<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none;" alt="" src="https://analytics.twitter.com/i/adsct?txn_id=l4xqi&amp;p_id=Twitter"> <img height="1" width="1" style="display:none;" alt="" src="//t.co/i/adsct?txn_id=l4xqi&amp;p_id=Twitter">
6 Marketing Automation Mistakes You Could Be Making

6 Marketing Automation Mistakes You Could Be Making

6-Marketing-Automation-Mistakes-You-Could-Be-Making-1200x630Marketing mistakes run the gamut from simple typos or small errors in judgment all the way to oversights with the potential to bring about catastrophic results. While some mistakes just leave you shaking your head in embarrassment, others can be damaging enough to ruin your entire campaign or, worse, your credibility.

In email marketing automation, making a mistake is the last thing you want. Customers and subscribers are easily turned off, and you don't want to burn money on preventable problems. Let's explore the most common email marketing automation mistakes that you could be making so you can avoid them and save time and money.

1. Becoming a Spammer

The power of automation can be prone to abuse. Because you can create and schedule email campaigns with less time and energy, it's easy to do it too much and blast emails to contacts, especially when your metrics are looking good. Little do you know that you're becoming a spammer.

Everybody knows that spamming is the first thing you need to avoid doing, as it can hurt your business big-time. Be sure to only send relevant emails to the right audience at the right time.

2. Forgetting to Be Human

Automating workflows and not having to deal with manual processes are the wonders of marketing automation. But while this allows you to focus on more important matters, there’s a risk of becoming too inorganic.

Remember that your customers are humans. You're human! You don’t want to make them feel like they're talking to a robot. Humanize yourself and your brand. Add a personal touch to your messages to make communication authentic and genuine, and use triggers so that your emails have strong relevancy to recipients.

3. Failing to Document a Plan

Just like any element of your content marketing strategy, your email marketing automation must have objectives and a set of tactics aimed at meeting them. Are you using it for lead generation? Or do you want to improve your customer service? What is the goal that your email campaign wants to reach?

By identifying your objectives, you can devise appropriate strategies for each one, such as re-engagement email campaigns, cart abandonment emails, and more.

4. Focusing on the Wrong Metrics

It's easy to get fooled by numbers. When that open rate is high, you must be doing something great, right? But are you getting click-throughs and conversions? Are your end goals being met?

When you become too complacent because a certain metric gives you a high figure, you tend to forget your real goals. While a high open rate means you wrote a targeted, enticing subject line, zero click-through or conversion rate means that you're not getting far enough. Simply put, it's better to see a 15 percent open rate with an 8 percent conversion rate than a 50 percent open rate with no conversion at all. Don't be fooled by the wrong metrics.

5. Not Performing Tests

Testing is nonnegotiable to predict which strategy or campaign is worth pursuing and to learn more about your audience. This is true of any part of your marketing, but marketing automation especially so.

Always test your campaigns to maximize the advanced features of your email marketing automation software. For instance, A/B testing lets you compare which of two versions of your campaign is more likely to bring you better results by focusing on one element such as your subject line, the CTA, and landing page, among others.

Aside from this, be sure to also test your emails on mobile, desktop, and tablet to ensure that your recipients will have a smooth experience regardless of which device they are using to view them.

6. Letting Customer Data Go Unused

What's beautiful about email marketing automation is the amount of customer data you can use to produce targeted campaigns. This includes email and website activity, transaction history, and demographics.

But all this can go to waste because some marketers don't bother using this data to their advantage, or they use it the wrong way due to lack of strategic thinking, creativity, or sometimes just knowledge. If you take time to review your customer data, you can segment your email list properly and target customers with the right message and perfect timing.

Succeeding in email marketing means leaving no room for error. Read about and learn from the wins and failures of other marketers to widen your knowledge, and be sure to master and maximize the features in your own email marketing automation software so that you can plan and execute your campaigns with no mistakes at all.

Stop making mistakes and start making your content exceptional. Download our easy 4-step guide today! 

4 step guide pink button 

Picture of Kimberly Maceda

About Kimberly Maceda

Kimberly Maceda is a content writer for ActiveTrail. She comes up with brilliant content about email marketing and marketing automation to keep customers updated with the trends. For Kimmy, it’s Bring Your Dog to Work Day almost every day.

Subscribe.

Join 35,000+ other marketers and get the latest content from Influence & Co.