Email Marketing Guide - How to avoid embarrassing errors

A missing link could switch your customer off forever

On average, over 40% of the emails sent out as part of email marketing campaigns have errors in them, according to new research published by a leading ISP. Lately, there's been a dramatic increase in the incidence of HTML emails containing assorted errors - errors that can not only turn people off, but can also create delivery problems. As marketers, we liken these errors to newspaper ads where pictures are missing; TV adverts without the company or product name; a call to action with the wrong 0800 number; or direct mail pieces with typos and misprints.

Some of the research findings are alarming to say the least; 80% of emails to Lotus Notes (almost 100 million users in the US) were broken in some way; 30% to AOL users were broken; 25% to Hotmail accounts; and 22% each for Outlook and Eudora programmes. If you have not tested your campaign on these email platforms before you run it, you will almost definitely be sending corrupted emails to customers or potential customers.

People who use email in the business environment get seemingly zillions of HTML emails delivered to their desktops, which is why it's so important that yours stands out from the crowd - for the right reasons. The blunders we are seeing range from careless typos to links that don't work, from graphics that don't display to problematic coding that affects the way emails work, appear when they arrive. Some of the email messages we receive contain so many of these problems that users were unlikely to read them even if they were paid to.

Many ISPs have developed systems that spot these errors and filter the emails so they never reach the targeted recipient. To fix the problem, carefully implemented protocols are required. If you do not have a dedicated IT department with the capacity to give this issue the time it deserves, a professional email marketing company like Core 13 can help.

Core 13 has experience of all the major email protocols and has successfully completed hundreds of campaigns for leading blue chip brands. Core 13 campaigns are tested before implementation and instant feedback is received on any emails that didn't reach the intended recipient, or weren't opened for any reason.