Recession Got You Down? Give Email Marketing a Try

In today’s less than ideal market conditions, paying large amounts of money on unproven marketing campaigns is extremely risky. As a result, companies should use proven yet affordable marketing methods. Since email marketing is both affordable and a proven way to develop relationships with customers, this route is definitely the way to go.

Email Marketing Benefits

Besides the obvious affordability though, email marketing campaigns are also inherently good for other reasons. Email marketing can positively reinforce your brand and even allow you to test new creative marketing strategies. Further, email marketing is especially helpful because this form of marketing is easy to measure. For instance, marketers can determine the open rate of emails, the number of click-throughs, and the number of sales and so on within hours of implementing a specific email campaign.

Effective Recession-Proof Email Marketing Strategies

1. One excellent way to market via email during this type of economy is take a cue from offline advertisers and offer time sensitive sales pitches. After all, statements such as Buy Before Dec 10 and get 30% Off do cause consumers to take action – in both online and offline environments. As an example, Kohl’s, has a “25 deals before Christmas” promotion at both its online and offline stores.

2. Another good way to coax consumers to spend their hard earned dollars at your online store is to offer special coupons to them. Consumers are using coupons now more than ever and online coupons are particularly easy to redeem. Women especially are more likely to take advantage of these types of coupons. In fact, an October 2008 study by SheSpeaks determined that two-thirds of the polled women stated that they were going to use more coupons this year. Further, two-thirds of the women said that they forwarded these coupons to friends which is great news for online retailers.

3. Another excellent way to market through email in a down economy is to promote loyalty programs. These loyalty programs are helpful as they can encourage current consumers to spend more and they may deter potential customers from shopping at a competitor’s website.

4. Still other ways to encourage online spending via email marketing is to offer free shipping, more discounts, or value-added benefits to customers.

Overall, general consumer spending as a whole may be down, but that does not mean that you cannot do all that you can to encourage consumers to spend. Good luck with your efforts!