Email 101 Fail – How to Fail at Email Marketing

It’s amazing to me how many large companies fail on fairly basic marketing campaigns. This one, by Macallan Whiskey, is a great example of how to fail at email marketing.

The Backstory

A couple of times a year, Macallan comes to Austin and has a free tasting event.  Free food and free tasty, single malt whiskey = I’m there.  It’s a never miss event for me. They are having another series of these events in a couple of weeks and I’m already registered for it. I attended the last one sometime last year.

So when I got this email, I assumed it was for the upcoming event. I was wrong. It is a thank you for attending the last one. I should have been thanked within days of attending, not six months later. –

Failure #1 – Your email should be timely

Click the image to see the full-size image.

Failure #2 –Make sure your customer can read your email

The “if you are having a hard time reading this email, click here to view in a browser” message is microscopic and impossible to read.  I did a copy and paste to find out what it said.

Failure #3 – Personalize the message

Personalization isn’t a must with email marketing but if you’re going to do it, do it right. Macallen’s team was off to a good start by creating a dynamic field to insert my first name but somehow there is a disconnect because they didn’t actually insert my name. Yes, they have it.

Failure #4 – Is this really what they intended to say?

Perhaps I should take this one personally. The body of the email says that I should look for invitations to upcoming events. I am still waiting for the invite to the next event. I found out about next week’s event on an events website.  They will be sold out shortly if they aren’t already.

Failure #5 –Don’t forget the site impaired and that some email clients block images automatically

They did a pretty poor job of planning for those who cannot see the image. There is some alt-text but it isn’t the full message.
“Thank you for joining us at Raise The Macallan.  We hope you enjoyed the evening and have developed a new appreciation for The Macallan.  Keep an eye out for updates and event invitations from The Macallan in the future.”

This is pretty much an email 101 fail.  Macallan I am so disappointed!

Don’t make these mistakes and fail at email marketing!