Posted by: Rosemary Riley, Senior Copywriter
Over the past month, we’ve been covering topics related to email – from benchmarks to best practices. Now MarketingSherpa has issued a new Guide with research in which marketers reveal top strategies for email during an economic downturn.
They offer a timely, special fourteen-page PDF as a free excerpt from the Guide. It includes:
- Stats showing email’s resurgence as a marketing tactic during the economic downturn
- Marketers’ attitudes toward email budgets and correlation with performance
- An eyetracking heatmap on how to overcome image-blocking
- And an outline of opportunities for international email marketing
According to MarketingSherpa, a down economy means more email. It’s low cost, targeted and effectively reaches prospects and current customers. Of course, an “enthusiasm for email in the downtown is going to mean greater competition at the inbox,” which makes your job more difficult. What’s going to differentiate your message? It better be good.
Another good point? Consumers want special treatment for opting in to your list. Your email content better include real benefits, like special pricing, and better be considerate, allowing recipients to customize how frequently they receive messages.
Compelling imagery won’t guarantee the success of your email effort. MarketingSherpa includes heatmaps that show it can be distracting, actually stealing attention from important content.
Lastly, large companies should be paying attention to the foreign email addresses on their lists. For half of the large organizations keeping tabs on the percent of their email list located outside of North America, 15% are foreign addresses. And 35% have email lists with more than 30% of the addresses located outside North America. The U.S. dollar may have fallen over the last several years, but American-based products and services are showing an appeal across many markets – machined products, high-tech equipment and even professional services. Now might be the best time to take advantage of overseas opportunities.
Be sure to download the .PDF to get the full story.
