5 WAYS YOU ARE MAKING EMAIL MARKETING HARDER THAN IT ACTUALLY IS

“Email marketing just seems so hard”.

Poppy-cock.

Here’s the truth: you are just making it harder than it needs to be.

At its best, email marketing is SIMPLE:

1. Create new campaign in email marketing software
2. Type some words
3. Hit send

That’s it.

We overthink it way too much.

Here are a few things you might be doing that makes it that way.

1. You are trying to make your emails “pretty”

Did you know that the emails that get the best deliverability, open rates and click through rates are not those with lots of images, links and general “prettiness”.

Yes, you want to be “on brand” but that does not mean you need to have some fancy custom template.

Instead, think about the emails you read most: the ones from your family and friends.

How do they look?

Short. Simple. To the point.

This is how email works. It’s a conversational medium. Not a formal one.

All you need to make them look good is ensuring you have made the email easily scannable.

Things like short sentences. Spaces. Bold text. Maybe a pop of colour.

Then for a little bit of extra oomph you can add a button, a banner or a simple image. But that’s all it really needs.

And once you’ve created a template you can just use it time and time again.

2. You think every email needs to be info-packed

We have this knack for trying to overcompensate for daring to impose on someone’s inbox.

That if we send an email it has to have the most amazing, life changing content ever.

Next thing you know, the email is 1000 words long…

While this can be effective on occasion, you don’t have to do this.

In fact, you might find you get less people reading because they don’t have the time.

Sometimes the best service or value you can give your subscribers is a quick laugh, bit of motivation or actionable tip.

Something they can scan, feel good about and go on about their day.

Or scan, feel good about and click that buy button because they want your thing.

You don’t have to write an essay. Some of the best emails are just a few sentences long.

3. You stick to a strict sending schedule

I could get disbarred from the fictional email marketers association by saying things – but you do not have to email your list every single week on the exact same day, at the exact same time.

Sure if you are an expert content batcher and you have new stuff to send every single week, then yes send it.

But if you are one who likes to write from the heart and Tuesday is rolling around and you are wracking your brain about what to send, please don’t force it and type something just because you “should”.

Instead, write when it feels good. If you get in a flow – schedule them up for a few weeks in advance. If you have a promotion – make sure you are sending those.

But if you are having a down week because your kids are just at you and you haven’t had a moment to think let alone write. Then give yourself some grace.

Side note – if you want some ideas, make sure to grab this free download:

4. You only ever send something once

Just because you have sent something to your list 3 years ago, does not mean you can never write on that topic again.

In fact, I recommend regularly letting people know about some of the best content you have.

Or repurposing social media posts into an email.

Or revamping that motivational piece you sent a year ago that got lots of replies.

Your audience might just need to hear that again.

Or you might have new subscribers that never heard it in the first place.

Repurposing is one of the best things you can do for your marketing.

5. You are using MailChimp (especially the free plan)

Yep, I said it!!!

Okay, if you are literally only sending a single welcome email when someone signs up and then weekly email campaigns, then MailChimp is probably working just fine for you.

But if you want multiple step welcome series, the ability to segment your audience easily and start adding some other automations – then the free MailChimp plan is becoming more and more tedious to use.

Yes, there are workarounds which I have discovered, as a systems expert, after hours of time researching and testing. But why put yourself through that when you can get so much more potential and flexibility, easily, with something like MailerLite (still free) or Klaviyo, ActiveCampaign and ConvertKit.

If you are finding the tech side of things hard and you are using MailChimp, please don’t think it is because all email marketing software is hard to use. It is not.

The right one for you should be simple for you to use after watching a few tutorials and if you aren’t feeling that way then it might be time for something else.

Conclusion

Email marketing is not hard.  We (or difficult software) make it that way.