Best practice for email notifications
Although some social media gurus might insist that email is a dinosaur on the way out, the reality is that just like the traditional mailbox, people love to get mail in their inbox. Email is something that almost everyone with a smartphone or mobile device still uses. Although text notifications are becoming popular, many still prefer to be notified via email. Although a good mixture between the two might be the best way to go, sometimes people are more partial to email notifications because they can check them when they want.
Email notifications can be tricky, however. If you create an email notification system that becomes irritating, then that can get you blocked or unsubscribed to very easily. You have to balance when runners really need to be notified against inundating them and maybe creating a negative impression. If you want to remind them that your race is approaching, that pre-registration is opening up, or that you are offering a referral system program, email notifications are an excellent way to nudge without making runners feel like they are getting pushed over.
When to use email notifications
The last thing you want to do is to send constant emails to the consumer. No one wants to open up an email from the same event daily. Notifications should be just that, notifying people of any important events, changes, or things they need to know about your race. If you send out too many or ones that don’t have any new information, then you are probably going to end up in the spam box.
If you are going to send email notifications, then you can maximize their purpose by linking your website and giving a call to action to get people to go online to either register or to get useful advice. Your website is an important part of your search engine optimization ranking. When people are doing an organic search, they typically won’t go to page two. The better ranking you have, the more likely your event will be on the first page and gain exposure.
The way that search engines rank websites are through a combination of keywords, key phrases, and traffic monitoring. If you can link your website to an email notification and get someone to go to your website, then search engines count their visits. If the same consumer goes more than once, then that will increase your website ranking. So, not only does an email notification remind the runner of a change, or that it’s time to sign up. But, if you can get the email to entice the runner to go to your webpage more than once, then that is considered a “repeat visit” and will rank your webpage even higher for SEO purposes.
How to get people to press a link to your website
So, even if your email is really about a notification, there isn’t any reason why you shouldn’t use it as a tool to increase your SEO. If you add a blog or article section on your site that gives runners useful information about running tips, tricks, or even training products, then they are apt to visit the site to get information. Not only does giving them resources through the use of a blog give them value-added and repeat visiting that increases traffic flow, but it also gives your website more “keywords and key phrases” that will increase an organic search rating.
If you really want to increase your email notification effectiveness, you can link your site to other affiliate sites or put in pay-per-click ads. Then, the site itself can generate money for your race event. If you add the right pay-per-click advertising, then when someone is on your site, and they click to another site, the site it directs them to pays you. Multi-streams of income are never a bad thing.
The best practice for email notification is to provide runners with the resources that they want and need for registering, having the correct information about your run, and to notify them when you are offering referral incentives or changes. A tricky balance, the key is to really only use it when it gives the consumer an added-value. Offering a link to your website will not only benefit the consumer if they find useful information, but it will also increase your search engine ranking. And, it might help your website generate multi-streams of income too. Email notifications can be an overall excellent tool for your race event if used properly.
