Email marketing is a powerful tool for eCommerce brands, but when done incorrectly, it can lead to poor engagement, unsubscribes, and lost revenue. Many brands fall into common traps that hinder their success. Identifying and correcting these mistakes can help improve performance and maximise returns.
In this article, we’ll explore the biggest email marketing mistakes eCommerce brands make—and how to fix them.
1. Not Segmenting Your Email List
Sending the same email to your entire subscriber list is one of the biggest mistakes an eCommerce brand can make. Customers have different interests, buying behaviours, and engagement levels, so a one-size-fits-all approach leads to lower conversions.
Fix: Use segmentation to divide your audience based on factors like purchase history, browsing behaviour, engagement levels, and location. This ensures your emails are more personalised and relevant, leading to better engagement and higher sales.
2. Ignoring Email Deliverability Best Practices
If your emails are landing in spam folders, your audience will never see them—no matter how well-crafted they are. Poor sender reputation, spammy subject lines, and lack of authentication can all negatively impact deliverability.
Fix: Maintain a clean email list by removing inactive subscribers, authenticate your emails with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, and avoid spam-trigger words in subject lines. Regularly monitor your deliverability rates and adjust your strategy accordingly.
3. Overloading Subscribers with Too Many Emails
Flooding your subscribers’ inboxes with daily or irrelevant emails can lead to high unsubscribe rates and a damaged brand reputation.
Fix: Establish a balanced sending frequency that keeps your brand top of mind without overwhelming your audience. Use data to determine optimal sending times and allow subscribers to choose their preferred email frequency.
4. Writing Weak or Uninspiring Subject Lines
Your subject line is the first impression of your email. If it’s dull or unclear, recipients won’t open it, and your campaign will fail before it even begins.
Fix: Test different subject lines using A/B testing. Use curiosity, urgency, or personalisation to grab attention. Avoid all caps and excessive punctuation, which can make emails look spammy.
5. Neglecting Mobile Optimisation
A significant portion of users check their emails on mobile devices. If your emails aren’t optimised for mobile, they may be difficult to read, leading to lower engagement and conversions.
Fix: Use responsive email design to ensure your emails look great on all devices. Keep subject lines short, use large, easy-to-read fonts, and optimise CTAs for mobile users.
6. Lacking a Clear Call-to-Action (CTA)
If your email doesn’t clearly tell the reader what to do next, they won’t take action. Weak or missing CTAs lead to lower conversion rates.
Fix: Each email should have a clear and compelling CTA. Use action-oriented language and make the button prominent. Test different CTA placements and wording to find what works best.
7. Failing to Analyse and Improve Email Performance
Sending emails without analysing performance data means you’re missing opportunities to optimise and improve results.
Fix: Regularly review key email marketing metrics such as open rates, CTRs, conversions, and bounce rates. Use A/B testing to refine subject lines, content, and design elements for better engagement.
Final Thoughts
Avoiding these common email marketing mistakes can significantly improve engagement and revenue for your eCommerce brand. By focusing on segmentation, deliverability, mobile optimisation, strong CTAs, and data analysis, you can build an email marketing strategy that drives success.
If you need expert help optimising your email marketing strategy, get in touch with our team today!
