Email marketing can be a powerful tool if you know how to use it the right way. Email campaigns establish and nurture relationships with both current and future customers. In a previous CarCareCONNECT blog, we showed you all that an email campaign can do for your auto shop. Now, we’re here to give you some tips on how to make your campaign the best it can be.

1. Focus on the Subject Line – Believe it or not, the subject line could potentially be the most important part of an email. Your contact usually takes about 2 seconds to decide if they want to open or delete the email based on the subject line. So, stay away from words like “Free!” or “Urgent!” or “Order Now!” People can detect spam so easily these days, so make sure yours is genuine!
2. Stay Away from Flashy Words – Essentially, everything we just said about the subject line applies to the entire email. No one wants to read an email from their mechanic and feel like they are reading a cheap advertisement.
3. Keep it Personal – Who are you writing to? It’s important to know your audience and write something that they can relate to. Once again, it’s important to stay away from any signs of spam mail. That being said, it probably isn’t in your best interest to use things like “Dear FIRSTNAME.LASTNAME.” Just be yourself, and use language that your readers feel comfortable reading. Keeping this in mind, we also recommend staying away from any sort of advanced terminology that your readers wouldn’t understand.
4. Timing is Everything – The time that someone receives an email is a big determinant of whether or not they have enough time to open it and read it. Do most of your customers work full time, or do they stay at home to take care of their kids? Get to know the habits of your customers and determine when you think the most effective time to send them would be. Optimizing the timing of your emails will have a huge impact on how successful the campaign is.
5. Offer something worthwhile – Make it clear what your offer is when you are drafting your subject line and email content. We know it’s easy to talk about your auto shop and why you’re so great, but that’s not what your recipients want to read. Talk about what you can do for them, right away. Offer something worthwhile, something that would make them interested in visiting your auto repair shop.
6. Use a Call-To-Action – What is the point of your email? Obviously you want the recipient to read it, but what do you want them to do after they read it? Remind yourself of the purpose of your email campaign, and make it easy for your recipients to do whatever it is you want them to. For example, if you want your reader to schedule an appointment, give them the link to where they can go do that directly!

Following these tips will get a better open rate, and eventually more customers signing up online. CarCareCONNECT is happy to help your practice with any marketing needs you may have! Call us today at 1-800-591-8675 to find out what else we can offer you!

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