Traditionally the day after Thanksgiving is the start of the largest consumer spending time of the year. If you have a Web site that takes orders, you want to make sure you are ready to take advantage of this seasonal trend.

Today I will give you three powerful strategies on how to use e-mail marketing for the holidays. Before I start, I want you to understand e-mail marketing is the use of "permission-based e-mail." This means sending e-mail to someone who has willingly signed up to be on your e-mail list.

When sending e-mail to your list, you want to follow the following strategies in order to get the highest number of responses.

. Personalize your e-mail messages - Use the person's first name in the subject and message of the e-mail. An example of a personalized subject is "Kyle, act quickly," or "Jim and Judy, can you make it," or "Paul, Deseret Morning News update." Keep your subjects short, quick and relevant to the e-mail's purpose. Personalization is a powerful strategy that you will always want to use if you can. This simple-yet-effective strategy will increase the response rate of your holiday e-mail. Just think about it. How many times have you been receptive to a phone call where the person didn't address you by name? E-mail is no different.

. Re-establish the relationship - Most people don't remember who you are when they first read your e-mails. Every time you send an e-mail you should re-establish the relationship. For example: "Dear Kyle, As a Deseret Morning News advertiser, I want to let you know about our Christmas promotion." Or, "Dear Jim and Judy, You visited our real estate office in Salt Lake City last month and the purpose of this e-mail is to invite you to attend one of our open houses." Or, "Dear Paul, As a subscriber to the Deseret Morning News, I want to update you about . . ."

This strategy helps your prospects/clients remember what the relationship you have with them is. This opens them up to be more receptive to your e-mail communication. This strategy is critically important if you want to reduce the chances of your e-mail being mistaken as spam. Imagine answering the phone and hearing a voice you don't recognize. If the person started talking to you as if they know who you are, you would stop the conversation and ask them, who is this? If the person never answers, you would eventually hang up the phone.

E-mail is the same way, except if you don't re-establish the relationship during the first part of the e-mail, your e-mail has a much higher chance of being deleted.

. Send e-mail well-wishes - If you really want your customers to bond with you then you should send a "Happy Thanksgiving" e-mail or one that says, "Merry Christmas, and we wish you and yours the best." Don't make a sales pitch. Simply tell your customers you appreciate them. This will help them understand that you appreciate their business and as a result will increase the response you get the next time you send an offer.

My point is you need to remember that a human being is going to read your e-mail. Treat each e-mail like a real communication instead of a virtual communication and you will see a substantial increase in your response rates and more traffic to your Web site.

If there is an Internet marketing topic you would like me to cover, submit your idea at: www.AskDionJones.com. I will focus future columns on the topics you suggest.