5 Big Email Marketing Challenges, Solved

Updated: October 21, 2021

Email marketing can be tricky to master, especially in a world that seems to be dominated by social media. However, this doesn’t mean you should give up on your email marketing strategy! Your email marketing program is an integral way to give visitors the necessary information before visiting your destination. It’s also a great way to encourage past visitors to come back. There are a few challenges that arise within an organizations’ email marketing program. Read along to learn what causes them and how you can fix them!

Challenge #1 – Low Open Rate

One of the biggest challenges for organizations’ email marketing programs is having a low open rate. Often, it’s caused by the following:

  • Including uninteresting/irrelevant content
  • The subject line and preview text are bland.
  • The sender’s name is unrelated/unknown.
  • Previous emails had too much text with little to no images, or the information was irrelevant.

When it comes down to it, the content that you’re sending within your email marketing communications should be relevant to what your audience wants and needs. To reverse the low open rates, follow these few solutions to encourage email opens:

  • Have a strong subject line and preview text that draws your audience in to give them a reason to open your email (don’t forget an emoji!)
  • Include your latest deals, discounts, and upcoming event info.
  • Add in seasonal and relevant information to encourage visitation during a particular time of year.
  • Make sure to include images to break up heavy text sections.

If you’re still struggling with a low open rate after incorporating these elements into your email marketing effort – send a survey out to your audience to see what they’re interested in. Ultimately, be sure you measure your results every month to see the changes from month to month. Check out these email marketing benchmarks from Mailchimp.

Challenge #2- High Unsubscribe Rate

Another problem that arises in organizations’ email marketing strategy is a high unsubscribe rate. Similar to the reasons behind having a low open rate, having a high unsubscribe rate can be caused by:

  • Uninteresting content included in your email
  • Too much text with little to no images
  • Frequency: too many or too few emails
  • Your information is irrelevant to the subscriber

 

Combat high unsubscribe rates with the following strategies:

  • Include new deals, discounts, and upcoming events so users can expect to receive related info in future newsletters.
  • Create a schedule to establish frequency. Typically a monthly cycle is a best practice for organizations.
  • Use a personalization feature that many email marketing platforms offer to make your message hit its mark.
  • Update your template to be more appealing and accessible to your readers. Most importantly, make sure it’s mobile-friendly!

Challenge #3- No Conversions

Are you having trouble getting visitors to act after you send out your e-newsletter? Here are some of the reasons this might be happening:

  • Your emails do not contain links to important blogs, deals, or discounts in your email.
  • Campaign URLs are not being utilized – not sure what this is? Click here for a quick guide to Campaign URLs.
  • The links included in your email do not link back to your website.
  • There are no links to your social media channel to encourage subscribers to follow you on those platforms.  

If you don’t include these things, likely, you won’t get many conversions. Luckily, there are some quick and easy solutions to change this:

  • Create a Campaign URL or UTM code for all relevant links from your website.
  • Make sure that social icons are at the top AND bottom of your newsletter
  • Include links anywhere possible – images, text, buttons, headers, and footers, etc. This way, users don’t get lost looking for them.
  • Use buttons with Call to Actions such as: “learn more!” or “Book Now!
  • Make sure that you include all important/necessary blogs for your potential visitors.

Challenge #4 – Low Number of Subscribers

Whether you’re just starting to utilize email marketing, or have not been promoting your email sign-up, a low number of subscribers is a problem that arises quite frequently. Here are some causes of having a low subscriber list:

  • Your sign-up form is not prominently placed on your website.
  • There is not a  “subscribe to our e-newsletter” CTA included in your social media content calendar.
  • You aren’t using a USP (unique sales proposal) – “Learn more about great golf getaways and special packages when you subscribe to our e-newsletter.”
  • You don’t include the “share” option in your current emails

 

All of these things can easily be fixed by the following solutions:

  • Build your list! Check out this list from HubSpot on 29 strategies to build your email list.
  • Generate general awareness of your email marketing via social media channels through CTAs.
  • Make sure your website has a well-defined place to subscribe!
  • Add share tools to the bottom of your current template.

For more help, check out this how-to from Mailchimp to help build your list!

Challenge #5 – Ending Up in Spam

Ending up in a reader’s spam folder can be incredibly discouraging, especially after you’ve done all the work to put your newsletter together. Here are a couple of reasons that this may happen to your e-newsletter:

  • Having a “spammy” subject line.
  • Your email marketing platform’s specific rules on spam filtering.
  • Buying your email lists and not starting from scratch.

 

Unfortunately, your e-newsletter is essentially useless if it keeps ending up in your subscribers’ spam folders. Here are a few ways to fix this problem:

  • Make sure you research your particular email marketing platform’s spam regulations.
  • Make sure you have an unsubscribe option and necessary contact info in the footer of your email.
  • Learn about what makes a “spammy” subject line.
  • Use a double-opt-in offer to make sure your subscribers are extra interested in your content.
  • Be CAN-SPAM compliant.

It can be tricky to develop the perfect email marketing program, but you must take the time to do so. Similar to social media marketing, email marketing is constantly changing. If something about your strategy just “isn’t working,” do something about it! Try a new platform, schedule, update your template or even a whole new strategy. Don’t be afraid to try to find new ways to grab your audiences’ attention.

When in doubt, let us know. We can help guide you through your email marketing process or stay updated on the latest digital trends by following us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, subscribing to our newsletter, or just hit us up with a question or two at info@twosixdigital.com.