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I am a firm believer in the benefits of email marketing. Below is a real example of what not to do with your email marketing.

Coming into December, most brands are firmly in the grip of Christmas trading frenzy and marketing teams fight over every consumer across all media. It was with interest (and increasing frustration) that I noted one particular Australian online retailer (who I will not name) providing a textbook example of what not to do with your email newsletter marketing.

The particular retailer is one whom I purchased from seven months earlier. At the time of my purchase I was impressed with their service and would have used them again had been purchasing a similar product.

Email marketing failure #1- Having purchased a product there were no further communications from them in six months. In my eyes this was a missed opportunity. A tip for any online retailer is that if you have a customer who has purchased from you, don't let it go six months with never sending them an email if they have opted in to receive them. Perhaps a simple email offering a shop voucher or similar promotion could have been enough to entice me back again to purchase.

Email marketing failure #2- Come the end of November I received my first email from them. Unfortunately the email was almost all images. The small part of text in it's design was below the fold of my monitor so when I opened it I was met with a blank screen! You should always check your email designs and assume images will be turned off. Check that what you have left without images is enough to capture a users attention or you may have your email deleted before they even know what the email is about.

Email marketing failure #3- The same email as above had a subject line "attachments edm". Not exactly the most attention grabbing subject line. In a world where the vast majority of people receive numerous emails, make sure your subject line is too the point and informative.

Email marketing failure #4- Following six months where I never received one email from the retailer, they followed up their first newsletter mentioned above with a further five emails, six in total in one month. In the past week I have received 4 emails. Not only is this beyond common sense, this is, in my eyes, simply spamming. It ensured two things, one that I unsubscribed (and the only reason I lasted as long as I did is that I wanted to see how many emails they would actually send me) and the other is that I have been completely turned off using them in the future. They have completely unravelled the work they did in the first instance where their excellent customer service would have seen me use them again.

Email marketing should be treated like any other marketing that you do.It should be planned, communicated effectively and measured. If you feel like you are starting to throw things at the wall in the hope something stocks, stop and rethink your work.

Robert Mattar

Originally posted on the RPM Interactive blog.RPM Interactive offersfull service email marketing management.