As social media algorithms have changed, it’s become more and more difficult for small business owners to reach their audience on platforms like Instagram and Facebook. Add in increased competition and the short attention spans of social media scrollers, and social media marketing starts to look a lot less efficient.
While we’re big proponents of having social media in your food business marketing tool belt, we also know just how important it is to own your customer information and control how and when your audience sees information from your business. That’s why we believe that email marketing is one of the most important, effective, and free marketing tools you can use to grow your business.
We also know that you don’t have the time to spend becoming an email marketing expert.
That’s why we've released brand new email templates in Castiron, beyond our automated newsletter feature. We’re giving you control — over the content of the emails, when the emails are sent, and of who gets those emails. Oh, and it’s the easiest email building process you’ve ever tried — no template selection, coding knowledge, or email marketing experience needed.
In less than five minutes, you can compose and send a beautiful marketing email promoting specific products in your shop. That means more control for you, and more orders in less time. Releasing a special cookie set for Thanksgiving? Announce that you’re accepting a limited amount of orders via email!
If you take custom orders, we’ve created an additional email template to make your life easier. Whether you’re getting ready to open your books for 2023 or if you have a last-minute opening, our custom order availability email will help you let your customers know that you’ve got space on your calendar for their orders.
How to Send Marketing Emails in Castiron
Getting started with our easy email marketing tools is as easy as logging into Castiron. Navigate to the Marketing section of the product to access our email tools. You’ll be able to select between two types of emails: Product Announcements (perfect for when you’re launching a new product) and Custom Order Availability (for when you’re taking new custom orders).
We walk you through the steps of creating an email directly in the product. Just pick a product that you want to promote, write a subject line and a few lines of copy for your email content, and add a call to action! It’s really that easy.
We recommend promoting products with photos in your emails, as emails with photos help your customer understand what they’re buying. Beautiful photography can help you boost your sales!
Think it sounds too good to be true? Take it from one of the food business owners who helped us test our email marketing features: Lauren O'Connor of Lulu’s Sweets. “It took me less than two minutes to send a test email to myself. It looked great and I sent it to my customers immediately after.”
Diana McFeters of Flutterby Sweets and Treats used our new email marketing tools to promote her Thanksgiving pre-sales. “It was really easy to follow and allowed me to announce my Thanksgiving sale (good timing there!). At first I thought it would be nice to be able to have more than one picture but then decided it was cleaner with the one especially given the buy now button that goes directly to the product.”
Need help getting started? Explore our help document on product announcement emails here. Explore our guide to sending availability announcements here.
Now on Castiron
Check out some of our recent additions:
- Put more money in your pocket. Turn on tipping in your Castiron store — available for both custom orders and instant checkout products!
- Add a photo gallery to your store with just a few clicks — even on mobile!
- Do you take custom orders? Send a quote to your customers instantly, without making your customer submit an order request form.
- Build out your store in seconds with our product templates. Whether you sell cakes, cookies, charcuterie boards, macarons, or something else, you can get a head start on building your custom order forms with pre-made templates.
Our super simple templates allow you to deliver beautiful email marketing, with almost no effort, anywhere (including when you’re on the go — our templates are super mobile friendly), any time. Start building your first product announcement or custom order availability email on Castiron!
Don’t have a store yet? Build a digital storefront for your food business today.
