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Email Marketing - 6 Ways to Get Brides to Open Your Emails

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Wedding Professionals:

This blog post is the second part of a four-part blog series on the topic of email marketing.

Part 1 - 7 things you should email to brides.

Part 2 - 6 easy tips on how to get brides to open your emails.

Part 3 - 4 secrets of getting brides to click on your emails.

Part 4 - 2 free ways to collect more email addresses from brides.

A great way to deepen your relationship with new bridal leads and with your existing customers is to use email marketing. Last week, I outlined 7 Things You Should Email to Brides. While it is incredibly important to focus on the content that is inside the email, it is also very important to master the outside of the email (aka the email’s subject line).

Today, a bride’s email inbox is overcrowded with offers, deals, contests – you name it. So, it is critical that your email's subject line makes a compelling first impression. In just a few words, you need to convince a bride that your email is going to make her life better. To help do this, here are some best practices that I’ve learned over the last ten years:

Keep the subject line short. Most email service providers (i.e. Gmail, Hotmail, AOL, etc.) will only show the first 50 characters of a subject line. This includes spaces. So, you’ll want to make sure that your subject line fits within that limit. Otherwise, brides won’t be able to view your entire subject line.
Subject lines should be direct. What's in it for the bride? Clearly state this benefit within the first 20-30 characters of the subject line.
Avoid using your company name in the subject line. This is repetitive since the email comes from your company.
Use an email service that enables you to track your response rates over time. I recommend using Constant Contact because they make this entire process so easy. Keeping track of this will help you to understand what your audience responds to most.
Establish trust each time you send out an email. You can do this in part by ensuring that your subject line is not misleading. In addition, send out email regularly but not too frequently. I like to send out my email to BridalTweet members on a weekly basis.
Be consistent. Make sure that your emails always comes from the same person or organization. For example, my weekly emails come from ‘BridalTweet’. I’m consistent about that. It would also be fine if they came from ‘Christine Dyer’. The point is that it should always be the same, so that your audience will get to know you over time.
BONUS: Make sure that a bride actually receives your email by following these easy rules on how to avoid a bride's SPAM filter.

As I alluded to above as well as in previous blog posts, I stand behind Constant Contact for email marketing and I personally use their service to send a weekly email to our BridalTweet members. In fact, my wedding business couldn't run without their service. In my opinion, Constant Constant has the most professional-looking email templates. I’ve tried other services that just didn’t convey the professional look that I require. Feel free to take advantage of Constant Contact’s 60-Day Free Trial.

Do you have any best practices to share about sending email to brides? If so, please comment below.

About This Blog: Christine Dyer is the Creator and Founder of BridalTweet. Christine has an MBA in marketing and shares over ten years of marketing expertise with the wedding community. In this weekly blog, you'll find advice on an array of wedding business topics such as how to market to brides, social networking, wedding PR, wedding sales, vendor networking, branding, pricing and much more. Please pass this news along to your own professional wedding network. To receive this advice in your email inbox each week, Sign Up for a Free BridalTweet Membership.

Comment by Elaine Borges-Ibanez on March 8, 2010 at 8:18am: Hi Christine. Although I don't send out newsletters, or mass emails, I do make sure that all the emails I reply to for info requests, are as personal as possible to the individuals concerned. Many don't reply at first, so its good to try and remember to send a follow-up email a week or so after the original, as you never know why they didn't reply in the first place - or even if they received it at all...

Comment by dognbird on March 8, 2010 at 8:19am: Christine - very smart and true tips here!

Comment by The Wedding Salon on March 8, 2010 at 8:28am: Great tips as always!!!

Comment by Amy DeGiulio on March 9, 2010 at 5:59am: I use an e-mail marketing service as well and really love the statistical analysis part. It's cool to see how many people actually open e-mails and be able to track who opts-out. I also like that they provide code for putting an opt-in form on my website so people can sign up for my updates. I don't feel like I'm "bugging" people as much when I know they specifically chose to be on my list!

I also want to say that I agree with Elaine about the importance of follow-ups, especially when someone takes the time to make a direct inquiry to me. Brides especially are so busy and they send out lots of requests, so things can easily get misplaced in their inboxes!

Comment by Melissa Miville on March 9, 2010 at 7:00am: Any suggestions as to what to put in the subject line for a wedding planner? When I receive leads I send them an email to follow up. I often never hear back. I usually put "wedding planning" or something like that in the subject line. Any other suggestions?
Thanks!

Comment by YourLifEvents.com Lifestyle Blog on March 9, 2010 at 7:01am: Make sure your ezine is more about giving than selling and be sure to infuse your personality into your ezine. Brides want to feel like they know you before they buy anything from you, so be sure to give them useful content. After continuously reading useful content and hearing about you, they will be more likely to buy from you (someone they trust) than someone else.

Comment by Marty Greensterin CSEP on March 9, 2010 at 7:28am: It's a fair question, and with so many brides being inundated with so many e-blasts and "Stuff" what's your magic? It's not my magic (although I do perform at table side as a close up Illusionist) it's the magic that you bring to the planning. You must think about what makes you different, and more attractive than all the rest. Don't be afraid to be a little (or a lot) different. They all say that they want a different wedding while what they opt for is all to often same old, same old! Perhaps you offer them something special to add the spicwe that they want, but are afraid to ask for. If it's a question that you are answering that they want to ask, you got a shot. What else can you ask for, dare to be original.

Comment by Emee at EJP Events on March 9, 2010 at 8:55am: @Melissa, I do something similar like "Wedding planning information you requested". But note that you often have to follow up / email four to seven times before they take action. I do 2 personal follow ups then if no response I add their email to my newsletter list so at least I am getting in front of them on a regular basis. If they personally offered you their phone number in the lead it's fine to call them too.