Are you sending the right e-mails to your golfers (part 1)?
I am continually educating myself on technology so that I can keep my clients up to speed on the latest trends and best practices. Since most golf course operators have their hands full managing day-to-day issues, my goal is to serve as a resource, doing the research and passing along the knowledge so they don’t have to.
One of the ways I keep in touch is by subscribing to golf course email lists. I subscribe because I like to know what the golf courses are up to, and because sometimes I see interesting approaches that I can then pass along to my clients.
One of the things I can tell you right off the bat is that most golf courses don’t do a very good job of letting me know what is going on. Are there big tournaments coming up or just completed? A wedding? Greens aerated or in great shape? Special meals or events? Any news about the course or the staff? Any new videos or articles or tips posted on the site? Keeping your readership informed of what is going on at your facility helps them stay closer to the facility, and being closer improves customer loyalty. The more loyal they are to your facility, the more likely they are to spend time and money there. Your email is a perfect tool to build customer loyalty.
Is your email going to give me good information, or will it be just another tired discount offer? I can tell very quickly if the golfers on your list are going to open the e-mail or not based on nothing more than the subject line.
This brings up 2 key points:
1. When is sending out only an offer or a regular offer too often to where the golfer starts to tune out your e-mails? and
2. How can you ensure that your golfers want to open your e-mail.
Let’s look at the first point first: tune-out.
If you need rounds, and your best source of marketing to your golfers is your e-mail list then fine. But what I see a lot of is the same dreary e-mail with the same look, and basically the same pricing, hours that you can book the special, and the same days of the week. It comes out virtually the same time every week, and guess what, it is boring the heck out of your golfers who you are trying to get to your course. The only time they will look at your e-mail is if that week they have decided they want to play your course, and they remember that your e-mail has the specials on it. Other than that it will find its way to the deleted file every time without even being opened!
If you need to send out a weekly offer, you must either add content to the e-mail that gets the golfer to open and read the e-mail or send out another e-mail during the week that does not have an offer attached but has good content that gets your golfers engaged in reading the e-mail.
Look for Part 2 – Getting your emails opened – in the next post
Tags: Al Weinhold, Golf Email, Golf Marketing
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