Biggest Mistakes To Avoid With Email Newsletter Ads

If you’re running a successful email campaign, you may think that earning some extra cash from your newsletter via sponsors is the next logical step.

Monetizing your newsletter with email advertising may seem like a no-brainer; however, it can ruin a successful email campaign if it's not carried out effectively. With 37% of brands increasing their email budget, it’s clear that there’s money to be made from newsletters–but how can newsletter ads be managed correctly to ensure you’re getting the best outcome without risking a healthy campaign?

In this guide, we’ll provide you with some insight into the most common mistakes that marketers make when using email advertising in their campaigns. We’ll set you on the right track for monetizing your newsletters, and we’ll cover other errors to avoid when it comes to creating a newsletter, using email automation, and email marketing in general.

What Email Marketing Mistakes Should Be Avoided?

Let’s get straight into it. Here are our top five mistakes that you should avoid when it comes to using email advertising in your newsletters–and some tips for staying on the right track.

Choosing Irrelevant Sponsors

The biggest mistake to avoid when advertising brands via your newsletter is choosing irrelevant sponsors. Showing your loyal subscriber base adverts for brands that are completely unconnected to yours, or that your subscribers are very unlikely to be interested in, can break the trust that your audience has in you. In the worst case scenario, it may even cause a subscriber to click the unsubscribe button.

Here’s an example. You’re a vegan recipe brand, and you’ve been approached for sponsorship by a large, well-known brand that sells products that aren’t vegan. While this may be tempting for financial reasons, your audience will not take kindly to this kind of advertising. They would be likely to switch off from future content you send them, as your brand could be deemed inauthentic.

Make sure to avoid taking on sponsorship deals with companies that don’t align with your brand/subscribers, and do your best to choose sponsors that could be connected with yours in some way - e.g. vegan subscription boxes if you run a vegan recipe brand.

Avoid Spam Content

Another top tip when it comes to email advertising is to avoid spam content in any adverts that you produce.

Your adverts should blend seamlessly with the rest of the content in your email and should be free from overly sales-related language and bright colors.

Spam content to avoid includes the following:

• Buzzwords such as ‘sale’, ‘free’, or ‘win’ - These words can flag spam filters and aren’t a great look for your newsletter.

• Content that is repeated constantly - Offer your subscribers a range of advertisers so that your adverts look natural rather than repetitive.

• Bright colors and fonts - This type of content tends to be used to draw attention, but generally comes across as unprofessional and spammy.

Publishing Too Many Adverts

Avoid using too many adverts when monetizing an email campaign, and use ads sparingly. An email that is stacked full of adverts isn’t going to be appealing to your followers, and may even lead them to unsubscribe.

It’s also worth thinking of the sponsor in this situation. If a brand is one of many that is advertising via your newsletters, chances are that they’ll be diluted amongst all the other advertisers and won’t achieve the results they want from the sponsorship.

It’s more effective for both you and the sponsor to choose a few key advertisers that align with your brand values, and that your subscribers will react well to, rather than lots of brands that are unlikely to produce good results.

There’s no set amount of adverts that are recommended for a newsletter, as it largely depends on how long your newsletter is. Make sure that the majority of your content is based on your brand, with a few relevant adverts embedded seamlessly within the content.

Not Placing Adverts Correctly

Where you place your adverts within your emails is very important, and using bad advert placement can significantly affect the results of your email campaign.

For example, if you’re placing adverts at the top of an email, they should be small and unobtrusive so as to not distract from the rest of the email content. You can place larger adverts lower down in your newsletter, or even better–dedicate a specific, relevant space in each of your email templates to a sponsor.

This will provide a consistent area for monetization that flows well with the rest of the content.

Adverts Are Too Big

Speaking of size, the last mistake to avoid when using email advertising is using overly large adverts.

Email templates are limited in space, and we don’t recommend filling up your whole template with large, obtrusive adverts that detract from the primary objective of your email.

Choose smaller adverts and slot them into sidebars or headers. If you want to run a large advert space, choose an area that is further down in your email as a dedicated advert placement.

Which Common Mistakes Do You Want To Avoid When Creating Your Newsletter?

When creating your newsletter, there are some common mistakes that you’ll want to avoid to ensure that the content is appealing to your subscribers and effective in its results.

Here are a few common issues to avoid when creating your next email newsletter:

• Too much text - There’s nothing worse than a newsletter that is filled with reams and reams of content. This can be visually off-putting and overwhelming to the reader. Save lots of text for your blog, which you can link to via your newsletter, and make sure the language you use is simple and to the point.

• No focus/goal - Sending a newsletter without focus is unlikely to generate tangible results unless you’re purely looking for exposure with an email campaign. Target your newsletter around a clear goal - you could even use audience segmentation with this to improve targeting.

• Boring subject lines - Make sure to think of a punchy subject line to attract attention and encourage your subscriber to open your email. Boring subject lines will make your email blend in with all of the others your audience receives daily, so make sure yours stands out.

• Poor design - If your email is badly designed, this will have a negative impact on how your brand is perceived and will be off-putting to your subscribers. Keep your newsletters looking professional with a well-designed email template - you can even use one of the pre-populated designs within beehiiv!

• Lack of Call To Action (CTA) - If your newsletter doesn’t have a CTA that subscribers can use to further interact with your brand, they’re very likely to disengage with your brand as soon as they’ve read your email. Direct users to your website or social media channels with a relevant CTA, such as ‘Find Out More’ or ‘Shop Now’.

What Are the Disadvantages of Email Advertising?

There are some disadvantages of email advertising that you should be aware of before you go heavy on an advertising campaign.

The first is that there’s a chance of compromising your subscriber list if advertising is carried out incorrectly. Your audience has subscribed to receiving content from your brand, not third-party advertisers, so if this content is irrelevant/overly sales-related it’s likely to turn them off from your brand altogether.

You may also find that your emails are more likely to be marked as spam–particularly if you’re featuring adverts with lots of discounts or giveaways. Be careful as to what kind of content you use in advertising placements to avoid your email falling into subscriber’s spam folders.

What Is a Common Mistake in Email Marketing Automation?

Email marketing automation is common when it comes to monetizing an email newsletter, and there are a few points to be careful of when it comes to automating your campaigns.

Here are a few common mistakes to avoid when it comes to email marketing automation:

Sending Too Many Emails Too Soon

When it comes to automation, it can be very tempting to send out thousands of emails at once to achieve optimum exposure for a campaign.

This can be highly detrimental to a campaign, if done incorrectly, as you can significantly damage your brand reputation and your unsubscribe rate can increase rapidly.

A good tip is to warm up an email list gradually before sending out lots of emails - here are some top tips on warming up your email domain to reduce the risk of hitting that dreaded spam folder.

Overlooking Performance

Automating an email campaign can make you overlook its performance and fail to measure results, particularly if the purpose of automation is to save you time and allow you to focus on other areas of your business.

Don’t set up a schedule and forget about it completely. Yes, automation is there to help you work more efficiently, but you still want to ensure your campaigns are achieving the best results for your brand–so don’t get complacent when it comes to the performance of your newsletters.

Email Schedule Is Too Robotic

The last mistake to avoid when it comes to email automation is a robotic schedule. There’s nothing wrong with ensuring your subscribers know when they’ll hear from you, but keeping your schedule too regimented can cause your brand to appear boring and stale.

It’s best to have a rough schedule when general emails go out, with some more sporadic emails sent out in between to keep things fresh and spontaneous.

How beehiiv Can Help

If you’re feeling stuck on monetizing your email newsletter and need some help, look no further than beehiiv. We specialize in helping our customers run fantastic email newsletter advertising campaigns, enabling them to earn money from their newsletters via sponsorship while adhering to the beautiful campaigns that their subscribers are used to receiving.

With the beehiiv newsletter platform, you can monetize your newsletter via advert placements, affiliate marketing, and even our new ad network program. The ad network allows you to feature logos from some of the world’s largest companies, providing routine payouts and giving your newsletter a more professional edge.

Sign up for a free trial with beehiiv today to see how it works!