Email marketing is a cost-effective solution that gives you the power to reach customers in a place most people visit every day – their inbox.

Be sure to stay in compliance with the CAN-SPAM Act and basic email hygiene so your emails do not go up-opened, marked as SPAM by consumers or automatically delivered as SPAM to an inbox.  There is such a thing as “email jail” and you do not want to be a part of it.

In order to remain compliant with the CAN-SPAM Act, we recommend that you use an email service provider.  Email service providers may come with your Dealer Management System (DMS) or you can decide to use systems like Constant Contact, Emma Email Marketing, Mail Chimp, etc….

Email Marketing 101 Tips

  • Subject lines count to your customer and the email provider (gmail, yahoo)
    • Keep the subject line to under 50 characters
    • Try to be either funny / mysterious / generous
    • Occasional emojis are fine (but don’t overdo it)
    • Include a time limit / or discount
    • Don’t use only CAPS in the subject line or im the body of the email (THAT’S CONSIDERED SCREAMING IN EMAIL FORMAT)
    • Don’t use !!!!!! a lot of exclamation points!!!!!
    • Always use a preheader (the line that recipients see just after the subject line)
  • 55% of all emails are opened on mobile devices
  • Send emails from your domain – ie @myshop.com
    • Free email address domains like Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail, etc… are for personal use and not for commercial. If you send from those domains, your message may not be delivered to inboxes and seen as spam to both customers and email providers
  • Send promotional email campaigns 2 to 3 times per month plus target holidays like Black Friday, Valentine’s Day, July 4th and more.
  • Tell recipients where you are located
  • You must have an opt out and honor that request within 10 days. Email service providers do this for you.