Is Email Marketing Still Relevant?

The recent introduction of the general data protection regulation (GDPR) has had a direct impact on marketing practices, including email marketing. Is email marketing still one of the most effective marketing tools for your business?

The answer is yes, email marketing is still one of the most effective tools for driving sales in your business, but as with most forms of marketing, it rarely stands still.

Ensure You’re Compliant

Personal privacy is a major concern today when it comes to email marketing. So is the way you use the data you collect. Read over your current privacy policy and terms of service for your website to ensure you are up to date.

Mobile-Friendly Emails

Your email should be readable on any device that your subscriber decides to read it on. You can check out how your emails and website look on free tools such as mobiletest.me and responsinator.com to view your content on a range of simulated screens.

Email Rendering

There’s a similar problem with the way emails appear in different email services. Check the overall look of your emails at Yahoo! mail, Gmail, Hotmail etc to be sure it doesn’t look wrong.

Coding Issues

Some marketers prefer HTML coded emails, while others opt for plain text. Any HTML coding mistakes could ruin the look and feel of the email, or even prevent some or all of it from being seen. Check your code at a site like Dirty Markup and clean any errors.

Check and Test

Be sure to carefully check any email before you send it. Look for typing errors and ensure that the link clicks through to the correct page. Make sure that things like the date and time of an event are correct. People are very busy and don’t have time for you to send two or three emails on the same subject, trying to correct basic errors you should have found in the first place.

Send High-Quality Information, Not Just Sales Info

Be certain all your emails are relevant and interesting to your target audience. Do more than just try to sell them stuff, and odds are they will continue being on your list, look forward to your emails and open them, and even forward the emails to other people.

Make It Easy For People To Unsubscribe

If your subscriber makes a decision that they don’t want to get any more emails from you, make it possible for them to easily unsubscribe. If you make it difficult, they will start to begrudge your emails and will certainly never buy from you. They may also report you as spam, which will cause you complications in the future.