A recent conversation thread on TheVintageVillage.com posted by fellow dealer, Helen Gilbert from Catisfaction on Ruby Lane, asked “Do you add customers to a mailing list?”  Great topic!  Concerns about negative feedback from customers and questions about legal and spam guidelines offset the allure of free and easy promotion for a shop.  One of the most important things I’ve learned about running a small on-line business is that you want to keep your customers happy and coming back.  E-mail marketing is one of the easiest ways to keep in touch with your past customers!  You can share news about your shop and your recent finds, give a tip on vintage jewelry care or a short history of a designer, offer a customer-only special or just let them know about your current sale—in other words, keep your shop fresh in their mind and entice them to come back and shop some more.

I have been keeping email addresses of my customers since my shop opened in February, 2011 and sending out a monthly E-mail.  Nothing fancy, just letting them know about my current month’s sale promotion and providing links to subscribe to my shop on Ruby Lane, my Facebook and Twitter links, and a link to my other shop on Ruby Plaza.  I always include a note at the bottom that says they are receiving the E-mail because they are a past customer of my shop and letting them know they can unsubscribe.  Also important is always using the Blind Copy (BCC:) feature to keep the E-mail addresses private.  I’ve had success with this approach and it has resulted in several returning customers.  Still, I wanted to jazz it up, but I have no knowledge of how to create colorful graphics or cool templates.

As a result of the thread noted above, I started using a free service for creating E-mail marketing campaigns on MailChimp.com.  Not only do they provide templates for creating your own E-mails, but there is a wealth of information about marketing do’s and don’ts, how-to guides, information on the federal CAN-SPAM Act and loads of reports about your E-mail campaign.  You must be familiar with the federal law governing E-mail marketing known as the CAN-SPAM Act and MailChimp.com makes sure your E-mail campaign has all the required information.

As a quick summary, your customers should be asked to opt-in to your E-mail address list (people don’t like to get E-mail they didn’t ask for, that’s considered ‘spam’ and you definitely don’t want to be a spammer).  Your E-mail should not contain false claims or overly exaggerated advertising.  You must include an ‘unsubscribe’ option and your business address must be included in the email. 

I sent my first MailChimp.com E-mail marketing campaign at the beginning of January, 2012.  I am getting ready for my February campaign.  The quality and quantity of reporting from MailChimp.com is impressive and free (did I mention that?).  Stay tuned for my next article on the success of my E-mail marketing campaigns and the great information provided by MailChimp.com.

Submitted by:

Lisa Sullivan

Suzy's Timeless Treasures