Email marketing is still a viable way to reach your customers. But it’s important to use some common sense to make sure that customer who trusted you enough to give your their email, stays a trusting customer. In a split second, you can lose your credibility and in turn, the customer. Here are just a couple of examples that landed in my email box this week.

1. Email is sent to you, but is personalized for someone else.

Mail from Joe Lunghamer Chevrolet has been landing in my email box for a few months now and I’ve been automatically deleting it. The other day I finally found an opt out link — I hope it works. There are some big problems with this email. First is that it was sent to my email address and I never opted in. And I’m not their customer either. I haven’t owned a Chevy for I don’t know how long — maybe never — and this dealership is located in Waterford, Michigan. I live in Florida. Plus this email is addressed to “Dear Gene.”

Here’s an email marketing tip for you: Allow double opt in so your email customers can agree to getting email from you. And make sure you give them a clear option for opting out. (I use Aweber for my email marketing which requires both double opt in and an unsubscribe link on every email.)

2. Email announcing an event is sent two minutes before it starts.

I kid you not. I had signed up for Oprah’s new network (OWN) announcements out of curiosity. This email announcing the premier of the new series, “Your OWN Show,” was sent to me two minutes before the show began.

Here’s an email marketing tip for you. Don’t assume your email customers are sitting at their computers waiting for you. That’s pretty naive. Emails that arrive at the last minute serve you, not your customers. (To be fair, OWN isn’t the only last minute announcement email I’ve received lately. They are getting more and more common.)

What kind of mistakes are you seeing in your email in box? Please share in the comments.

P.S. You can get my 26 week free email marketing course here.