When speaking of Direct Response Marketing there is not a faster, more efficient or cost-effective way to reach your top prospects than an email marketing campaign. Utilizing email as your message delivery vehicle allows you to target an audience that is ready to hear the message you have to deliver. The goal, as with any marketing copy, is to grab the reader's attention, appeal to their emotions so that when they react positively to your call to action they can immediately justify their decision.

Opt-In Email marketing campaigns are ideal, as your audience has willingly opted to accept your communication - you can be absolutely certain that you're speaking to your target market. Unfortunately the venue does have its common every day difficulties, as many fail to realize that email communication is much different than any other.

What might be acceptable copywriting practices in print or on a web page can turn a prospective customer away in an email marketing campaign. These common mistakes; however, are easily fixed if one realizes what to look for.

Mistake #1 – Repetitive Statements and Redundant Information

This particular mistake is most common in opt-in email marketing campaigns that consist of long sales copy. When constructing lengthy copy it's very easy to ramble needlessly or to repeat a certain point you're trying to make over and over again. The key to keeping your reader's attention is by clearly communicating your message and give her every reason to act on your offer. Redundancy opens the opportunity to hit the delete button and move on to another email marketing offer.

The solution to this mistake is to edit your email marketing copy as many times as necessary so that the message you send is one that your reader will read. Once you've finished scour the pages for areas that contain unnecessary or repetitive information. Look for areas where you may have stated the same thing in a different fashion elsewhere. The bottom line is that you want your email marketing campaign to deliver your prospects copy that is well written, speaks to your target market and compels your prospective customer to take action.

Mistake #2: Your message is impersonal and lacks a conversational tone

The text you deliver must speak to your prospective customer in a way that he or she feels like you're speaking to them face to face. As you create your email marketing copy mentally place yourself in a conversation with the recipient, pay attention to the flow of the conversation and anticipate her objections by providing answers one by one. Provide details of your product's features and benefits – utilize the Unique Selling Proposition.

Mistake #3: You relentlessly focus on grammatical errors in the written text.

When was the last time you really listened to yourself speak during a conversation with a friend or colleague? Natural flow and conversational tone is what adds quality to your email marketing campaign. Quite frankly, if you were to pay close attention to your next conversation I would bet that you'd realize we speak to others naturally and ignore the rules of grammar. Your readers will stay interested if they feel as if there's a real human being behind the email they've received they will click the delete button if they envision a robot.

Mistake #4: Failure to emphasize text with punctuation.

Often email marketing campaigns are launched and the marketer has the concept that the same rules used for emphasis in printed text - bold, italic and underlining – apply to the email marketing message. Unfortunately this concept is incorrect, as readers have a difficult time reading the text – this mistake will definitely land your email message in trash.

In the email marketing campaign, punctuation is a great tool to help deliver your message. Using quotations for emphasis can help the flow of your message and help maintain that conversational flow you're searching for. Punctuation can also keep the momentum of your message so that when it's time to act she will take action without hesitation.

Mistake #5: Your message lacks excitement and energy.

How many times have you gotten excited about something in your life and called a friend to talk about it? When you began telling the story were your words lacking emotion and monotone? I would be inclined to say the answer to that question is no…am I right? In order to get your customer excited about your email marketing message you have to get excited. The message you deliver should be filled with text that clearly provides the picture of how passionate you are about your offer.

A good way to get in this mode is to think back to your best buying experience and pick out the positive aspects of that experience. What did the sales person say to make you want to buy or what did you read that made you want to take action?

Finally, if you can correct these five mistakes in your email marketing campaign you've laid a great foundation for quality copy. Your customers must be able to identify with you as an individual so that they feel compelled to follow your advice. If she feels as if you're speaking to her directly, the chances of taking action are greatly increased.