Email marketing is still one of the most effective forms of marketing a small business can participate in. Think about how many times you check your email during the day. But, if you want your email marketing to work, make sure you’re not falling for any one of these critical mistakes.

1. Boring Subject Lines

The subject line is the main element that is going to convince the majority of your subscribers to either open your email or ignore it altogether, so there’s no wonder that you need to write an interesting one. However, many businesses fail to craft appealing subject lines, much less test them!

2. Not Split Testing

Split testing is an important tool for figuring out what parts of an email campaign can be improved. When used correctly, you can learn important stats for future campaigns to continuously improve your open rates and engagement. For instance, figuring out which subject line gets the most opens (with name vs. without a name, etc.) can do wonders for your results.

While most services have this feature these days, many people still don’t use it, and that’s a big mistake.

3. Plain Text Emails

If you aren’t including graphics in your emails, you are practically asking for people to click back to their inbox the second they open it. People need big bold headings, clear and concise text, and images that help give context to your message. People are busy and they won’t waste time with an email that doesn’t instantly grab their attention.

Speaking of which, you only have about 8 seconds to do so once they open your email, so be sure the first few lines really pique their interest. The whole thing should be able to be digested in 30 to 60 seconds or less, with links to more information should they desire it.

4. Not Using Video

Video is the most highly converting form of content on the internet, and with most in-boxes being video ready, you’re making a mistake if you are not including it in your email campaigns. When a video cannot be embedded directly into an email, use a gif from the video and link directly to the video to get people to watch it.

Video is a fantastic way to turn readers into buyers, so use it every chance you can to share more information about your products or services than anyone would ever dare read. By doing so, you can increase engagement and improve your conversion rates.