Emailing your own customers

Emailing customers comes with rules. In the US, the Federal Trade Commission has a plain guide for businesses, and other countries have their own. Search for CAN-SPAM compliance guide for business and read it before you send. The points below cover its basics, and the first one asks more of you than US law does:

• Email only people who gave you their address, as customers or by signing up, and who haven't asked you to stop.
• Never buy a list, and never copy addresses off websites.
• Every marketing email says who it's from, has a subject line that matches what's inside, says plainly when it's selling something, and shows your mailing address.
• Every marketing email has a working way to unsubscribe, and you take people off within 10 business days at the latest. Sooner is better.

1. Open the list of customer email addresses you have, in your email, a spreadsheet or your booking software.
2. Take off anyone who asked you to stop, and any address you got some other way than from the customer.

subject line The short line people see in their inbox before they open an email. All words×unsubscribe Ask to stop getting someone's emails. A marketing email needs a working way to do it, usually a link at the bottom. All words×

How you send depends on how many people you're emailing.

• A handful of people, now and then. You can send from your own email. Send to each one separately, or put the addresses in the BCC line, which hides each address from the others. Add your mailing address at the bottom and a line like: If you'd rather not get these emails, reply and tell me, and I'll take you off. Treat any reply that asks you to stop as a stop, whatever words they use, and keep a list of who asked.
• More than that, or every month. Use an email service. It keeps your list, adds an unsubscribe link and your address to every email, and takes people off for you when they click it.

If you're emailing more than about 20 people, or more than a few times a year, use an email service.

1. Decide which of the two fits you.
2. If it's an email service, sign up for one and add the addresses from Step 1.

email service A company that stores your subscriber list and sends your newsletter, and handles unsubscribes for you. All words×

This prompt sets the rule before Claude writes anything, then has Claude learn who your customers are.

AI drafts and sorts; a person approves anything with a price, a date or your name on it. An offer email has all three, so Claude drafts and you check every word before it goes.

Don't paste customer names or email addresses into Claude. It doesn't need them. [Name] stands in, and your email service or you fill it in when you send.

1. Open the Claude app or claude.ai and start a new chat.
2. Copy the prompt below.

I own a small business, and I want to write three short emails to my own customers: a newsletter, a seasonal offer and a note to customers I haven't seen in a while. You'll help me write them in this chat. The rule: you draft, and I check and send. Never put in a price, a discount, a date or an offer I haven't given you. Write FILL IN and say what goes there. Use [Name] wherever a customer's name would go. First, ask me one question at a time: what I do, who my customers are, and what they usually come to me for. My business: [what you do and where]

3. Paste it into the chat. Replace the part in square brackets with what you do and where, like pet grooming in Springfield or a bike repair shop.
4. Send it, then answer Claude's questions one at a time.

prompt What you type to Claude. A good one says what you want, how to work and what never to do. All words×AI Short for artificial intelligence. Here it means a program like Claude that reads what you write and writes back in plain words. All words×Claude app Claude on your phone or computer, where you chat with it by typing. claude.ai is the same thing in a web browser. All words×

A short newsletter keeps you in mind for the day they need you. This one has a tip, a recent job and a line on what's coming.

1. Copy the prompt below.

Write a short newsletter email. Start with one useful tip for my customers. Then a few lines on one job I did lately: [the job, with no customer names or addresses]. End with one line on what's coming up, with FILL IN for it. Keep it under 150 words, in plain words, the way I'd talk. Give me three subject lines that say honestly what's inside. At the bottom, leave two lines for me marked MAILING ADDRESS and UNSUBSCRIBE LINK.

2. Paste it into the same chat. Replace the part in square brackets with a few words on a recent job, with no customer names or addresses.
3. Send it.
4. Read it out loud, change any word you wouldn't say, and pick a subject line.

A seasonal offer ties what you sell to the time of year: a furnace check before winter, a spring clean-up, gift wrapping in December. You decide the offer. Claude only words it.

1. Decide the offer: what it is, who it's for, the price and when it ends.
2. Copy the prompt below.

Write a short email for a seasonal offer. The offer, in my words: [what you're offering, who it's for, the price, and when it ends]. Use only the offer I gave you. Don't make it bigger, don't add a discount, and don't say it's running out unless I said so. If anything is missing, write FILL IN. Say near the top that it's an offer. Keep it under 120 words. Give me three honest subject lines, and leave two lines at the bottom marked MAILING ADDRESS and UNSUBSCRIBE LINK.

3. Paste it into the same chat. Replace the part in square brackets with your offer, in your own words.
4. Send it.
5. Check the price and the end date against what you decided.

Some customers drift away without meaning to. A short hello reminds them you're still here. This prompt drafts one with no pressure in it.

1. Copy the prompt below.

Write a short, friendly note to customers I haven't seen in a while. Start with "Hi [Name],". Say I noticed it's been a while and I hope all's well. Mention one thing I can help with this time of year, with FILL IN for it. No guilt, no pressure, and no discount or offer unless I give you one. Keep it under 80 words. Give me two honest subject lines, and leave two lines at the bottom marked MAILING ADDRESS and UNSUBSCRIBE LINK.

2. Paste it into the same chat and send it.
3. Fill in what you can help with this time of year.

If you send from an email service, its help pages show how to put each customer's first name where [Name] is. If you send from your own email, type each name in yourself, or start with "Hi there".

A test shows you what customers will see, and whether the way to unsubscribe is there.

1. Paste one email into your email service, or into a new email to yourself.
2. Put your mailing address and the unsubscribe link or the stop line where the blanks are.
3. Send it to your own address.
4. Open it on your phone. Check the subject line, the address at the bottom, and every FILL IN.
5. Check the unsubscribe link or the stop line is there. A test email's unsubscribe link often does nothing, so to check it for real, add a second address of your own to your list, and click unsubscribe in that copy when you send for real.

This prompt saves all three emails with the rules at the top, so you can reuse them each season.

1. Copy the prompt below.

Put all three emails on one page I can save, each with its subject lines, and keep every FILL IN, [Name], MAILING ADDRESS and UNSUBSCRIBE LINK as blanks. At the top, write these rules: Email only customers who gave me their address and haven't asked me to stop. Every email has my mailing address and a working way to unsubscribe. Take people off as soon as they ask. AI drafts; I check every price, date and offer before I send.

2. Paste it into the same chat and send it.
3. Copy the page into a note or a document called Customer emails.