Inbox Hospitality: Start with a Plan

My first Thanksgiving dinner as a new wife, I roasted my turkey in a glass lasagne pan, used a motley assortment of mismatched casserole dishes, and served the gravy in a coffee cup.

Despite this, I still fancied myself the next Martha Stewart.

Everything I delivered to the table tasted fine but the execution was…let’s just say…not quite on-brand for a mini Martha wanna be.

Fast forward to late autumn the following year.

I was picking up my daughter from a playdate and waiting awkwardly in the foyer while the other mom extracted my kid from whatever she was doing upstairs.

As I waited, I looked around the rather impressive entry but my eyes were immediately drawn to the dining room.

I couldn’t stop myself from wandering a bit closer to take it all in.

Under a sparkling crystal chandelier was a massive farmhouse-style table.

It was covered with a stack of cookbooks: a rainbow of post-it notes peeking out from between the pages, plus an impressive collection of matching serving pieces.

This was clearly the home of an experienced hostess.

When she discovered me in her dining room she said, “Every year, I plan my menu and then lay everything out to make sure it’s ready for the big day!” 

What an inspired idea! Taking stock and having an actual plan. Genius.

From that day forward, I approached every holiday meal with a clear plan.

Putting together a solid email marketing plan for your business is a lot like planning an epic meal.

Getting that glimpse into how to host a huge dinner with a lot of moving parts was a game changer for my Thanksgiving table that year. And for many years after.

Getting professional guidance to strategically upgrade your customer’s email experience is how an Inbox Hospitality plan is developed.

And no. 

You don’t have to run out and buy all new everything to create an inbox experience brimming with on-brand hospitality.

Chances are, you have plenty of emails that are going along and doing just fine. 

Conveying necessary information to your customers or subscribers in a serviceable manner.  

But there are other emails that need an immediate upgrade to show your customers that their overall experience with your business matters to you.

First, you’ve got to look everything over and figure out what works and what needs to be upgraded right now to enhance your guest experience.

I continued roasting my turkey in a glass dish for years. 

But I immediately got a gravy boat. 

And from there, I started to put together a pretty nice set of coordinating serving pieces.

I took my time. 

Minded my budget.

Referred to my plan when I felt confused or unclear.

Understood my most pressing needs.

Having the clarity and confidence that comes from having a plan gave me the breathing room to select the right upgrades in the right order.  

I found serving pieces that are so me I get a little thrill every time I place them on the table. 

In due time, every not quite right email eventually gets replaced with an upgraded version. 

Your table gets a little more sparkle. A lot more personality. A whole lot more you. 

Those special serving pieces are like your signature emails…the emails that are brimming with your brand personality. The ones that you love seeing go out to a new subscriber or a satisfied customer.

And more important than that? Those are the emails your people most love receiving.

Your guests notice the time you’ve put into getting things “just right”.

Suddenly, your holiday dinners are the talk of your circle. 

New people are angling for a chance to see your table for themselves.

Inbox Hospitality does for your email marketing what that neatly laid out pre-holiday table did to transform my Thanksgiving dinner all those years ago.

Suddenly there was a plan that made sense and one that helped to make an excellent impression. 

Looking to delight with your email marketing? Now’s the time to assess what you’ve got, develop a plan, and begin to execute it.

It’s time you got a gravy boat.