounding the virtual pavement in search of the tastiest treats.

And just like trick-or-treaters flock to houses that consistently deliver the candied goods, email recipients rush to open messages from senders who always deliver high value.

But if you’re delivering more tricks than treats with your email marketing strategy, you’ll quickly lose the favor and confidence of your loyal recipients. With that in mind, let’s look at six common email “tricks” and how you can turn them into “treats” for your subscribers.

Trick #1: The Clickbait and Switch

Trick-or-treaters learn very quickly. If you appear to be handing out candy, but instead reward them with unwanted fruits and vegetables — or in Charlie Brown’s case, a rock — they’re not going to return to your house the next time around the block.

This type of clickbait-and-switch behavior is just as off-putting to email recipients. No one likes being drawn in by a subject line only to find they’ve been duped and disappointed. Instead, treat your email subscribers by always giving them exactly what you’ve promised and sometimes more. Always deliver value!

Trick #2: The Lovely Spam

Remember that one house where the old lady would give out huge bags of candy; only the bags were full of candy that no one actually wanted? Don’t be that lady!

Successful email marketing isn’t about quantity. It’s about quality and delivering value. Instead of spamming recipients with daily fluff pieces, set up a schedule that allows you to create targeted content that your email subscribers can use.

Trick #3: The Same Old, Same Old

Every year, trick-or-treaters are overloaded with one popular candy or another. And no matter how tasty that candy may be, its appeal dwindles the tenth time around. Email marketing topics are no different.

We get it. Some marketing topics always feel relevant. But just because you’re covering a search-friendly topic doesn’t mean your content has to be boring and derivative. If you have to go to the well of familiarity, just be sure you bring back a pail of fresh ideas that will excite and inspire your recipients.

Trick #4: The Sale Pitch

How happy would you have been as a kid if you’d knocked on a door, held out your bag, screamed “trick or treat,” and then received a sales brochure?

It’s no different as an adult. You don’t like receiving sales pitches and neither do your email subscribers.

If you really want to give your audience a treat, give them something they can use. Entertain them with personal insight, offer them the gift of a free demo or exclusive content, or share the latest tricks of the trade. Anything is better than another tired sales pitch!

When you deliver well-thought-out, targeted content, you strengthen your relationships and position yourself as a must-read sender — one they’ll pay attention to next time you land in their inbox.

Trick #5: The One-Size-Fits-All Approach

Email blasts that treat everyone the same should be a thing of the past, dead and buried, never to rise again. But much like Dracula, the Mummy and Frankenstein’s monster, those annoying one-size-fits-all emails keep coming back to haunt us.

Instead of trying to force your entire email list into a tidy little box, segment appropriately and deliver targeted content based directly on their specific wants and needs as customers.

After all, emails that are relevant to the recipient drive 18 times more revenue than generalized email blasts. And personalized email subject lines can improve open rates by as much as 41.8 percent.

Trick #6: The Visual Letdown

Take a look at your recent email campaigns. Are you the house on the block that didn’t bother to decorate for Halloween? How much attention do you think you’re drawing when your competitors have decked their campaigns out in pumpkins, ghosts and spider webs?

Visuals make a big difference in how well your emails are received. Today’s email subscribers are skimmers. They need to be able to scan for information and find it quickly. So help them out by formatting for easy reading. Use white space, subheadings and bulleted lists to break the monotony and create a sense of order and flow.

And don’t be afraid to jazz things up a bit. Just make sure you’re using recognizable branding, including consistent colors, logos and images. Remember, you’re handing out the candy; you don’t need to wear a mask!

Wrap-up (Like the Mummy)

If you’ve been inadvertently tricking your email subscribers, now’s the perfect time to make it up to them. Figure out what they actually want and treat them to it! It’s a simple strategy that not only helps your subscribers but also builds brand loyalty and keeps you top of mind for repeat business and referrals.

And if you need help dressing up your email marketing strategy, we can automate the process!