Imagine being able to set your email marketing on autopilot.

With a little forward-thinking and planning, email automation makes it possible. Email automation is a tool that allows you to create an email or sequence of emails through the use of an email marketing service, such as Constant Contact, MailChimp (available for both free and paid plans) or others. Once the email(s) are created and perimeters are in place (such as the order or frequency you decide), these emails will automatically go out to contacts after they perform a specific action, such as joining your email list or making a purchase. Once set up, automated emails work on autopilot so you can focus on other areas of your business.

Create an Automated Welcome Email Series
According to a report by Omnisend, “welcome emails have an average open rate of 45%, versus 18% for promotional emails.” Naturally the first email in a welcome series should thank subscribers for joining your email list. Shopify recommends keeping welcome emails clean and easy to understand, with a brief description of your brand, how you’re different, what you have in common with shoppers and why shoppers should be excited. Make sure details regarding store hours, locations and contact information are accessible by linking to this information on your website or including it in the email footer. Don’t forget to always include a call to action. This may be a link to your website with an invitation to “shop now” or follow your social media pages.

For the second email in the series, you should teach readers something. This could include details about your products (e.g., high-quality ingredients, small-batch confections) or something relevant to your product or audience, such as tips for choosing the perfect gift for anyone and any occasion. Your call to action might include a link to a cool video that drives home your message or a coupon or promotional code as a gift for subscribing—just make sure to skip the expiration date since you won’t know when your contact will receive the offer.

To make the subsequent emails effective, consider content that will be useful to your audience. Constant Contact suggests using the following questions to determine which information would be most relevant to your audience, as well as the number of emails to include in a series and the frequency of which to send those emails.

• What do they want to know?
• What do they need to know?
• What are their needs, problems and challenges?

Answering these questions will help you to develop communication that nurtures and engages with prospective and returning customers.

Avoid Time-Sensitive Content
Once you’ve determined which information is relevant to your contacts, make sure to avoid time-sensitive content. Since the dates contacts receive your automated emails will vary based on when they sign up for your email list (or take another action), be mindful not to include information or photos that might become outdated upon receipt—such as specific dates, holidays or seasons. Although much of the beauty of an automated email is that you can “set it and forget it,” don’t forget it entirely. Make plans to review each email periodically to ensure it’s still relevant and current.

By investing time upfront to craft a simple, yet effective automated email series, your efforts are sure to pay off by converting more contacts to customers and building customer relationships that lead to lifelong loyalty and brand advocacy.

Crave more?Click here to subscribe and start receiving weekly tips, like this, delivered straight to your email inbox. RCI's blog is just one of the many resources we offer to help candy makers refine their craft and build upon their business and marketing practices. Follow us on Facebook for even more sweet inspiration.

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Upgrade your confections with a cool, glimmering hologram. For this week’s blog post, Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate shares a simple technique that gives chocolate a dazzling, rainbow effect without the use of colored cocoa butter or pigments.

How does it work?
A diffraction sheet is made of plastic which consists of micro-etchings, which are tiny grooves that causes white light to disperse into a rainbow of colors. When liquid chocolate meets a diffraction sheet, the chocolate takes on the sheet’s micro etchings as it solidifies. These etchings in the chocolate replicate the dispersion effect of the sheet and separate white light into individual colors, which gives the lovely rainbow effect. When selecting a diffraction sheet (also known as a gradient sheet), the greater the number of lines, the more of an opportunity for the light to diffract and give a stronger iridescent look. Diffraction sheets can be found from a number of online retailers, such as Amazon.

How to do it?
There are a few ways to make this dazzling design.

The first, is using a magnetic transfer mould. Place the diffraction sheet into your transfer mould, similar to how you would use cocoa butter transfer sheets or other traditional design applications. Once placed, proceed to pour tempered chocolate into your mould. Be sure to knock the air out of the mould to ensure a seamless transfer of the design. When the chocolate cools, the liquid will mould around the micro etchings allowing the rainbow shimmer to be present on your chocolate.

Another method is to apply chocolate directly to the diffraction sheet. The easiest way to utilize the sheets directly is to slightly melt the top of an already moulded or enrobed product, place the melted side onto the diffraction sheet and let it cool. This way you can design items that have already been completed, like chocolate chip bottoms or chocolate enrobed cookies. Chocolate can also be poured directly onto the gradient sheet. When slightly cooled, the diffraction sheet can be bent or curled to add a shimmer to chocolate curls or tubes.

As discussed above, you aren’t transferring the design but instead, transferring the grooves into the chocolate. Because of this, the sheets can be used multiple times. As long as the micro etchings are clear, the design can continue to be moulded onto the product. Gently wash the sheet with soap and water after use. Make sure that the sheet is completely dry before the next use. A dry wipe down can also be completed between batches.

How can it be applied?
There are an endless number of ways to apply this shimmering design. Moulded truffles, chocolate curls, and enrobed treats can be elevated with holographic effects. The possibilities are only limited to your glittering imagination!

Crave more?Click here  to subscribe and start receiving weekly tips, like this, delivered straight to your email inbox. RCI's blog is just one of the many resources we offer to help candy makers refine their craft and build upon their business and marketing practices.  Follow us on Facebook  for even more sweet inspiration.

Not a member? Click here to learn how RCI can help you build your sweet business .

Long before pumpkin spice lattes were a thing, spiced apple cider was quite possibly the undisputed official beverage of fall. While pumpkin spice can be found nearly everywhere this time of year, there are still some of us who look forward to tracking down high-quality apple cider at the local farmers’ market or a roadside farmstand. Together the fresh apple flavor paired with the aroma of warming spices elicits all the cozy feels.

Before apple month draws to a close, we pay homage to the regal apple with apple cider infused confections.

Photo: This Mess is Ours

Cider Spiced Candy Apples

Put a fall spin on your candy apple recipe by adding apple cider to your recipe—or try this recipe on for size. This could also be applied to caramel apples by making an apple cider caramel. Check out this recipe for apple cider caramels.

Apple Cider Caramel Popcorn
The addition of spiced apple cider brings a welcome depth of flavor to any caramel recipe—including caramel popcorn.

Spiced Cider Fudge
This easy white chocolate fudge is flavored with apple cider and pieces of toffee for texture.

We hope you enjoy this post! If you try any of these recipes or would like to share photos of your favorite apple cider infused confections on Facebook, tag us @retailconfectioners.

Crave more?Click here to subscribe and start receiving weekly tips, like this, delivered straight to your email inbox. RCI's blog is just one of the many resources we offer to help candy makers refine their craft and build upon their business and marketing practices. Follow us on Facebook for even more sweet inspiration.

Not a member? Click here to learn how RCI can help you build your sweet business.

We all know even the very best confections don’t stay fresh forever, but did you know your choice of packaging could either be helping or hindering your fight for freshness? While packaging is often selected for visual appeal, it can impact the shelf life of your products.

Understanding how packaging affects shelf life can help you better serve your customers and your bottom line. As the final post of this series, we’ll continue to share insight from RCI member Randy Hofberger of R&D Consultants on how to prolong the shelf life of your confections with the right packaging.  Missed the first two posts? Read Part 1, followed by Part 2.

This week we’re exploring the effects of moisture on confections and what to look for when sourcing barrier packaging that can keep crunchy products crisp and soft items from becoming dry —plus, tips for avoided unwanted moisture when shipping products.

Managing Moisture

Like with light and oxygen, moisture can wreak havoc on confections. No consumer wants soggy brittles and toffee or dry truffles and creams. Even worse, the presence of excessive moisture can create a breeding ground for bacteria and mold.

A good moisture-barrier film can play double-duty by retaining existing moisture while also keeping unwanted moisture out. Ask your packaging supplier to share the oxygen and moisture permeability values for their products. According to Randy, foil is an excellent barrier for both oxygen and moisture; cellophane is fairly good; polyethylene is fairly good for moisture, but it is poor for oxygen. Watch out when packaging products in shrink wrap or a cardboard stock box, as these materials are basically providing dust covers and not a lot of protection from moisture and oxygen.

Many films have layers to give the best protection and visual appeal. This is often seen in flow-wrapped items. The bars can be cohesively sealed (cold flow) or heat sealed. If heat sealed is used, be mindful that excess heat is not used to de-temper the chocolate. Metalized wrap offers great protection, but has the disadvantage of not being metal detector friendly.

Shipping Considerations

When shipping or distributing items, acknowledge that conditions may be different than on your premises and are out of your control. It is always good to specify the target temperatures and relative humidity to your distributor. If shipping items with ice packs, it is best to wrap both the ice packs and the confections to prevent damage due to condensation.

We want our customers to enjoy the wonderful candies that we have created. This requires a candy that is tasty to begin with; it is formulated to have a good shelf life for texture, flavor and micro stability; it is sold and consumed within its shelf life and finally the candies and the packaging are appealing to all. This will result in having satisfied customers and continued strong sales.

Crave more?Click here  to subscribe and start receiving weekly tips, like this, delivered straight to your email inbox. RCI's blog is just one of the many resources we offer to help candy makers refine their craft and build upon their business and marketing practices.  Follow us on Facebook for even more sweet inspiration.

Not a member? Click here to learn how RCI can help you build your sweet business .

You have just made some of the best confections known to Candydom, but you also know that fresh-from-the-kitchen flavor doesn’t last forever. What’s a candy maker to do? Understanding how packaging affects the shelf life of your confections can help you better serve your customers and your bottom line. In part one of this three-week series, we’re sharing insight from RCI member Randy Hofberger of R&D Consultants on how packaging can positively or negatively affect the shelf life of your products.

While packaging is often selected for visual appeal, it can impact the shelf life of your products. When choosing packaging, factors like light, oxygen and moisture can significantly reduce the shelf life of your products. This week we’re exploring the effects of light and how two different types of packaging could be helping or hindering your fight for a longer shelf life.

How Light Affects Shelf-Life

Exposure to light can reduce the shelf life of confections by causing photolytic oxidation to occur when ultraviolet (UV) light reacts with unsaturated fats to develop off-flavors.

While the sun is the strongest source of UV radiation, fluorescent lightbulbs produce a considerable amount of UV radiation—albeit  far less in comparison to sunlight. As a general rule, the hotter the filament, the more UV it produces. LED and incandescent bulbs produce the least amount of UV.

Which Packaging Beats Harmful Rays?

Opaque packaging can offer some protection from the effects of light/UV, moisture and odors.

Clear packaging has the advantage of allowing the consumer to see what they are buying; however, it has the disadvantage of allowing photolytic oxidation to occur. Clear packaging will also, in certain cases, cause bleaching/fading of colored coatings or white chocolate.

Ironically, the clear solution is not clear at all—because it's opaque!  If you’re lucky enough to have lots of natural light in your retail shop, it may be in your best interest to invest in opaque packaging to protect your products from the sunlight. With that said, we're not against clear packaging by any means! If you do opt to use clear packaging, or packaging with a clear window, keep sunlight exposure to a minimum to help maximize the shelf life of your products.

Next week, we will explore how to utilize packaging to slow the effects of oxygen exposure, plus a simple way to test the effectiveness of your packaging.

Crave more?Click here to subscribe and start receiving weekly tips, like this, delivered straight to your email inbox. RCI's blog is just one of the many resources we offer to help candy makers refine their craft and build upon their business and marketing practices.  Follow us on Facebook for even more sweet inspiration.