Avoiding the seven sins of email

You can strum that harp as much as you like - you're kidding no one. You might think you're an angel, but if you're committing one of the seven deadly sins of email, you're on the wrong cloud.

But don't get your lyre in a twist. Use our guide to the seven deadly sins, and how to avoid them, to dodge the fire and brimstone:

1. Negligence
You can't just email people out of the blue and expect them to remember you. Keep in touch regularly, and they might even tell you when they change their email address.

2. Arrogance
It's all "me, me, me" with some people. You don't have to leap out of cakes covered in balloons to delight and surprise people. Sending them something of value instead of a message begging for business would set you apart from most companies. Use surveys to learn more about people to make sure your future communications are relevant to them.

3. Lazy creative
Text only newsletters are so 2001. Use HTML to build creative that engages readers and gets your message across quickly. Don't count on recipients seeing your pictures at first glance, though: Outlook blocks images by default, so if you fill the first screenful of your email with a big logo, users will see a blank box when they open it.

4. Not empowering customers
Enable customers to change their own preferences for how often they want to hear from you, what about, and in what format. You'll make it easy to honour your obligations under the Data Protection Act. Giving customers control spares you the work of maintaining their preferences and makes them more likely to stick with you.

5. Isolating email
No email is an island: Make sure users clicking from your email to your booking or order form are automatically recognised. Customers often enter dummy data to whizz through lengthy forms so keep the forms short and combine what users enter with the data you already hold.

6. Excessive bouncing
Make sure you're not a casualty in the war against spam. Partner with agencies that understand how the ISPs' filters work and how to avoid them mis-classifying your messages as unsolicited commercial email. Track your delivered messages to identify any problems and talk to service providers if they are blocking your messages.

7. Failing to test
Take nothing for granted. The damage is done once the message has gone out so test your message through a range of ISPs and email clients to ensure it arrives and looks as you would expect before you send your campaign.

If you'd like to talk about how StoneShot's technology and consultancy services can make your campaign more effective, pull up a cloud and call us on 020 7628 4444.