6 Email Marketing Blunders to Avoid at All Costs

A benchmark study by Bluecore finds that personalization increases email click-through rates by 139%. Another Campaign Monitor study finds 94% of marketers said personalization is “extremely important” for meeting their email marketing objectives. No doubt about it, personalized email marketing, when executed correctly, can yield exceptional results.

But what about when personalization goes wrong, like really wrong? When it fails, your email becomes irrelevant or even insulting, significantly decreasing engagement and trust. And we’re not just talking missed opportunities; these types of blunders can actively harm your reputation for future campaigns.

6 Common Email Marketing Blunders to Avoid

In this article, we’ll explore some of the most common (and most damaging) email marketing pitfalls to avoid and the steps you can take to avoid them

1. Mismatched Variables: A Personalized Email Gone Wrong

Is anyone out there named [First Name]? Anyone?

Mismatched variables are among the most frequent and embarrassing mistakes in email marketing. Emails addressed to "Dear [First Name]" or referencing a company the recipient doesn’t work for will more than likely be immediately deleted (after being laughed at) and will make the recipient feel like just another number in your database (and thus less likely to open any future emails from you).

Why It Happens:

• Poor data hygiene: When contact records are incomplete or inconsistent, automated personalization fields (like [First Name] or [Company Name]) pull incorrect or missing information.
• Template errors: If your email marketing software isn’t properly configured, variables may fail to populate correctly.

The IndustrySelect Difference: IndustrySelect data is meticulously researched and verified, providing accurate and complete records. This ensures that variables like names, titles, and company names are always populated correctly, allowing you to focus on crafting a compelling message rather than worrying about data errors.

2. Encoding Errors: The Hidden Killer of Credibility

Ever receive one of these?

“Hi Bob,

I am reaching out to express my genuine interest in exploring potential collaboration opportunities with Manufacturers'​ News, Inc.”

Say whaaaaat?

While slightly less obvious than Dear [First Name], this is an equally damaging pitfall in email marketing: the encoding error. These occur when special characters—such as smart quotes, apostrophes, or non-standard punctuation—don’t translate properly, resulting in garbled text like “Manufacturers'​ News, Inc.”

Why It Happens:

• UTF-8 encoding: Many email platforms default to UTF-8 encoding, which can’t always handle special characters used in names or company fields.
• Poor data standardization: If your data contains non-standard characters, these issues are almost inevitable.

The IndustrySelect Difference: IndustrySelect uses standardized, UTF-8-free company names and contact details, ensuring that your emails look polished and professional every time. This level of attention to data hygiene eliminates the risk of embarrassing encoding errors.

3. Misspelled or Incorrect Company Names: A Branding Blunder

Nothing undermines an email’s credibility faster than addressing a recipient with the wrong company name—or worse, a placeholder like “Company Name.” These mistakes make it clear that your outreach is generic and not tailored to the recipient’s unique circumstances.

Why It Happens:

• Outdated data: If your database hasn’t been updated, it may contain old or incorrect company names.
• Manual errors: Inconsistent or sloppy data entry can result in misspelled names or placeholders being left in your records.
The Impact:

Mistakes like these can lead to outright rejection of your email. One HubSpot report found that 60% of respondents say email marketing has influenced their purchasing decisions. With odds like these, your campaign can’t afford to fumble its first impression—accuracy and personalization are everything when it comes to winning trust and engaging your audience.

The IndustrySelect Difference: IndustrySelect data is updated regularly and verified for accuracy. You can trust that the company names in your emails are current and correct, helping you make a positive impression from the first line.

4. Unpolished Formatting: Sloppiness That Stands Out

Formatting issues, such as inconsistent capitalization, extra spaces, or poor alignment, may seem minor—but they can have a major impact on how your email is perceived. For instance, writing “acme corp” instead of “Acme Corp.” can make your email look unprofessional.

Why It Happens:

• Lack of standardization: Without standardized data formatting, inconsistencies are almost guaranteed.
• Automation hiccups: Automated systems can introduce formatting errors when pulling data from non-uniform sources.

The Impact:

Even small errors can create a negative impression. According to Adobe’s Email Usage Study, 26% of consumers say poor formatting makes emails less trustworthy.

The IndustrySelect Difference: IndustrySelect data adheres to strict formatting standards, ensuring consistency across fields like company names, job titles, and addresses. This attention to detail enhances the professionalism of your outreach.

5. Lack of Context or Relevance: A Missed Opportunity

Personalization isn’t just about names and titles—it’s about showing you understand your audience. Generic templates that fail to address the recipient’s industry, challenges, or specific needs are easily ignored.

Why It Happens:

• Insufficient data: If your database lacks information about industries or job functions, it’s difficult to tailor your message effectively.
• Lack of segmentation: Sending the same message to every contact, regardless of their role or company, makes it feel impersonal.

The Impact:

Personalized emails that address a recipient’s specific needs perform 6x better than generic ones, according to one study by Experian. A lack of relevance can result in low open and click-through rates.

The IndustrySelect Difference: IndustrySelect goes beyond basic contact details, offering insights into industries, job titles, and company characteristics. This enables you to segment your audience and craft highly targeted messages that resonate.

6. Non-Standardized Titles – When Scraped Data Makes You Sound Ridiculous

Some marketers attempt to "personalize" email campaigns by scraping data directly from platforms like LinkedIn, grabbing whatever titles or roles appear on someone’s profile. While this approach seems like a shortcut to effective personalization, it often backfires due to a lack of title standardization. Instead of looking professional, the resulting outreach can come across as awkward, inaccurate, or downright laughable.

Take as an example this email Kati, MNI's Brand Ambassador recently received:

“Hi Kati,

Brand Ambassador for IndustrySelect & IndustryNet MNIs often tell me they need to find a better way to convert more of their traffic and build better pipeline. Open to see a better way?"

Clearly, this email was not created with care or thought. Instead, it appears to have scraped Kati’s LinkedIn title word-for-word, awkward phrasing and all. Adding unnecessary qualifiers like "for IndustrySelect & IndustryNet MNIs" or leaving in long-winded titles like “Senior Vice President of Global Strategic Operations” does not make an email sound professional; it makes it sound preposterous.

The Impact:

Emails like this fail to instill confidence. They demonstrate a lack of professionalism and polish, suggesting to the recipient that the sender didn’t invest the time to craft their outreach properly. Instead of feeling like a valued lead, the recipient feels like just another name in a giant, unvetted list. This approach damages trust and credibility, often resulting in instant deletion.

The IndustrySelect Difference: With IndustrySelect, you get standardized titles that ensure clarity, professionalism, and consistency across all of your email campaigns. Instead of cumbersome, scraped phrases like “Brand Ambassador for IndustrySelect & IndustryNet MNIs,” IndustrySelect simplifies it to just “Brand Ambassador.” This level of standardization allows your emails to sound polished, direct, and respectful—keeping the focus on your message rather than distracting errors.

Standardized titles also ensure that you’re targeting the right decision-makers with the appropriate level of precision. No more vague or irrelevant outreach—just clean, accurate data that enhances your credibility and makes your campaign truly stand out.

Clean Data: The Foundation of Successful Email Marketing

Personalization mistakes are almost always the result of poor-quality data. Clean, accurate, and well-organized information is essential for avoiding these pitfalls and ensuring your emails make a positive impression.

IndustrySelect’s industrial business profiles are researched firsthand by a dedicated research team, ensuring unmatched accuracy in the market (you can see how our process works in this infographic). And with up to 40 data points per company profile, you have all the relevant information you need to get the right message to the right people (see a sample profile). Say goodbye to personalization mishaps and hello to successful email campaigns. Set up your free demo account today, loaded with 500 real company profiles so you can test all the features of this powerful software.