If you’re like many of our clients, the primary method of communication for your members is through email. There are several reasons for this. First, it’s free. Also, almost all of your members utilize email in one form or another. But there’s another aspect of email that needs to be considered. It’s getting CROWDED.
My club communicates frequently through email. The address that I have registered through my club is a Gmail account. I noticed after a recent Gmail upgrade that every club email I receive is automatically sent to my ‘Promotions’ folder and not my Inbox. I didn’t set it up that way, and I could change the tags and Gmail would re-learn where to put it, but honestly it’s fine with me that it goes there. Do you know what else that means for the club? It doesn’t provide me any notifications when I get the email, and if I don’t specifically check my promotions folder (which I don’t very often) it doesn’t get read.
I like to cover this subject in my board workshops. When I ask, “Who in the room has any unread emails on their phone or computer,” every hand in the room goes up. Then I quickly ask, “How many people here have any unread text messages?” Every hand in the room goes down.
Statistically, 98% of text messages are read within 2 minutes. Generally speaking an open rate of 15-25% is considered good for a marketing email. Think about your own email/text messages.
After presenting this information, my club has begun to communicate to the membership via text messages. I opted into the system, and I love it! I read every one of the text messages my club sends. It’s so easy for me to check notifications, and respond to the ones that interest me.
For those clients who have texting capability, we recommend sending out our electronic membership materials via text. Here’s an example of why. About 18 months ago my family moved to a new neighborhood. Fortunately for me, I quickly made new friends with the other dads in the area. Several of them are golfers, and their wives and kids would love the pool and family activities at my club. Sadly, I don’t have a single one of their email addresses. Do you know what I do have? Their cell phone numbers. Which is why I shared membership information with them via text.
How does your club communicate with its members?
Perhaps it’s time for you to consider a new communication channel. If you’d like to know which system my club uses that I love so much, drop me an email at aj@creativegolfmarketing.com. I would be happy to share with you (and just for the record, CGM has no financial ties to the company that developed it).