Know-How Exchange : Strategy

Well, an easy way would be to place a clipboard on your counter with "Add Me to you Mailing List" (or similar) written at the top. Maybe also put a sentence or two talking about your privacy policy/what the emails would be used for.

If your point of sale has a field for emails (common in those systems that track sales to customers, not common in others), the cashier can ask something like "would you like to be added to our email list?", and if they respond yes, type in the email address. Not so good for busy locations, as it ties up the cashier.

You could also prompt people by having a contest as part of the email. You pick a member of the mailing list at random to win something of some value to your customers.

A fish bowl where people can drop their business card in could also help capture emails (and get around handwriting issues).

What's in it for the person providing an email? Are you giving discounts to your "members"? A free breakfast coupon emailed to them to use on their birthday? Are you guaranteeing their privacy is respected (won't trade/sell their contact info with anyone else)?

Alternatively, could you use a Facebook page, have people "like" you in exchange for a once-a-month free meal for one of your fans randomly chosen?

Jay hit the nail on the head (as he usually does). People will give you their email address if (a) they want what you're offering in return, and (b) they trust you to not misuse the information.

For one client, we printed some really nice "opt-in" cards. The front gives the reasons why a customer might want to be on our list (i.e., give us their email addresses). The back has space to fill in basic info, including email address, along with a privacy reassurance. The cards are placed on the counter where they are pretty hard to ignore.

Counter personnel are encouraged to reference the cards each time they complete a sale. (They never wanted to take the time to enter data themselves.) After just a few days we have more than 150 new email addresses. (Goal is 4,000 by year-end. We're going to publish a progress report every 2 weeks.)

The problem with this is that the limit to growing the list is that the customers actually have to come into the store(s) in order to give them the cards and get the email addresses. (Repeat purchase cycle is at least 5-6 months.) But at least a year from now we can expect a hefty list. And we'll be glad then that we started now.

We also considered some kind of spiff or contest for counter personnel to ask for the email addresses, but we decided against it for two reasons: First, we didn't want them to expect a reward for doing each new thing (that they should have been doing anyway). Second, we did give them a simple presentation of how more email addresses on the list would actually put money in their pockets ... and they seemed to understand.

We'll see ...

Thanks everyone! We ended up settling on a weekly email drawing for a $20 gift card. Winners notified by email. Everyone else notified also by email as to the weekly winner, are encouraged to keep watching email, and with an email-only 10% off coupon. Signage is posted near register, pick-up station and at the drive thru windows. Sign-up slips for first and last name (optional) and email, along with 'tell us your favorite drink'. Staff has been instructed to promote and so far, its working out well. Appreciated!