We hope that by now you have jumped on the e-mail blast bandwagon and are sending your customers interesting, full color e-mail blasts and/or newsletters about every 20 days. When customers know and love your store they look forward to hearing from you.
You are collecting e-mail addresses, aren't you? If you answered no, then what are you waiting for? Start right now! Place guest books throughout your store and on your website. If customers are hesitant about sharing their e-mail addresses then run a contest and let shoppers know the winners will be notified via e-mail.
As far as creating your e-mail blasts, there are many companies to choose from. We've tried several and personally we like Onlineitools.com because it's easy to use. (Trust us -- easy to use is a big deal!)
Onlineitools.com offers all kinds of templates (including many for craft and scrapbook retailers; there's even a calendar feature), gives you all the necessary reports so you can track who opened your e-mail, which links they clicked on, and more. But the best part is that onlineitools is right here in the USA, so when you have questions or need help you can give them a call and someone will help you ASAP. There's even a free trial: http://www.onlineitools.com
We also went to yahoo.com to get a free e-mail address, then preceded to sign up to receive e-mail blasts from all kinds of retailers -- you should, too. It's good research.
National Craft Month may be running down, but National Scrapbook Day is Saturday, May 3 -- that gives you plenty of time to start an e-mail blast program!
