By JULIE MIDDLETON
Email has revolutionised marketing - it has one of the highest rates of reply of direct marketing methods, at 10 to 15 per cent.
But it is an area where the "less is more" theory is under-applied.
Email expert Debbie Mayo-Smith, of Auckland marketing firm Successful Internet Strategies, author of
Successful Email Marketing, tells how to render a good tool very blunt.
* Indiscriminate sending. Mayo-Smith says people will hit the delete button if you send useless information. "You have to target people with an appropriate message."
* Sending endless messages. The temptation is to send as many emails as possible because it costs nothing.
* Deciding that an online newsletter is a waste of time. Mayo-Smith says that instead of trying to sell to clients, "help educate them about an interesting or specific topic which is your area of expertise".
* Emailing everyone you know. Again, it is about targeting appropriately.
* Ignoring subject lines. Mayo-Smith says this is one of the main reasons emails are not opened. The inbox view allows 35 character spaces, and people decide from this whether to open it.
* Talking about yourself and your products rather than benefits to the customer.
* Making people work too hard by forcing them to click endlessly through a website homepage to find a product.
* Telling people to use a fax or mail the cheque, rather than setting up online booking or secure payments.
* Using high-tech tricks. Mayo-Smith says many people do not have up-to-date PDF readers, and many company firewalls cut such attachments from emails. "It's making your reader work. It's one more click, then waiting for the document to open up."
* Overdoing the cute animated graphics. "People find graphics distracting, especially animated ones."
