Top 5 email marketing problems: ‘Call-to-action’ biggest hurdle

Most people need further education on email design best practises and specifically design around call-to-action (CTA) buttons, according to new research.

The research, carried out by European based email provider Mailjet revealed the top 5 most common pitfalls made by email marketers.

Top 5 most common pitfalls made by email marketers include:

· 28% thought that call-to-action buttons cannot be A/B tested

· 25% of participants did not know how a ‘click-rate’ is calculated

· Over 1 in 10 of respondents thought that keeping the content of emails short would naturally keep the size of an email low

· 12% believed that the first thing readers look out for in an email is the call-to-action button

· Incorrectly, nearly 10% thought that it is best practice to use as many call-to-action buttons as needed in an email

Mailjet carried out beta testing of the four module course and in person workshops with start-up communities such as Seedcamp at Google Campus and Techstars, as part of the Barclays Accelerator.

The tests highlight that most people need further education on email design best practises and specifically design around call-to-action (CTA) buttons, with 28% of Flight Academy students incorrectly answering questions on this. The call-to-action is vital to driving conversions and therefore the beta testing highlights the need for greater education on email marketing in order to avoid common mistakes. Companies that have complete the course include: Burst, Moteefe and PayBox.

Testing revealed that the majority of people think that readers spend as much time focusing on the call-to-action button, as the sender does, and that it’s the first thing a reader sees. Whereas, the first thing a readers actually sees when opening up an email is the top left corner.

During the beta testing, most people thought that CTA buttons could not be A/B tested, this is incorrect as the A/B testing of the appearance, placement and content of a CTA button can prove hugely effective in improving conversion rates for individual campaigns and different audiences. Further to this, organisations may have been going wrong thinking they have free rein to include as many CTA buttons in one email as they like. However, Mailjet analytics show this approach can confuse readers, with just one CTA button thought to be most effective at driving conversions.

Mailjet has developed The Flight Academy, a free tool for anyone around the globe to use in order to help both experienced and novice marketers understand the fundamentals of email marketing to improve the effectiveness of these campaigns. Mailjet hopes that the course will ensure people are equipped to carry out email marketing themselves rather than outsourcing, or hiring an expensive specialist. After completing the course, the students will have the opportunity join a community of email marketers to share and discuss learnings and further development, as well as being able to add a certification to LinkedIn to demonstrate competency as an email marketer.

Amir Jirbandey, Inbound Marketing Lead at Mailjet said: “When it’s done right, email marketing can be an incredibly powerful and cost-effective tool for small businesses to deepen customer relationships and drive revenue. But when it’s done wrong it can be a headache and damaging for all involved. With the Mailjet Flight Academy we can help businesses of all sizes to navigate common pitfalls and learn from them to make sure their email marketing strategy fly high!”

https://uk.mailjet.com/