In the bustle of my pre-Christmas workload, I’ve come across hundreds of E-mails from businesses offering specials and deals. One of these E-mails stands out from the rest not because the product is fabulous (it is), not because of a lack of effort to reach out to customers (they do so regularly) but because of a lack of attention to detail that wound up making the business look ridiculous in the eyes of their most dedicated customers.
The business owner used on of the popular web-based consumer marketing E-mail services that we are all familiar with. A pre-formatted template was chosen and modified the content to suit the business’ needs including adding a new graphic, some text promoting his products and his business and closed cordially with all of the required footers of any proper E-mail.
What this business owner did not do was remove the generic text at the header “enter your title text in this location”. Nor change the generic logo on the template to be the company’s logo. In the body of the E-mail, the generic photos and Lorem Ipsum text used as placeholders for additional content remained for all to see. Seemingly oblivious to all of these things, this business owner sent the E-mail to all of the company’s customers right before Christmas, during the busiest shopping season of the year.
If you received this E-mail, what conclusions would you make about this business and the products they sell? Would you conclude that they don’t pay attention to the basics, that they are unprofessional or inexperienced, or perhaps that they just don’t care and are only in it to make a buck? Knowing the business owner, I can attest that none of these are true, yet that is the impression made with this E-mail.
How do you avoid these errors? Ask a friend to proofread the message before sending it out. Use the “test” function and send the message to yourself and a friend to review it in its entirety. Look at the E-mail test on different devices to make sure the content is responsive to different aspect ratios and platforms. Plan ahead and ‘sleep on it’ or wait a day before reviewing the message again and deploying.
For the sake of your own reputation and to avoid embarrassment, take the time to plan properly and employ the safeguards included with your software. In doing so, your DIY marketing efforts will make you a leader, your business will be more successful and will gain a great following of loyal customers.