Smarter email marketing in a recession

In an economic downturn, we know how appealing it sounds to send as many emails as possible to everybody on your mailing list. After all, email marketing is champ when it comes to making the most of your marketing dollars, returning $45 on average per dollar you invest.

But like that half-eaten eclair in the break room, you’ve got to resist temptation. When you email too frequently with generic information, your readers might start to ignore your emails, opt out of them, mark you as spam, or (worst of all) completely dump you as a sender. It doesn’t mean you can’t send when you have something to say. It just means you want to be smart about how you’re sending. Here are three quick tips for staving off email fatigue:

* Target your email campaigns! – With email segmentation, you can make sure that your message is getting in the right hands. Rather than sending another promotion to everybody about the newest Snuggie, send it to the people who are mostly likely to take action. Perhaps that’s people who’ve bought a similar product, clicked but *didn’t* buy in your last promotion, or people whose survey results showed that they really love the idea of a blanket with sleeves. Either way, email segmentation allows you to send fewer, more targeted messages.

* Ask how often they want to receive it - Email frequency doesn’t have to be a mystery. When new subscribers sign up for your email campaigns, it’s easy to find out just how often they want to receive information from you. Give them the option to subscribe to a higher frequency than you would normally send — it might surprise you how many people actually want to receive extra content from you. Just be sure to honor their request.

* Give ‘em what they really want – There’s no point in sending a message if you’ve got nothing to say. When people fill out your email signup form, they’re expecting a benefit for joining your list. After all, email marketing is a relationship. Reward the time and information your subscribers are giving you with a special coupon, product preview, whitepaper or VIP information.

Are you trying any of these? Has the downturn impacted your email strategy or email marketing budget? Did you actually buy a Snuggie? Leave us a comment and let us know.