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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.

Q: I can’t complete my registration because I can’t get my car number. What should I do?

We received this lovely letter from one of our long-time customers Sherry Grantz from SCCA San Francisco Region. We're sharing it in hopes it will inspire you to turn away from the dark side...

This month we’re highlighting Amy Smith from the Sports Car Club of America’s (“SCCA”) Atlanta Region Solo program.  Amy has been autocrossing since 2006 and took over the region’s Registrar duties in 2008. But the bulk of her day is spent surrounded by kindergarteners- she’s been teaching for 18 years!  And with the little time she has left over, she enjoys gardening, hanging out with her family and travelling.  We recently caught up with her to learn the secrets to running a successful program.

Attendee: Hi, my name is Jim Wilk…
Registration volunteer: Wilkerson, James … you’re registered for two days of HPDE as well as time trials for Saturday only right?
Attendee: Um, well… yeah, that’s me!
Registration volunteer: Great, glad you made it here safely! I see that you’re all paid up, just sign the waiver and you’re good to go to head on over to tech.
Attendee: That’s it? But I just got here! I was expecting a small social while everyone waited in line to get checked in. Now I can relax a bit… you guys are the BEST!

Wouldn’t that be nice? Well… it IS when you use MotorsportReg.com’s Check-in feature!

For the past few weeks we have been quietly testing some enhancements to the registration form. Co-Driver Pickers, while not glamorously named, let attendees indicate when they are sharing a vehicle with another participant so you, as the organizer know about it. Text Blocks, one of the form layout options, let you embed rich text including links and photos anywhere on the registration form for more descriptive text and endless merchandising opportunities.

Q: When should I use the Restrict Visibility by Date function on the Form Layout?

A: You ONLY need to use that function when you have an item on the Registration Form Layout that you want to show up for a limited period of time. A good example of when you want to use this feature is a late fee that you want to kick in 5 days before online registration closes.

You do NOT need to have the visibility of every item on the Registration Form Layout restricted by date if the items are available for the same time period registration is open. This creates issues and extra work when the event is cloned and the dates need to be updated.

You can find examples and more information in our help documentation found here.

You may not know this, but Cinco de Mayo is one of our favorite holidays here at MotorsportReg.com.  Maybe it’s because we’re based in California which has a huge Mexican influence?  Or maybe it’s because Founder Brian Ghidinelli ate Mexican food to fuel many a late night building new MSR features?  Actually, if he had his way, he’d fuel most days of the week with Mexican food.  In either case, we love cinco de mayo and are dedicating this blog to Mexico!

Last November we had the privilege of attending the Formula 1 US Grand Prix at MotorsportReg.com customer Circuit of the Americas.  The facility was amazing, the racing was phenomenal and the fans from around the world were incredible.  Any guesses on which nation’s fans were the loudest?  Mexico!  In 2011 Sergio Perez became only the fifth Mexican to compete in Formula 1 and the first since 1981.  The Mexican fans came out in droves to support “Checo” for the race at COTA.   Everywhere you looked the Mexican flag was flying.  And you knew when Perez was driving by because you could hear the Mexican fans cheering over the sound of the cars.  And that’s no easy feat!  Check out this video we took from Turn 3 during a practice session and you’ll see what we mean.  Sergio Perez finished 11^th in that race, just out of the points, but was signed by McLaren Mercedes this year where he hopes to pick up a few more podiums.

So raise your margarita glasses in celebration with our south of the border neighbors. Salud!

Tired of writing those refund checks?  How about dealing with all of the checks and cash you get at your event?  We can think of much better things to do than standing in line at the bank!  That’s why we developed deferred payment processing and why it’s one of the most powerful features on MotorsportReg.com.

Deferred payment processing allows you to collect payment information at the time of registration but not charge the account until a later date.  It’s similar to making a hotel reservation.  The attendee puts their card on file and “reserves” a spot at your event.  And at the time of your choosing, you charge the card.  You can charge the card when confirming a registration, after your cancel cutoff date, the day of the event or even the day after the event. You have 100% control. This feature is part of our Premium Plan.

It is especially attractive to organizations who offer liberal refund policies like programs where any driver who doesn't turn a wheel is entitled to a full refund.  With deferred payment processing, you simply don't charge their account, eliminating the need to process refunds.

Attendees love this feature too!  For them, there’s no penalty for signing up for an event (especially if they have cash flow concerns).  And based on our statistics, on average, attendees sign up 7 days earlier for events offering deferred payment processing than not.

So what are you waiting for?  Stop standing in line at the bank and start using deferred payment processing!

We’re starting a new blog series here at MSR called Pole Position.  Each month we’ll highlight one of our many event organizers who are going above and beyond both in their own programs and how they’re using MotorsportReg.com.  We’ll sit down with them one-on-one and share with you the wealth of knowledge that these superstars have gained by organizing successful events.  For our inaugural Pole Position, we’re highlighting Bill Wade from Tire Rack Street Survival.


MSR: Bill, tell us a little bit about yourself…

Bill: I was a founding member of the BMWCCA Bluegrass Bimmers club and eventually became the Chair of the National Driving Events Committee for BMWCCA.  In 2006 I “retired” from more than 20 years of practicing architecture to accept the full-time position of National Program Manager for the Tire Rack Street Survival® teen driving program, run by the BMW CCA Foundation.

MSR: Tell us more about the Tire Rack Street Survival School…

Bill: The Tire Rack Street Survival (“TRSS” ) school is a safe teen program designed to go beyond today’s required driver’s education and give teens across the U.S. the driving tools and hands-on experience to become safer, smarter drivers.   Our goal is to teach students some of the basics of car control, to enhance their enjoyment of driving and to improve their competence as drivers. We want the students to understand how their actions govern a car’s responses, and as a result to become safer, more effective drivers on the road.

MSR: What makes your driver school stand out amongst the other teen driver schools?

Bill: Students will learn how to properly use their own cars, not some fleet of brand new ones, based on the physics of car control. They will learn how their cars feel and sound just before and as they exceed the limits of tire adhesion in a controlled situation, helping them to avoid accidents in actual everyday driving situations where they might experience problems.  If it's a hand-me-down Volvo station wagon on bad tires they learn what that feels like.  If they don't have ABS they learn techniques on how to stop properly.

During the event, they don't just sit in the classroom listening to boring lectures. Students will maneuver their cars through exercises laid out using orange traffic safety cones in a closed parking lot. They will experience each exercise element several times, in order to learn from their mistakes and to improve their skills. A trained driving coach accompanies each driver to provide real-time feedback while performing maneuvers. There is no stopwatch, nor head-to-head competition with other cars. The students are here to improve their skills, not to compare themselves with someone else.

MSR: What motivates you?  Why do you keep doing what you’re doing?

Bill: More than 5,000 teens die every year.  That's more than the military has lost in both overseas wars combined in the last 12 years.  I feel that's unacceptable.  Working with a team of incredible volunteers all over the nation and feeling their same passion is what gets me up in the morning.  The BMW CCA Foundation is a great organization to work for and our corporate sponsors are very supportive.

MSR: What lessons have you learned about running events?

Bill: It truly takes a village!  Whether it’s working for our chapters DE event or a TRSS in Portland, it takes volunteers an incredible amount of time to put on any event.  This takes time away from their families and adds to their load at work. I'm lucky that I get to be a part of that. I hope that people have a good time at our chapter events and I know that we are doing a good job with Street Survival.  I just wish we could do more.

MSR: Has MotorsportReg.com helped make your events easier and more fun to organize? Any favorite MSR features?

Bill: OMG! Yes!  Our in house registration system was a house of cards that was continuously failing and caused way too many problems.  And my favorite MSR feature is the next one coming.  You guys are constantly improving and tweaking.

MSR: Thanks for sharing Bill!

Bill: My pleasure.

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If you know a teenage driver who’d like to participate in a Tire Rack Street Survival school, click here for more information and to find a school near you.

If you’re a member of a local car club and are interested in hosting a Tire Rack Street Survival school please contact Bill at bill.wade@streetsurival.org.  TRSS currently partners with BMW CCA chapters, and SCCA and Porsche Club regions to host their events, but have worked with smaller independent autocross and other motoring enthusiasts clubs.  Some financial backing is provided which makes it a win-win situation for everyone.  Also, TRSS is always looking for help at their schools.  If you’re interested in volunteering your time, check out the school schedule here.