Being the collectors of personal information like email contacts we are required to inform you of the acceptable practices of using it. Here are the basic guidelines:

• The information may not be sold or distributed by you to any other 3rd party.
• You may only use this information to promote YOUR wedding related business.
• If the member requests that you stop corresponding with them you must do so immediately.
• Care must be taken to safeguard this information and all access to it (usernames, passwords).

As privacy is an issue that we take very seriously, we will suspend memberships if the above guidelines are not followed.

How do you word your first email to ensure a maximum possible response rate? Here are some quick hints to help you sell via email:

What to do

• Make it personal. Use their name. Maybe congratulate them on their upcoming wedding.
• Read what they are looking for and customize your email accordingly.
• Give quick details on your business and what your products/services are.
• Give a quick idea on what kind of prices and packages you offer.
• Offer an invitation to browse your web site (if you have one) for more information.
• Give info on any promotion you have going on. This will attract their attention.
• Keep it short. Most internet users do not want to read too many words.
• Follow up with them within a few weeks.

What to avoid doing

• Sending just your name and phone number (they have browsed our site and your contact info is already there)
• Sending attachments. Most of today's viruses are spread via an email attachment, so people are hesitant to open an email of this kind (especially if they are not expecting the file and/or do not recognize the sender) It is better to send them a link to your web site where they can view the same literature and images.
• Contacting them if know you can not deliver what they are looking for (this wastes time on both ends and makes the system inefficient)

We would suggest that you create a standard email that you can customize for each response. This will save you time in the long run.

a) who to message - please only message members that either have your 'categories of service' selected in their 'needs help with' field or that have messaged you first. This promotes efficiency and avoids your messages resembling spam/junk mail.

b) make it personal - try not to copy and paste the same message to everyone. Read what they are looking for in their profile and customize your message accordingly. Some of these brides know and communicate with each other and you would not want them to see that you have been sending the same impersonal message to everyone.

c) keep it short - your complete info is in your profile and most members will not want to read too many words. Give quick details on your business like your products/services, prices, packages and promotions you currently offer.

d) end it on a question - this will leave the dialogue on a note were the member is prompted to respond. In normal conversation one normally states a few points about themselves and then follows with a question to pass it over to the other individual. Feedback from service providers indicate that short messages ending with a question generate a better response rate.

e) send yourself a test message - see how your message looks and reads before sending it. Make use of the text formatting toolbar to customize the look of your message.

A good example of a first message would read something like this:

"Hello bride2be,

My name is David and I am a professional photographer in the New York area. Are you still looking for one? If so may I send you some information?

Many thanks,

David"

Also, remember that members have the ability to block all service providers; however, we would prefer not to see very many brides using this feature. Fewer blocks helps generate activity on the site. These guidelines are here to help foster a positive relationship between service providers and the public. If a member who has blocked service providers does send you a message, you will be able to respond to that message as it is your ticket to bypass the block feature.

There may be some information in a member's profile that will save you time. Quick things to read are the member's profile type, city, last login date, event date and whether they have blocked service providers.

We are constantly reviewing member profiles for their validity. Whenever we suspect a 'fake' account has been created, we will remove it from the database to ensure you spend your time in the community messaging real active members.

A quick way to check if a profile is 'fake' is to review when the member last logged in, whether their event date falls on a weekend and whether they have fully completed their profile information. If they have not logged in within the past 2 months it would be safe to assume that this member's info is not accurate or they are no longer active.

It has also come to our attention that 'fake' profiles have been created in attempts to use our system to defraud other users of money. These individuals usually ask that you send money on their behalf via Western Union and indicate that you will be reimbursed plus given a substantial amount for your efforts afterwards.

Keeping the above in in mind please report any member profiles that you suspect to be 'fake' or 'inactive'.