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I attended a local bridal tradeshow with a friend of mine who is getting married soon. When we arrived we signed in with our contact information. I was asked to give my e-mail address. I threw caution to the wind and gave them my e-mail address. My e-mail address was then given to all the exhibitors. Lucky me and wow has my inbox (and junk folder) been flooded!!

I have been on the other side of that tradeshow booth. In my previous job, I helped manage, attend and follow up with booth attendees for a few tradeshows. They did about 15 tradeshows a year and we came back from those shows thinking we hit the jackpot with all of these e-mail addresses.  So, I am guilty of this too.

Do you have some tradeshows you are exhibiting at this year? What do you plan to do with those names that you collect? Well, don’t import them just yet. Here are five things I wish I would’ve known:

1. Truly get permission- Be very, very clear (think big sign/bold print) at your booth when asking for e-mail addresses. Let them know they will be receiving an e-mail from you. If you are going to tie it to a promotion, then include a check box for them to select that they want to receive e-mail from you.
2. Double opt-in is ideal- As a best practice you should send a confirmation message, the sooner the better. Want to take it up another notch? Send them an automatic welcome message after they confirm.
3. Don’t send to the whole list of attendees-Why would you want to waste your valuable marketing dollars on people who are not interested and didn’t even stop by your booth?
4. Be timely in your first e-mail- Don’t wait for that first send.  If you wait too long, people won’t remember where or why they signed up.
5. Watch the engagement- You hear this from us all the time…but it’s worth repeating, especially here. Clean your tradeshow import list after you send a few e-mails by level of engagement in the e-mails. Why e-mail people who aren’t reading it?

I didn’t know any better back then. Little did I know the damage we probably did by sending out mass e-mails to all of these potential customers or the fantastic results we could’ve had if we had followed some best practices. Now you know…have questions about using e-mail to help grow your business?  Call in 317-269-7442 or e-mail rrewerts@delivra.com, that’s what we’re here for.

Rachel Rewerts | Account Management & Education