There are certain rules that everyone follows should follow when sending out a mass marketing e-mail. They may seem obvious, but it’s alarming how many people ignore or simply forget them. The easiest way to avoid them is by treat your marketing e-mails as you would a cover letter for a job application.
- Check for typos: Do NOT send out an e-mail unless you’re positive there are no spelling or grammatical errors. Spell-check is old news, and everyone knows about it — there’s no excuse for a misspelled word. I recommend having someone else (a self-professed Grammar Nazi is your best bet) take a look at any longer messages, even if you’re confident in your proofreading skills.
- Don’t use “smileys”: Nothing screams unprofessionalism more than an emoticon or two freckled in a business e-mail.
- Don’t use Internet slang: As with #2, throwing a LOL or IDK into a business e-mail is the quickest way to look unprofessional (and like a teenage girl).
- Don’t use inappropriate language: Again, this is piggybacking off #2 and #3. Swear up a storm in your personal e-mails all you want, but these are prospective clients — the first experience they have with your foul mouth should be in person.
- Try not to use too much text formatting: Italicizing or bolding a word here and there for emphasis is fine, but as not everyone’s e-mail server may even recognize this formatting, it’s generally best to skip it. The same goes for colored text.
