What is the most frustrating/challenging part about sending marketing emails?

[johnbonini]

I'm in the process of gathering research into the challenges most commonly faced by marketers when executing email campaigns. What are yours? And what role do your play in the process? (Job title?) Looking forward to a spirited discussion!

[ChrisAshton]

Hey John,

The challenges we face are pretty typical of any email marketing campaign really. Email marketing is quite common these days so users have a far better understanding of the intent behind your emails and this in itself can make it quite tough.

Combine that with the incredible volume of emails the average person receives in a day and you're really fighting an uphill battle. The question becomes how you can stand out from the hundreds of other emails that day and give them a reason to click. The answer depends on the target market; clickbait works for some demographics while it just infuriates others.

If you can consistently demonstrate value to your users then the battle becomes a little easier. Looking at my work mailbox from the past week, the only 3 regular emails I've given more than a cursory glance are also 3 that I typically find to be valuable to me professionally while the others I'll usually skim the subject line as I go through deleting the large volumes of lazily templated stuff I receive regularly (the only reason I don't unsub from these is that occasionally I get something useful from them).

By way of example, these 3 quality ones that I've actually opened are from Moz, Backlinko and Google Webmasters. The last one is obvious, but for the Moz and Backlinko emails, they're never "selling" anything, their approach feels like much more of a "here's some information you probably want; read it or don't, your call" which I appreciate. No fear-mongering clickbait, just practical advice or helpful industry info.

As SEO Manager I don't have a whole lot of direct involvement with email marketing these days, though this is what I've found from both past and personal experience.

[regpacks]

I think writing the RIGHT email that is effective i.e. gets read and your call to action, acted upon. We get so many emails, so you only have a few seconds to catch the reader with your title and make the email easy to read or understand upon first look (do call to actions, links, important information, stand out and are easy to understand?)

I recently wrote a post geared towards my clients about tailoring emails to get their applicants to return. I work with organizations that have membership or attendees (events, educational programs, etc) who are always looking for ways to tap into their past attendee and participant lists to get them excited about upcoming programs or events and encourage them to return. Currently for example,it's summer camp registration season so my camp director clients want a way for their email marketing strategies to pay off with past families registering again for this summer. You can check out that post here: http://www.regpacks.com/blog/great-marketing-email-to-applicants/

But like Chris said above, I think its really about figuring out what your email recipients want and figuring out how you can get your email to stand out. Following basic rules like titles that aren't too long, are attention grabbing, and have a clear call to action that is easy to identify in the body of the emails will help. If someone can look quickly at your subject, understand what the email is and find what they want/need in the content of your email easily and quickly, you will have a higher click through rate and response to what your email is selling.

Good luck!