Do you email your customer list?

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toddburme

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Obviously our list is pretty small still but do you send them stuff and how often? I get a postcard from an Inn in Nanatucket that I stayed at in 2001. They send it to me every year. Anyone do that? I always put it aside thinking I will call them or email to get off the list. As i would not go back, and I hate to see them waste the money. Good intentions hahaha.
I was discussing grouping up some customer lists and seeing if we could make a MN B&B frequent flyer program or some such. We all email our lists with the same promotion for say three places. We all draw from one big city so if we had a B&B to the west, one to south etc. Not direct competitors but just giving a previous customer more options. Anyone try this?
Email is so tricky to not spam or irritate our customer.
 
We do an e-mail newsletter a couple times a year. It's important that you use an outside service. You don't want all those e-mails coming from your e-mail account or your will be labeled a spammer. We use YMLP (Your Mailing List Provider), but I know a lot of places use Constant Contact. With these companies, there is a link for the customer to be removed from the list. You can set up different e-mail groups if you want, such as honeymooners, business guests, etc.
Some properties do a monthly newsletter, but personally, I think that's too often. Especially now with Facebook. Those guests who want more communication from you can just "like" your FB page.
 
We have a short email list and we send a newsletter once/month. Opt outs are low (less than 1/per month on ave). About once every 3-4 months I get hit with a spam report from someone who can't figure out how to remove themselves from the list. THAT certainly does it!
You have to know what your market wants. My market is not on Facebook. Overwhelmingly not on FB! So, this is an easy way to let them know what's going on.
I use Constant Contact and the reports are interesting. I like knowing which section of the email gets clicked on to 'read more'. It has helped me immensely to narrow my focus to the things guests really want to know.
Plus, having the guest click a link in the email to read the rest of the story keeps the email itself short and sweet.
I like your idea of a group frequent flyer in your area.
 
I love this place. I can have an idea nd get informed feedback in twenty minutes. You guys are amazing.
I think we will set up the frequent flyer idea sort of a sell made groupon or maaybe market it that way.
"Rather then us give a big cut to Groupon, we thought we would share with you directly." Not sure of the pitch but it could be honed.
 
I love this place. I can have an idea nd get informed feedback in twenty minutes. You guys are amazing.
I think we will set up the frequent flyer idea sort of a sell made groupon or maaybe market it that way.
"Rather then us give a big cut to Groupon, we thought we would share with you directly." Not sure of the pitch but it could be honed..
'You may have heard of Groupon or seen Living Social ads on TV. We thought, 'Why should we pay those companies a pile of money when we could go directly to our best resource- our guests!''
Then you explain what good deal you are giving them. But make it similar...they have to pay in advance, limited time for the promotion, that sort of thing. You could have them buy a GC by a certain date and guarantee they will receive X when they arrive, whenever that is. You could put that on FB and Twitter. No, you won't have the range of LS, etal, but you might bring in some off season income just the same. And, if you are creative enough, your tweet might get picked up and retweeted!
Kind of like the Ethan Allen Furniture ads I've been seeing...buy a $400 gift card for $100. Limited time to redeem. (Altho, again that depends on your state's regs.)
 
its slightly different for us as we have a lot of regular events here so I email them and say "are you comming for Yorkshire show this year? the dates are XXXX book early and directly to get £5 off" or whatever so I don't have to pay commisson which saves me £12 per room. or if you come for 3 nights blah blah etc so I log with each email what they have come for so I can easily search say for Crime Festival and do a mailing. Don't know if you have anything similar going on? also we have events which have exhibitors comming which are all advertised online so I have written to 20 of the exhibitors to see if I can get them to book with us as it means 3 night stay (no changes and no check ins) but Ive written to them on paper rather than emailed to see what comes back. Do you have any events you could co-ordinate with ie band comming? - email band? etc
 
We have an email sign up list at our front desk and make it a point to tell people we will NOT add you to our mailing list simply because you stayed here. I hate all the junk email and snail mail I get from places I stayed at once and will likely never get back to again. This way when our newsletters go out (3-4/year), we're sending to a targeted audience who ASKED to be included. We get very few opt outs.
 
We have an email sign up list at our front desk and make it a point to tell people we will NOT add you to our mailing list simply because you stayed here. I hate all the junk email and snail mail I get from places I stayed at once and will likely never get back to again. This way when our newsletters go out (3-4/year), we're sending to a targeted audience who ASKED to be included. We get very few opt outs..
I had one guy send me an angry email to stop sending this junk to him. He'd been getting the newsletter for a year when I got that. I have no idea what peeved him so much that he opted out.
 
Are state rules different for "Opt In/Opt Out"? I know around here it has to be that they give us permission to put their names on our list. I don't know about anywhere else.
 
We have an email sign up list at our front desk and make it a point to tell people we will NOT add you to our mailing list simply because you stayed here. I hate all the junk email and snail mail I get from places I stayed at once and will likely never get back to again. This way when our newsletters go out (3-4/year), we're sending to a targeted audience who ASKED to be included. We get very few opt outs..
I had one guy send me an angry email to stop sending this junk to him. He'd been getting the newsletter for a year when I got that. I have no idea what peeved him so much that he opted out.
.
Sometimes it just builds up, you get too many things in a row that you feel are clogging your inbox and they just get mad. Today Unsubscribe it pretty straight forward for most places, but you still get the occasional company who says they've unsubscribed you but then you keep getting their DAILY emails (I'm looking at you, JCPENNY)!
 
We have an email sign up list at our front desk and make it a point to tell people we will NOT add you to our mailing list simply because you stayed here. I hate all the junk email and snail mail I get from places I stayed at once and will likely never get back to again. This way when our newsletters go out (3-4/year), we're sending to a targeted audience who ASKED to be included. We get very few opt outs..
I had one guy send me an angry email to stop sending this junk to him. He'd been getting the newsletter for a year when I got that. I have no idea what peeved him so much that he opted out.
.
Sometimes it just builds up, you get too many things in a row that you feel are clogging your inbox and they just get mad. Today Unsubscribe it pretty straight forward for most places, but you still get the occasional company who says they've unsubscribed you but then you keep getting their DAILY emails (I'm looking at you, JCPENNY)!
.
Don Draper said:
but then you keep getting their DAILY emails (I'm looking at you, JCPENNY)!
And Buy.com
 
Are state rules different for "Opt In/Opt Out"? I know around here it has to be that they give us permission to put their names on our list. I don't know about anywhere else..
Penelope said:
Are state rules different for "Opt In/Opt Out"? I know around here it has to be that they give us permission to put their names on our list. I don't know about anywhere else.
It's a national standard. http://www.fcc.gov/guides/spam-unwanted-text-messages-and-email
 
Are state rules different for "Opt In/Opt Out"? I know around here it has to be that they give us permission to put their names on our list. I don't know about anywhere else..
Penelope said:
Are state rules different for "Opt In/Opt Out"? I know around here it has to be that they give us permission to put their names on our list. I don't know about anywhere else.
It's a national standard. http://www.fcc.gov/guides/spam-unwanted-text-messages-and-email
.
Alibi Ike said:
Penelope said:
Are state rules different for "Opt In/Opt Out"? I know around here it has to be that they give us permission to put their names on our list. I don't know about anywhere else.
It's a national standard. http://www.fcc.gov/guides/spam-unwanted-text-messages-and-email
I wasn't sure.
Thanks!
 
We have an email sign up list at our front desk and make it a point to tell people we will NOT add you to our mailing list simply because you stayed here. I hate all the junk email and snail mail I get from places I stayed at once and will likely never get back to again. This way when our newsletters go out (3-4/year), we're sending to a targeted audience who ASKED to be included. We get very few opt outs..
I had one guy send me an angry email to stop sending this junk to him. He'd been getting the newsletter for a year when I got that. I have no idea what peeved him so much that he opted out.
.
we only send one email once a year when we know they are comming to a particular event so don't have this problem so much (2 opt outs in 6 years) have actually had people compliament me on my mailing ie we were just starting to look for somewhere to stay close to the event and we got your mailing so we were all sorted. I have found about 3 months out is when people start looking for an event unless they come every year and then they book as they leave or they start looking in january (doesn't matter when the event is) think it is a new year thing.
 
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