Customers can be a bit like Goldilocks when it comes to your email. Some think it’s too much. Others are not enough. Another wants something funny. That one person says you need more pictures …
Whatever you do, someone will have something to say.
As you improve the voice of your email, these comments will become less frequent. Even so, you might still run into the problem of people just not reading your lovingly crafted emails. Which is just as bad as when they tell you your baby is ugly. How dare you? YOUR CHILD IS BEAUTIFUL!
To calm oneself down. Take a look at your email (and data) to see if you’re doing anything wrong. I’m not saying your baby is ugly.
Let’s take a look at the 8 reasons:
Table of Contents
The Reasons
You made a disappearance
Is this the THIRD time this month that an officer has come to your door? Maybe it’s because your subscribers haven’t heard from you in three months and are worried.
And if they’re not worried, they are probably annoyed. Eventually, they bonded and committed to be closer to you and your brand. Then you went to the store to get cigarettes and never came back.
Okay, they probably won’t send police to your door, but if you’ve been around with radio silence for long periods of time, don’t be surprised if your emails go unopened.
Your newsletter was not what they expected
If I sign up for a newsletter promising the most cutting-edge news in technology, I’ll be very confused when the author starts to describe in four paragraphs what he ate for breakfast.
This has less to do with the quality of your newsletter and more to do with the misinterpretation of your audience. Give people what they want. What do you want? I tell you what they want, what they really want. You want exactly what you promised.
Newsletters can be anything, but before someone signs up, they want to know what it’s about. So show them. Is it news? Personal updates? Funny jokes? Process photos? Ramblings?
You can also create an introductory email that you will receive right after subscribing. Showing them what to expect right away is a great way to deal with expectations and get excited about the next newsletter.
You are not original
Oh wow! Another email just like this other email that is also similar to another popular influencer’s email.
Originality is the sauce that makes your email newsletter … well … distinguishable. This is why someone signed up and let you into their inbox sanctuary.
If they wanted to read an echo of what other popular people are doing, they would sign up with them. Look, I’m not telling you to reinvent the wheel. All you have to do is give it your own twist.
Consumers have limited attention. Reading cloned content for entertainment while trying to forget about murder hornets is not the idea of a good time. Get your audience right. Create compelling content from your heart, not someone else’s submission. That is the real key to originality.
You only sell
Don’t be that weird online marketer just sending emails to get people to buy something. It’s like walking around the park with this suspicious guy in a trench coat and asking, “Hey dude, do you want to buy an online class?”
Unless you mentioned that you were only sending updates on goods or services like some big lifestyle and fashion companies do, you are not going to get readers to click or open your messages.
They’re not dumb. Soon they will associate your name with the business they want just because of their purchasing power.
You are in the depths of the spam folder
This could ultimately be a case of “It’s not you, it’s you”. Landing in a spam box is often the author’s fault. Aside from some high-tech spam word settings, most of the power rests with the sender in getting their letter to the right place.
What sin are you committing? Why did the inbox avoid you so much?
First, look at your list and see how many people, on average, interact with your emails. Systems like Google get this data too, and when they see few people actually opening or clicking on your email, they’ll assume you’re spam.
So, you have to – and yeah, I know this sucks – scrub your list. Take the time to get rid of people who haven’t read your email in a while.
Once they’re gone, it will increase your open rate. This, in turn, reduces the chances of your hard work going unnoticed by those who actually want to see it.
Another mistake to avoid is spam subject lines which will trigger a spam response. If you write, “I EARNED DOLLAR 1,000,000,” these filters will attach to you as Luke did on the Death Star
Instead of using vague or ailing subject lines, try to be creative and write like you would with someone you know. Maybe you made a million dollars. So, you could say, “I met my income goals this year.”
Not only is it less gross, but it’s also not considered potential junk food.
You are boring
Ever get a long email that you want to read but keep putting off because the scroll bar shrinks to the size of an Altoid when you open it?
Like taxes or cleaning, we leave things we think will take too long and sometimes forget to do them at all. Do you think I’m kidding Do you know the friend you said you’d catch up with? The one who tells long, rambling stories at parties that lead nowhere? When was the last time you arranged a coffee date with him?
And long emails are fine when they are engaging. Your newsletter should feel like a friend the reader can’t expect. To do this, your newsletter needs to offer some kind of experience. Depending on your style or business, this can mean a variety of methods, from additional photos to personalized stories. But always make sure there is a point.
Also, check out some short story writing tips or creative writing courses to improve your storytelling skills. You may have the most interesting thing to say, but if you can’t write about it convincingly, nobody will care or want to read about it.
Your emails are difficult to read
You should have some knowledge of using fonts, graphics, and colors, otherwise, you’re going to make a mess
Think like Coco Chanel. Is it too much to Tone it off?
Think of your poor readers who just want to read and don’t get a headache right away. If you’re not sure, get it done by an honest person you trust. Adding visual variety to a newsletter is a great idea, but only if you get it right.
You have a case of good, old-fashioned, bad writing
At the end of the day, you send letters. The font must be solid. And by that, I mean readable.
Think of the author Samantha Irby. Your emails are personal and don’t even use capital letters. But they are well written and very appropriate for them.
And don’t send anything with typing errors. A mistake here and there may not mind some, but over time you will be viewed as less professional and unread.
On the flip side, it doesn’t matter how good you are at grammar if your newsletters are too verbose technical jargon.
We’ve all met people who want to show you how smart they are by speaking like a graduate student who has something to prove. Believe me, this graduate student is still alone. And you will have a lonely list of subscribers if you don’t master conversational writing.
To avoid a terrible, dysfunctional email list, work hard to make your reader enjoyable. The more people open your email, the less likely you are to get lost in spam, and the more likely you’ll be building a responsive audience that can’t wait to get your content.
