Making assumptions in general are always dangerous! Assumptions related to your email marketing list can seriously damage the long-term success of an email program.

The basic beliefs about how our emails work aren’t as self-evident as we’d like to believe, In some ways, many businesses operate in the dark. And all the while revenues are dwindling without us realising… Here are a few assumptions you should keep a handle on!

You read more into the customer relationship than actually exists. Unfortunately,the word ‘relationship’ creates images of long-term loyalty and selflessness. It seduces us into assuming a level of devotion that simply doesn’t exist among email subscribers. If you need proof, compare the open/response rates of the last 10 emails sent to customers with those sent to your family and friends.

You believe subscribers use email just like you do. The email marketing ‘community’ is, are relative tech-savvy with busy email accounts. It’s easy to imagine our subscribers are the same. But they may not be.

You forget that subscribers also receive messages from your competitors. You believe that 20% discount offer sounds spectacular, especially when you compare it to your previous offers — but it won’t stand out in your customers inbox if everyone else has the same idea. The value of what you send depends on the absolute quality of your content/offer AND on its quality relative to what others might be sending and especially how it is relative to the needs and wants of your database.

What are we getting at? Take a good step back and a good look. Take the time to consider how unfounded assumptions can drive bad decisions in the whirlwind of ongoing email campaigns and you will succeed where others do not.