I’m firmly of the opinion that you can learn more from what you do right than from email marketing mistakes, and looking at the methods of those companies that have been successful is the way to go. Mind you, sometimes you just have to highlight the errors.

At the end of November, I received an e-newsletter from an insurance company which included a warning about domestic fireworks displays, and their dangers. I don’t know who the company used to edit the content, but one wonders if the person who didn’t know when 5 November was, probbly wasn't the one for the job. It wastes the investment in the product.

On the same day, I received a marketing email which ran with the Subject Line, repeated in the heading of the email, Bet You Cannot Find It Cheaper Online. The world is full of different types of people. Your email marketing list proves this. One division is between those who dismiss such a challenge, and those who won’t rest until they've beaten it. It took me less than 15 minutes to take up the challenge and find the identical product at a lower price and with free delivery.

You might suggest I was lucky to have all that spare time, but I didn’t. I resented the fact that I couldn’t leave it alone. Had I been the other kind of person, I would have ignored the challenge, and probably have ignored the marketing email. As it is, I can’t remember the product.

It is the waste of a valuable Subject Line. It gives no information other than the company feels it is offering you the lowest price online; and they were wrong in that. That’s not to mention the heading, or my time.

It’s an old adage that you should tell people what to think. A marketing email should lead the subscriber to the call to action. Repeating a message that the person has already read is a waste of time as well as displaying a lack of thought. Email marketing is all about first impressions, and setting pointless challenges to your subscribers is not the way to go.