Email Management for Yoga (a.k.a. Don’t Lose Your Students!!)
Dear Yoga Teacher,
I know an excellent teacher who has been practicing
longer than I’ve been alive and teaching for over 15
years in over 12 different countries.
Here’s where it gets depressing…
My friend has students who LOVE his classes, courses,
and workshops; but the poor guy still struggles to fill
his calendar with teaching events.
Why?
He never kept track of his students, so students who
he hasn’t seen recently, have no idea what’s going
on. How would they?
These students would LOVE to keep studying with
him, to come to classes or even retreats, but they
simply don’t know what’s happening.
In the old days, mailing lists were a nightmare, so
I understand why some people still resist.
These days, it’s so easy, that any teacher who does
NOT have a mailing list is just plain crazy. Yoga people
love the internet. They all have email, and your biggest
fans will love to hear the latest news, teachings, and
special event announcements you have to offer.
There are many different ways to keep track of
your students, but there is only ONE way that you
should consider.
It’s a $20/month service that is 10x better than
anything else on the market, and every serious
yoga teacher should have an account.
So what is it? Basically, it’s a really simple program
that keeps all your contacts organized and allows you
to send messages on auto-pilot, or whenever you want.
So if you want to send an email on Monday at 12:00 to
remind students about a special class that day at
6:00 p.m., it’s no problem.
If you want to send out a monthly e-newsletter with
an article and some posture tips, that’s easy too.
You can have up to 10,000 students on hundreds of
different lists. I HATE learning new programs, but
trust me, this one is dead simple.
NOW FOR THE QUESTIONS…
Q: I only have a couple dozen students, can’t I just
use an Excel spreadsheet?
A: No, it’s incredibly hard to get through email filters
these days, and the service that I recommend is THE
best for deliverability… that means you send the email
and people get it. For emailing groups of people, this
is extremely important.
Q: I have an address book in my gmail, hotmail, or
yahoo account… is that good enough?
A: No, if you email to more than 3 people at a time,
chances are good your message will get sent to junk
mail. Also, you want to be able to personalize your
messages. “Dear {!firstname_fix}” is so much friendlier
than “Dear Friends” and with the service I recommend,
that’s very easy to do.
Q: On my website, I already have an email opt-in box
that collects emails… is that good enough?
A: I can’t stress enough the importance of having THE BEST
email list management program otherwise you’ll lose students
again and again. So if you have a different service, replace
it with the one I recommend.
Q: How big will my list get? Is this really worth the effort?
A: With very little effort, you’ll have at least 1,000 students
on your list after 1 year. My lists are 10-20 times that size.
Q: Don’t people hate email?
A: People hate spam, but people love high-quality email
with actionable tips and advice they can use. They also
love to hear about your travels and events. It’s always
important to respect email (and not abuse it), but when
done right, your students will look forward to receiving
your messages.
Q: What if I don’t have a website yet?
A: Your email list is easier to setup than your website, so
do this first and you can start adding students today!
Live outside the box,
Lucas
Yoga Business Trainer