Email Marketing for Contractors: 5 Ideas to Start Building Your Strategy

There are many types of marketing you can use for your contracting business. Direct mail, email marketing, social media, commercials, you name it. But things can get busy, and you want to be able to keep in touch with your customers year-round. How can you keep marketing even in the heat of the busy season? Try email marketing.

Why Use Email Marketing for Your Contracting Business?

You may already be using a few marketing strategies for your contracting business. Maybe you send out postcards every quarter or run a Facebook page. You’re already stretched for time, so why would you add email marketing on top of that?

Email marketing is an affordable alternative (or addition) to strategies like direct mail. Direct mail is a marketing strategy used by many industries and a tried-and-true way of contacting your customers. But it’s expensive. You have to design the mail, print it, and mail it.

Email marketing makes this process easier. Many tools have templates you can use and you can automatically send emails to customers, often for a small monthly charge. And since it’s just a small monthly fee, you’ll get a greater return on investment than you will with direct mail. It’s a convenient option for contractors who don’t have a ton of time to invest in contractor email marketing.

What Kind of Emails Should You Be Sending?

You don’t need to be running some sort of deal or promotion to take advantage of contractor email marketing. Your customers don’t necessarily expect that, either. Instead, you can stick to basic emails that get you in their inbox and in their minds.

There are endless possibilities of topics you can use in your email marketing. Google advice will show you results that ranges from sending event invites to multi-email campaigns to your customers. But what if you’re just starting out with contractor email marketing? Instead of jumping into the deep end, let’s start with five basic emails you can send customers.

1. Confirmation Emails

The first — and arguably most important — email you should send customers is an email confirming their appointment with you. Typically, only about 21% of people will open marketing emails. However, 70% of people open confirmation emails, and 64% think confirmations are the most important emails they receive. You can send these even if you don’t have online booking or email automation set up yet. Just collect the customer’s email address while they’re making the appointment and send the confirmation right after or even while you’re still on the call.

Confirmation emails also help limit miscommunication between you and your customers. Maybe your customer heard one thing and you said another. A confirmation email ensures you both have the correct information. Plus, since you know there’s a good chance they’ll open it, you can provide them with additional information. For example, you could include a link to apply for financing so they can make an informed decision before their appointment.

2. Appointment Reminder Emails

You’ve surely experienced a customer forgetting about their appointment. And if they forgot their appointment, you or your tech probably already spent time driving there, waiting to see if they’d open the door, and calling them to see what’s going on. They may even wait for the customer to get home, throwing the rest of the day off.

Sending an appointment reminder a day or two ahead of time helps prevent customers from forgetting to show up for or cancel their appointments. This reduces the number of no-shows and wasted time, which in turn helps your HVAC business’s cash flow.

3. Follow Up Emails

After every appointment, send a follow up email to your customers. Thank them for their business and ask them to leave a review. You can also use this to encourage your customers to schedule their next appointment if they haven’t already, plug some of your other services, and remind them about your different payment options.

However, follow up emails are more than just another way to plug your business. They’re a great way to improve customer experience. Whether a customer had a good or bad experience, following up to see how things went builds a connection with the customer. And once a relationship is built, customers are more likely to return and refer friends and family to your business, which can help boost your sales.

4. Seasonal Service Reminder Emails

Speaking of encouraging customers to schedule service, consider sending reminder emails to your customers about a month or two before busy season starts. You may already send these reminders by mail, but sending an email helps make sure they get their eyes on it.

In this email, remind your customers that heating or cooling season is coming up, and now’s a good time to tune up their HVAC system. No one wants their system to go out in the middle of summer or winter. Sending these emails in before the busy season can help fill your books while things are still slow and help keep your books from getting too full when things are busy.

5. Re-Engagement Emails

Some customers will only contact you when something’s wrong with their HVAC system. And in this industry, it’s kind of expected. But you want to make sure they come back to you when they need service, right?

Re-engagement emails are a quick check-in with customers you haven’t heard from in a while, maybe a year or so. It’s a little reminder that you’re there if they need your services. Think of these emails as a way to keep you in their inbox — and in their mind — without overwhelming them.

Email marketing can be a great strategy for contractors. After you or one of your staff get the emails set up, you can get back to work and let the automation do its thing. You’ll reach your customers more often through these five types of emails than direct mail, and you’ll save some time and money in the process.