Away Notice + Opt-In +
Quite often after I complete an e-blast / mass email to the travel agents on my lists there are
of course many that bounce back with an auto-response advising that the recipient is away,
and will not return until a certain date. The auto-response is a marvellous tool that can be
turned into an opt-in generator. Not only that you can use the same auto response to help you
sell more travel.
The Opt-In process should now be part of
your everyday communication with your
existing and prospective clients.
It means that throughout every form of
communication you always offer two things,
to opt-in and to opt-out and or unsubscribe.
You should also make a note as to the level
of your compliance with both anti-spam
programs depending upon where your
agency resides and where you do business.
You might create a script similar to this:
ABC Travel complies with our Federal Anti-Spam
legislation and would appreciate your help in
maintaining our track record. To do that we
would ask you to click on the OPT-IN link and
register as a bone-fide client of ABC Travel and
then we are free to communicate with you as you
desire.
Or… New anti-spam legislation for all businesses
has come into effect and to comply with the new
laws we must request your permission to
communicate with you via email, social media
etc. Please click here to access our OPT-IN page
where you can select your preferences. Apologies
for the inconvenience, however, you only have to
opt-in once.
Or… To continue sending you our travel
promotions and to communicate by email and
social media we must comply with new antispam laws. To comply with these new laws we
must ask for your express permission to
communicate with you. You can click here to
access our OPT-IN page where you can select
your preferences. You can unsubscribe anytime.
The following was a post e-blast autoresponse that came to me and I thought it
was very ingenious and a great way to have
your auto-response carry on the sales
process in your absence setting up a
potential meeting upon your return:
I am currently out of the country until
Wednesday May 14th. Check out the video
and you will see where I am. (This was
followed by a YouTube link.) I look forward
to helping you upon my return.
Over to you! Check with your host agency for
auto-responder templates should they have
a preferred common theme, wording,
layout.
Next, make sure you have an email capture
system such as MailChimp or Constant
Contact that will manage your opt-ins and
outs. If you do not have an email list
management program or service use this
script and make sure you follow through on
removals: To unsubscribe: if you no longer wish
to receive emails from (your agency) please send
a reply email with UNSUBSCRIBE typed into the
Subject Line. Thank you.
Once in a while it’s a good idea to purge your
customer list and clean it up.