Avoid e-mail marketing pitfalls

One of the most effective online marketing channels is e-mail marketing. However, as I look around the Internet I see a huge need for direction on how to master this marketing channel. Every day I see some very good, creative examples of how to successfully execute an e-mail marketing campaign. But I also see many mistakes being made.

Following are three significant e-mail marketing mistakes I've seen recently that you want to avoid.

• Including your subscriber's e-mail address in the "TO" or "CC" fields. Although this may be obvious to some, it is apparent that many new and established companies have employees making this mistake. The "TO" and "CC" fields are designed to be used for e-mail going to people who don't mind that their e-mail address is known to the other recipients. But it should NEVER be used to send out communications to many prospects or customers at one time.

I received an e-mail last week from a sales rep at a well-known company that had my e-mail address clearly visible along with about 40 other e-mail addresses in the "TO" and "CC" fields. I was shocked! It violates the privacy of all recipients, and there is nothing to prevent one of the other recipients from copying those e-mail addresses and spamming them with their own offers.

• Failure to use personalization in the subject of the e-mail. If you want to increase the open rate and responses to your e-mails then you need to put your recipient's first name in the subject line. Some examples are: "Dion, Your New Coupons are Ready," "Steve, we would like to get your feedback" or "Dave, Give a Call before 5 p.m." Many companies are still sending e-mail without any subject line personalization. By not doing so they are leaving thousands of dollars on the table.

• Failure to segment your e-mail list. List segmentation is the process of splitting your main e-mail list into smaller lists. You can segment the list by demographic information, geographic in-formation or products purchased (people who purchase 7 series BMWs vs. 3 series BMWs, for example). This best practice allows you to increase the response rate of your list because you will only be sending messages to people who have an interest in your product or message. Segmentation is an underutilized strategy that many small and medium-size companies fail to do.

Are you making any of these mistakes? Check with your marketing manager to make sure you are not. And if you are, now is the time to make some changes. I am confident that if you will eliminate any or all of these three common mistakes you will notice a quantifiable lift in your e-mail marketing campaigns.

In my next column I will cover some additional mistakes that many online entrepreneurs are making and will recommend some strategic adjustments that I believe will lead to greater success. Until then, send me any feedback or questions you have.

And if there is an online marketing topic you would like me to cover, submit your idea at www.AskDionJones .com. I will focus future columns on the topics you suggest.

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Dion Jones is an eMarketing Strategist and is affiliated with the BYU Center for Entrepreneurship.