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E-mail Marketing in a Recession Needs Finesse

With an economic recession identified, business owners are looking for innovative ways to use email to market their products. Stephanie Miller, an expert in direct marketing and online publishing, shares 10 tips that can entice customers to take an interest in, and hopefully purchase, your product.

Get the tone right. Because consumers and business professionals are worried about budgets and job security, products and services should be pitched in a way that resonates with them. Avoid frivolous promotions and glib subject lines. Miller also suggests making your email valuable by providing consumers with information, helpful tips and timely offers that can boost response and protect margin, and teaming up with partners to offer a better promotion.

Integrate channels. Use email to start a conversation. That conversation can continue in a social medium -- a discussion forum or a Facebook Wall -- but it starts with the familiar and comfortable inbox. Email is a tool consumers use to get news, connect with friends and share concerns.

Reach the inbox and break through. Seasonality and recession pressure significantly increases the amount of email sent. In response, ISPs may throttle back delivery speeds, strengthen filters and lower volume caps to protect inboxes. If you have a good sender reputation, get credit for it by signing up for as many white lists as you qualify for.

Ask for feedback in every email, after every online purchase and in every retail or phone transaction. Ensure that your sales team garners relevant information from its sales and then uses it to make improvements to your product or service. Business owners can better reach consumers, says Miller, if they show genuine interest in their clients’ needs. With the changing economic climate, customers may need to ratchet up or downsize the products or services they need.

Be sure to highlight the traits that make your company different. Miller says business owners should let customers know if delayed billing, loyalty points or improved service for certain order sizes or frequency of purchase is available to them. Test timing to increase relevance. Consumers don’t need to hear from you as much if they’ve just made a purchase, but might appreciate increased contact if contract renewals are pending.

And finally, thank your customers, by offering incentives such as coupons to new or loyal customers. Treating them well might in turn encourage them to share the news with their friends.

Stephanie Miller is vice president of strategic services for Return Path, a 20-year veteran of direct marketing and online publishing, and a frequent writer, speaker and advocate for email marketers. She can be reached at stephanie.miller@returnpath.net

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