Intro

Why Your Email Marketing Isn’t Working - and Five Ways to Fix It

Do you often feel that your email marketing isn’t working? You may be right – it takes consistent effort to boost your metrics. Also, there may be things holding you back that you’re not even aware of. But have no fear. We’ve got five reasons why your email isn’t working and we’ll share what to do in order to have emails that prosper.

Open rates are down, clicks have dwindled, and you can’t remember the last time you saw a conversion. It’s clear - your email marketing needs a boost. 

Failing to fix your floundering email marketing campaigns is not like the Rummy card game, where you just get back to it when you have ample free time. It’s more like ignoring your dental health or regular automotive maintenance. If you don’t maintain it, your email marketing campaigns can dwindle into nothing. 

Stay calm because we have some great solutions that will quickly get you on the right track. Your email marketing can thrive if your approaches are correct.

Your email marketing isn’t working because your content is overly promotional

Even though your customers signed up to hear about what you offer, it never pays to come across like a repetitive late-night infomercial. The best salesmen come across as trusted advisors and sometimes even like a buddy. Constantly offering sales pitches and only occasionally helpful or entertaining content will likely decrease your engagement, and more than a few will unsubscribe.

What to do instead

You don’t have to beat people over the head with constant offers. Try to bring your readers something practical or even fun first. Any good vibe, helpful information, or humor you can share with your audience opens most people up to what you’re selling. 

Here’s an example of an email that Felix Rose-Collins, the founder and CEO of Ranktracker, sent about the platform opening to the masses for free. The email is helpful as it offers quick value to anyone who’d like to try the Ranktracker platform at no charge.

Some business people like to follow an 80/20 rule: 80 percent should give the customers something valuable, and 20 percent should be the actual sales attempt. Many marketers try to sell even less than this. Don’t forget it’s a person at the other end of your emails and not a checkbook.  

Your email marketing doesn’t work because your emails don’t reach the inbox

For some email marketers, it’s not that their emails aren’t getting any emotional response. It’s that nobody even sees them in the first place. One of the most common issues that derail email marketers' efforts is deliverability. Email deliverability is the rate at which emails reach the inbox. It’s not to be confused with email delivery, which measures whether emails arrive at all. Deliverability means the inbox, whereas delivery could be anywhere, including the spam folder. 

You may be wondering, if my email list was in excellent condition before, why would deliverability be an issue now? Email data inevitably plunges because personal data isn’t static. It’s also important to emphasize that some email addresses were never legitimate. Thus, email hygiene is a constant issue that you have to stay on top of.

In its recent Email List Decay Report for 2023, ZeroBounce analyzed more than six billion email addresses. It was mind-boggling to see that only 57.21% of all emails were valid.

Here’s what to do

Your email marketing results won’t be consistent if you don’t practice good email verification. It’s a way of regularly checking all of your email contacts to ensure they’re valid. Bulk email validation is when you upload your entire list to an email validation platform to identify all inactive emails. 

It’s not just invalid contacts – a reputable email verifier will also find other nefarious contacts like spam traps, abuse, or disposable emails. Holding on to unfavorable emails puts your list at serious risk. Your email marketing just won’t run smoothly with unvetted contacts on it. You should also connect an email validation API to all of your forms to block faulty or damaging emails from ending up on your list. Keeping bad data away from the beginning stops many problems from the start.

Your sending schedule is inconsistent

People like routine. If a restaurant has seafood night on Thursdays, the seafood lovers come to anticipate it. If you suddenly move it to Friday, they may show up on Thursday disappointed.

Even when they don’t realize it, people are the same way about their inboxes. They expect certain emails on a set day of the week or month. So what happens when you don’t show up? It’s out of sight, out of mind. You can’t afford to have your customers forget about you. 

If you have an inconsistent sending schedule, you also trigger a negative response from inbox providers. Providers like Gmail, Yahoo, Proton Mail, etc. will start to think of you as a spammer when you don’t follow a schedule. They think emailing sporadically means that you probably aren’t a legitimate sender, so they start directing your emails to the junk folder. Once your reputation is tarnished, it can be challenging to turn things around. 

Here’s what to do

An email list isn’t something you should leave “on hold” and pick back up later. Instead, treat it almost as if it’s alive. Some people with a seasonal business or an annual slump will disappear and stop sending. Alternatively, some people see how good their physical stores are doing, so they neglect email campaigns for a while.

Set up a schedule that makes the most sense for your audience, but be sure you can meet the demand. Then, get on a set routine where you’re sending emails just like clockwork. That way, you’ll maintain brand loyalty while keeping your sending IP warm. 

You’re not segmenting your list

For some email marketers, everyone on their list is the same. They may have a variety of subscribers, but they all receive the same email every time. Some marketers have data about the people on their list, and some barely have the customers’ names. It depends on how you’ve been growing your email list. Regardless of how much you know about your audience, segmenting your email list is key to boosting your engagement. 

Here’s what to do

Use whatever data you have. The first criterion is where is this subscriber in the customer journey? Have they bought anything? How often? Did they just subscribe? The answers to these questions give you an idea of how to approach these customers best.

_Here is an example of how pet insurance company Fetch segments its email list to send highly relevant campaigns. Fetch even went as far as populating the pet name field with my dog’s name. _

If you haven’t been gathering data about your readers, it’s not too late to start. First, thoroughly understand the different groups that make up your list. See if there is any other information you’d like to start gathering, such as geographic location, gender, or age.

From there, start segmenting your list with emails explicitly catered to those groups. The more precision with which you meet your subscribers, the better you can expect your results to be. Ensure your email service provider (ESP) allows for list segmentation and then take advantage of this feature.

Your content is stale

Have you ever subscribed to an email list that made you feel like you were in the movie “Groundhog Day”? Every few days, it seemed like you got the same email or something close. 

So, of course, you’ll need some overlap of content. However, when your emails are overly repetitive, bland, or even tedious, it’s time for a tune-up. You can’t afford to build an audience and then not keep their attention. It’s like planting a garden and then not tending it.

Here’s what to do

Sometimes you have to go looking for inspiration; other times it’s right under your nose. It helps to get away from the screens and noise and really brainstorm. Try to find some clever, humorous, or extra helpful ideas you can bring into your email newsletters. 

I like to use the uncomplicated notepad and pen method. If an idea occurs to you, write it down, no matter how trivial. It may not be a winner, but it may prompt another concept that gets you excited. 

Being excited is a good state of mind when you create emails. When the person making and sending the email has some energy, it tends to be infectious to the people on the receiving end. 

Email marketing tends to work for those who have the desire

Email marketing works when you do! An email marketer’s work is never done, as anyone with a list can attest. Sending a timely email newsletter involves copywriting, graphic design, email validation knowledge, and many logistics related to using your ESP. You need creativity, good people skills (this means replying to every email!), and, most of all, perseverance.

What is the best way to learn? Get inspiration from the best. Subscribe to email newsletters that interest you and see what elements you appreciate. Don’t be afraid to run with a great idea. Lastly, don’t cut yourself short. Your unique idea could be just the thing your readers want.