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http://www.bizreport.com/2009/03/emailvision_email_marketers_top_5_blunders.html

Email has been around for quite some time, yet email marketers continue to make simple, yet costly, mistakes according to a new survey from Emailvision.

by Helen Leggatt

Having worked with over 1700 clients worldwide, Emailvision has seen its fair share of email marketing blunders. So that others don't make the same mistakes, they've released their top five no-no's for email marketing, although I have to say, they seem to me rather rudimentary elements of email marketing that any marketer worth his or her salt should be aware of.

1. Stopped as spam

This is the number one blunder, according to Emailvision. Many emails aren't making it through spam filters because of red flag keywords such as "free" or "win".

2. All image, no text

Unless a customer has specifically opted-in to receive image emails, avoid sending purely image-based messages. Some email clients, such as Gmail, suppress images unless the user confirms it wants the images displayed.

3. Missing information

If you're going to personalize emails, ensure your database is complete and segmented accordingly. If not, stick to using "Dear Customer", it looks so much better than blank spaces such as "Dear ______". If customization is critical, ensure a default is used for fields where data is missing from the database.

4. Right to reply

Instead of using an inaccessible return email address, as many marketers do, enable responses but manage them by creating a dedicated inbox to ensure valuable feedback isn't ignored.

5. Trying too hard

Don't over-engineer emails. Instead, keep them simple and direct recipients to a designated landing page. Heavy use of Flash or Java may not render properly in the user's inbox - leave it to your webpages to show off your creative prowess.

"In today's economy, return on investment has never been more important as marketing spend is now analyzed and questioned by senior stakeholders," said Nick Gold, UK managing director at Emailvision.

"Companies can't afford to be making such simple mistakes and missing potential sales. The fundamental aims of any campaign should be high deliverability, targeted mailing, maximum click-through rates and basic personalization - don't let the email be the reason customers go elsewhere."