Part one of a recent client engagement was to evaluate their past email marketing efforts. We found a lot of the same mistakes that other businesses , large and small, make every day. The email software providers aren’t to blame, except maybe for making it seem too easy. And most have good information on their websites. But obviously the best practices are not being read there. So on the fat chance that they’ll be read here I thought I’d share the most commonly made email marketing mistakes small business make and some advice on how to avoid them.

Know your readers preferences.

With and more people reading their emails via mobile devices it’s important to pay extra attention to layout and text version of your message. Test your message on a Blackberry-you’ll understand why re-thinking design is critical especially if the read on mobile first trends contuse-and it will.

Test Before You Send

Don’t limit your testing to mobile devices. A typical subscriber list consists of people using various versions of Outlook, Yahoo, Gmail, AOL, and several other popular email clients. It’s likely your messages will look different in each. So keep the design simple and stick to some core design and spam compliance best practices.

Design Simply

Do not use Microsoft Word as your HTML editor-just don’t. Keep you message width at 600 pixels or below. Code simply. If you are not an HTML expert-keep things simple. Different clients rendering HTML differently. Use tables or if you must us CSS, use it inline. Webmail clients are notorious for wreaking havoc on CSS divs, especially Gmail. They’ll also strip out DOCTYPE, BODY, and HEAD tags .So use your CSS inline or better yet code cleanly and by hand using tags. Make sure your images are hosted on a fast pubic server not an intranet or secure server Don’t ignore the text version of your message. Read it carefully-it could be the only version of your message an important prospect sees.

Avoiding Spam

Spam filters are getting better—thankfully. But this presents a challenge for email marketers. Here are some common mistakes I see frequently when evaluating new client’s in-house email campaigns:

» Don’t send one big image as the message. This is a definite red flag spam filters look for.

» Don’t use too many colors of fonts, especially red and green. After all Christmas is but once a year. Besides making your message look like a  middle school bake sale flyer-it’s a spam trigger.

» Don’t use all caps and limit or eliminate exclamation points. Use of !!! has become rampant in general but carrying it over to email is guaranteed to put more of your messages into spam-so stop, okay! The same goes for other punctuation like quotations. Spam filters work on a point system. With enough minor deviation you can end up with a major deliverability problem.

» Don’t use words associated with spam. I assume if you’re running an online pharmacy or a financial scam from Nigeria you aren’t reading our blog but I guarantee a phrase like “Cheap V*I*A*G*R*A form Nigeria-FREE shipping” will end up in spam. Check your spam folder and look at the messages—you’ll see these and many other spam triggering words and phrases used repeatedly.

Don’t give up on email because of a few disappointing campaigns. There’s more to it than the advertising tells you-but it’s worth the effort. It’s one of the best ways to stop losing your best customers.

Make a good first impression with a well crafted welcome message. Email marketers consistently discover that interest fades quickly. A strong welcome message reminds the customer of the reason he or she signed up to receive your communications in the first place. It also re-enforces your brand name recognition. The “From” line is a critical factor a customer considers when determining whether to open or delete and email. By seeing your name as soon as possible after signing up, they are apt to quickly recognize it again in the “From” line of your next message. This is also a perfect opportunity to recap what the subscriber can expect from you. If you deliver on this promise you’re apt to keep the subscriber engaged.

A lot of clients ask us if there is a “best time and day” to send emails. The answer is yes, but it is different for each subscriber. Tuesday morning is an often repeated suggestion but beware of blanket recommendations. We like to examine open dates and times of earlier messages to find patterns that are specific to our clients’ subscriber preferences. Whenever possible segmenting sends based on historical preferred open dates and times can result in a substantial lift in response rates.

List fatigue is a common problem. After a while customers stop responding to your promotions, Many don’t unsubscribe. So what is going on? Some are lurkers, waiting for aggressive promotions. Others just delete your message without opening them, often in a mass delete during inbox cleanups. You can re-engage these passive subscribers. We’ve had great success by segmenting these non-responders and surveying them to find out what’s changed. Are their needs different? Have they changed jobs? Moved? Those that respond often become re-engaged and turn out to be one of your more profitable segments.

Reaching out to non-responsive subscribers is also a great way to keep you list clean. Besides keeping delivery costs down you’ll get more accurate data by eliminating passive list clutter that can skew important metrics.

Remember to be persistent in building your email list. By replenishing your list with new subscribers, you’ll maintain a source of repeat business that can help get you through economic times like these.