Update 3-29-10: Since only 18 entrants participated in this Giveaway, there is no free prize to be awarded. Thank you to those who participated and sorry that there couldn’t be a winner. But folks, read the comments anyway. There’s some valuable info there for us all.
Happy Wednesday! And it’s Wacky Wednesday too…how lucky can we get??
Wacky Weds is our free Giveaway for consignment, resale, and thrift shop owners/ managers.
This week’s question for consignment and resale shopkeepers, which makes you eligible for our free Giveaway is:
Share with us (as short or long as you like) your experiences contacting your clientele via email.
- What do you tell them?
- How often?
- Which graphical email provider do you use (or do you not use a service?)
- How and where do you collect email addresses?
- What puzzles you about the whole process?
- How have you learned (via statistics for opens and clicks or via people actually coming in to your shop) to do better?
- If you used to do it and have slacked off, why?
- If you DON’T have a planned email campaign, why not?
This week’s Giveaway: A free copy of The Constant Contact Guide to Email Marketing. Direct from Kate’s library of resources to help the reale industry.
Read the rules for our giveaway. Your comment must be posted by midnight Eastern time Sunday March 28 and we must have at least 20 entries (so contact your resale buddies and ask them to enter too!) Read previous Wacky Wednesday entries and GREAT responses from consignment, thrift, and resale shopkeepers.
Auntie Kate The Resale Expert 
Yes, they do allow a sign-up box. I’ve just had trouble getting it to work properly, so I pulled it off my website. I should really figure it out and get it back on there. Thanks for providing the email address. I’ll add you to our mailing list.
@FashionSafari: Thanks, that’s a new supplier to me. Don’t they allow you to put a sign-up box on your site…or did I overlook it? I love to get shops’ emails, so anyone, everyone, feel free to add sarasotakate@yahoo.com to your email recipient list, if you have one!
I try and send out an email newsletter at least twice a month via mynewsletterbuilder.com. The email addresses are collected from new consignors agreements and I also have a clipboard on the counter for customers to sign up for email notifications. My newsletter includes info about new merchandise or product lines that I’m carrying, consignments wanted, special events or promotions, announcements for our online shopping, and sometimes a store coupon. It’s time consuming to physically type in all the email addresses and come up with creative newsletters that will attract attention, but I think it’s worth it in the long run. Mynewsletterbuilder has a reports feature that allows me to see exactly who has opened the emails and also who has clicked on any links that I have in the email (there’s always a link to my website). Just wish I had more time to be even more creative with it.
@Kerri: Email subject lines examples and pointers and lots more coming, coming. I’ve been collecting and adapting ideas for years and hope to get it all in some usable form soon.
And of course, subject lines/ ad headlines/ blog entries and Tweets and heck, signs throughout your shop will be the subject of my afternoon workshop at NARTS Conference: Creating Compelling Communications. My morning workshop is Defining Success: What Does it Mean for You? which will be an examination of how easily and lightly you can achieve REAL success.
Hope to see you at both workshops!