How often do you think about junk mail? Probably not
too often, because there’s a folder in your email that thinks about it for you, right?
But consider this: according to
Return Path,
marketing emails are responsible for 70% of ‘this is spam’ complaints. That means even if you don’t think about junk mail as a recipient, as a marketer, you should all be thinking about it all the time — specifically, whether your own marketing emails are part of that 70%.
So what if we just … stopped producing awful marketing emails entirely? Well to do that, we have to know just what makes an email so awful, So, I created my own truly awful marketing email, and am going to walk you through everything
not to do in your own email marketing. Here, take a look for yourself!
The Anatomy of an Awful Marketing Email
1) Write a Generic Subject Line
According to a survey by
Blue Kangaroo,
43% of adults in the U.S. said more than half of their emails are from marketers. With half of your recipient’s emails promising deals, coupons, sales, and updates, why should they open
yours? Subject lines like the one in the email above don’t tell your recipient anything — I mean, 40% off
what product? And settle down with the exclamation points, why don’t ya? Your subject line should invite the recipient to do something, to experience something, to enjoy some kind of benefit. To totally nail your email subject line, reference
this blog post that will show you the secret sauce for sexy subject lines.
