Most of our customers are volunteer-based organization that have zero-to-no budget for promoting their motorsport events. That’s where email marketing comes in. Our email blaster tool is a core component of our registration management platform and is a quick and easy way to get the word out. There are also a handful of email marketing service providers out there which allow you to run more sophisticated campaigns. Our favorite is MailChimp.

I’m guessing most of you already send email campaigns in one form or another. But is anyone reading the emails you’re sending? Before starting any email blitz, ask yourself these three questions:

1. Why does this audience want to hear from me?
2. What useful information can I provide this audience?
3. What do I want to accomplish with my email marketing?

This is just the basics. If you haven't answered these three questions in the email you just wrote, delete and start over! Now for the good stuff.

10 Tips to Make Sure Your Emails Will Actually Get Opened

1. The single most impactful thing in your email campaign is the subject line. Choose a subject line that grabs your reader’s attention. Avoid vague content like "Our Upcoming Event." Instead, use an interesting topic or headline from the email, such as "What You’ll Learn in a One-Day Rally School" or "How to Win an Autocross."
2. Personalize the ‘From’ part of your email and be clear who the email is from. People are more likely to open an email from an actual person than from a company, organization or random email address.
3. Get the length right. A good rule of thumb is the more frequent your emails, the shorter they should be. Brevity is a good thing. One benchmark we’ve seen is 300 words or less.
4. Personalize each message. Personalizing your email message makes it more relevant to your recipient and consequently, they will more likely open it. There are lots of ways to personalize an email, but at the very least, always include the recipient’s name.
   
5. Minimize the use of ALL CAPS and italics as they are hard to read, AND TOTALLY ANNOYING!
6. Your email should immediately address what your offer is and why it’s valuable to your audience. Add a value proposition for your offer in the first sentence in your email copy.
7. Send passionate emails- don’t be neutral. We are part of a large community of motorsport enthusiasts and any passion you share in your emails is highly appreciated, not to mention infectious.
8. Segment your emails based on what people want. Our email blaster allows you to send emails to everyone in your database, everyone attending an event, and everyone not attending an event. Send different messages to each group that’s tailored specifically to them.
9. Your email should have a single conversion goal (what you want the recipient to do), whether it’s register for your event, volunteer for the club, or pay their membership dues. The call-to-action is the link that triggers this action- so make sure that you include a call-to-action and that it’s prominently displayed in your email.
10. People like pictures! Incorporate a relevant image into your email marketing campaigns to really engage your audience.

So start your event promotion engines! You are now equipped to optimize your email marketing for success.