Why These Email Marketing Mistakes Are Hurting Your Campaigns

Email marketing is still one of the best ways to connect with your audience, but it’s easy to get things wrong. Even experienced marketers make mistakes that can lead to low open rates, high unsubscribe rates, and emails going straight to spam.

If your email campaigns aren’t performing as well as you’d like, it might be because of a few simple missteps. Here are five of the most common email marketing mistakes and how we recommend you fix them.

1. Not Cleaning Your Email List Regularly

Your email list is not a numbers game—it’s about quality, not quantity. Many businesses hold onto inactive subscribers, invalid email addresses, or spam traps, which can hurt deliverability.

If you keep sending email blasts to people who never open your emails, inbox providers like Gmail and Outlook will assume your content isn’t valuable—making it harder to reach engaged subscribers.

How to Fix It:

• Remove inactive subscribers who haven’t opened an email in 6+ months (unless they’re past customers).
• Use re-engagement campaigns to win back inactive subscribers before removing them.

If your bounce rate is over 2%, or your open rate is below 30%, it’s time to clean up your list.

2. Failing to Optimise Email Send Frequency

Sending too many emails can overwhelm your subscribers, leading to high unsubscribe rates. But sending too few emails can cause low engagement, as people forget about your brand. Finding the right balance is key to maintaining engagement without annoying your audience.

How to Fix It:

• Test different sending frequencies to see what works best for your audience.
• Use segmentation in email flows to ensure frequent touchpoints with engaged subscribers while reducing emails to inactive contacts.
• Monitor unsubscribe and complaint rates—if they increase after an email campaign, you might be sending too often.

If your unsubscribe rate is above 1% or your spam complaint rate exceeds 0.2%, you may be sending emails too frequently.

3. Overcomplicating Your Email Design

If your email takes too long to load, is cluttered, or doesn’t work well on mobile, people will ignore it. Over 50% of emails are opened on mobile, so your design must be clean and easy to read on any device

How to Fix It:

• Do not use more than a 2 column  layout to keep things easy to read.
• ‍Stick to 1-2 fonts and avoid excessive bold or italic text.
• Compress images to improve load speed on mobile.
• ‍Make CTA buttons large enough for easy tapping.

If mobile open rates are high but clicks are low, your emails may not be user-friendly.

Weak Subject Lines That Don’t Grab Attention

Your subject line is the first thing subscribers see—if it doesn’t grab attention, they won’t open your email.

Common mistakes include:

• ❌ Too long (gets cut off on mobile)
• ❌ Too vague (“Newsletter #14” won’t get clicks)
• ‍❌ Overly salesy (spammy phrases like “Act Now!!!”)

How to Fix It:

• Keep it under 50 characters so it’s fully visible on mobile.
• Create curiosity without being clickbait (e.g., “The mistake killing your email sales”).
• Use personalisation (e.g., “John, your exclusive offer is inside!”).

If your open rate is below 30%, your subject lines aren’t working.

5. Not Having a Clear Call-to-Action (CTA)

Every email should have ONE main goal—whether it’s getting subscribers to shop a sale, read a blog, or sign up for an event. If your email doesn’t tell people what to do next, they won’t take action.

A common mistake is having too many conflicting CTAs, which confuses readers. If you give too many choices, they might not click at all.

How to Fix It:

• Have ONE clear CTA per email (e.g., “Shop Now” or “Read More”).
• Make your CTA buttons stand out with a bright color.
• Place the CTA above the fold (near the top, so people see it right away).

If your click-through rate is below 1%, your CTA isn’t compelling enough.

Next Steps to Improve Your Email Marketing

• Review your last email campaigns and check for these mistakes.
• A/B test subject lines and CTAs to see what works best.
• Regularly clean your email list to remove unengaged subscribers.
• Ensure emails work on mobile and load quickly.
• Track open rates and click-through rates to measure success.

Need expert help optimisng your email strategy? Book a call today!

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