I'm sorry if this has been discussed before, but I searched and couldn't find any information. My question is about my email list that I have.

On my website, people can enter their name and email to subscribe to my "cake club" where they can get special offers, discounts, and news about my business. I have hundreds of emails on my list. My problem is that I have not marketed anything to the list in well over a year, and never even sent anything to new people signing up. I had a baby a year ago (and have a 4 yr old), and my life has been so hectic that I have not done any cakes since a couple months before he was born. The longer I didn't do cakes, the more I didn't want to. But now I am trying to get back into it, and I am going to send an email to all my members on the list, even if they joined in 2007 (when I started it). Any suggestions on what to say in my email? I basically want to say something about them joining at one time and if they don't want to be on the list anymore they can unsubscribe. But then what is a good way to market to the people who I have never had any contact with at all? Like, "I'm sorry that you signed up 4 months ago and have never heard from me, but here's some kind of offer"...I just don't know what to say. I don't know if I'm even describing what I want clearly enough, but any help here?

Thanks!

Call it a grand re-opening of your business. Show some pictures of your work and write about any special offers you have associated with your re-opening. At the bottom put the line about being removed from the list. That's my two cents.

have some fun with this.

the baby is one you say...

so pun away.

> He's One and You've Won! (then detail the deal they've won)

> ONEce more into the CAKE (combine with a pic of baby face full of cake from b-day celebration)

> He's off and running (requisite bare tush shot of baby running around) to get some cake! You'll be too with this special offer.....

> (stick hat on baby -- have hold a cupcake in box -- take pic) -- How can you resist a cupcake like that? You can't! Orders now being taken.....

> Shot of baby blowing out candles at 1st b-day -- You'll celebrate two when you get wind of these deals on.....

---

the idea is to let them know in a humorous way just how busy you've been -- after all as fellow mom's "been there, survived that"

----

then could really play this up (and just be sickeningly cute) by every year having a promotion tied to the child's next b-day.

example: when turns 2
--- get 2 free (product) with your order of....
--- there won't be any terrible 2s when you order....

Some advice on the practical side of emailing.
1. Never try to do a mass email from your own computer. You will get flagged as a spammer by your own ISP.
2. Always use an email service. You have to abide by the federal Can Spam rules, but it sounds like you're fine there,
3. I highly recommend MailChimp. It's FREE, you will build your email campaign on a template and they take care of all the unsubscribes for you. They also provide complete info on who opens your email, when, how many times, if they forward it, etc. It's a very effective service and, did I mention it's FREE? I've used ConstantContact (lliked it to start, came to hate it) and several others. MailChimp is a winner!

mailchimp???

ok, just took a look -- well if that isn't an "interesting" front page! LOL!

but hey, not after looks -- after price! free wins!

ooohhh and an iphone app too?

and discounts for charities/nonprofits?

and reccomended by the guy who created firefox?

done deal.


thanks leah_s

Oooh, all great answers! Thanks so much about the referral to MailChimp, I will definitely check it out. In the past I used the list function in my host providers email program, but now that my list is well over a hundred, it is too time consuming. Have thought about Constant Contact, but can't really spend the extra money right now.

And Doug, awesome post, I will definitely use one of those ideas! Or try a couple, one for half the list, another for the other half.

Thanks guys!

Thankyou so much Leah_s...I subscribed to Mailchimp and set up a campaign page and sent it off to all my cake customers...Wow..I have already gotten a few reponses!!!Very easy to do also and when I got stuck I used the Live Chat feature....

I have been looking for something like this for a long time but didn't know where to look or ask.You can track who opens..when...know whose emails bounce back...Very effective!!

Big Bananas up!!!..I mean Thumbs Up!!! LOL