E-mail is one of the main ways coaches stay in touch with athletes.  That's only going to increase after the pending NCAA text message ban goes into effect.

E-mail is quick, cheap, and (when done correctly) highly effective.  It works with both your prospect, and your prospect's parents. 

In our new book, "What They Didn't Teach You About Recruiting", I go over fifteen vital lessons that every college coach needs to know if they're going to be successful recruiters.  It's the stuff that "they" didn't teach you when you became a coach, but should have.

One of the most important aspects of recruiting involves being able to effectively use e-mail to deliver your recruiting message.  It's a big subject, but let's focus on just one small part of how you use e-mail to recruit: Two things you have to remember when you're creating your e-mails that go out to your prospects.

"Keep it short.  The shorter, the better.  Why?  First, teenagers have an incredibly short attention span.  Most of them aren't interested in a lot of details, at least not in one large e-mail message.  That's why most of your recruiting letters you send via mail have little or no real impact on most of your prospects (sorry, coach, but it's the truth). 

Short e-mails get read, long ones get "scanned".  You know what the difference is, because you do the same thing when you receive a lengthy e-mail...you "scan" it quickly, and then either re-read it or delete it.  Short e-mails should be simple and to the point, especially if its in the beginning of the recruiting process.  Shorter e-mails create a natural curiosity for the reader, and they will want to seek out more information in most cases.

Keep it very simple.  That goes along with the first point, but there's a very specific purpose for simplicity in a recruiting e-mail: Comprehension.  Would you rather rattle-off fifteen facts and figures about your program to a new recruit, or would it make more sense to give them an ongoing series of bite-sized chunks that they could read, absorb, understand and tie-in with the last easy-to-read bite-sized chunk that they got from you?  The answer should be pretty obvious."

Let me add that the goal of those e-mails you create and send is to set up future, more in-depth conversations.  Your e-mails, like the letters you send, should have the goal of setting up live conversations between you and your prospect rather than trying to sell them on your program in one e-mail or one letter.

Keep your e-mail short and simple.  Your message is going to get through, make more of an impact, create curiosity and get a response.  Isn't that the goal, anyway?