Why Email Marketing Automations are crucial in a recession
February 14 - 2023
Email Marketing Strategy 5 min read
For many businesses, the knee-jerk reaction to a recession is to cut costs.
However, this can do more harm than good.
By reducing marketing costs, businesses can lose brand awareness, search rankings, and customer loyalty. And of course, there are always plenty of competitors willing to fill any gaps left in the market.
Instead, effective marketing during a recession is essential to coming out of these difficult times whilst remaining profitable. After all, a recession is temporary. But the damage to a brand and customer-base is long-term.
However, we appreciate this is easier said than done.
With budget holders looking to make the most of their spend at every step, marketers need to focus on the activity that will prove the most fruitful during a recession.
And in our experience, that’s marketing automation. So, read on to learn why email marketing automation is our absolute go-to, crucial strategy for any business during a recession.
Enables reporting that matters
Increases efficiency
For many, the most enticing reason to implement email marketing automation is that it saves time.
Gone are the days when marketing activity consisted of time-consuming, manual processes. With automation, marketers can keep in touch with their customers, whilst sharing important information, with little manual effort and input.
This means that marketers can do more, with less. Freeing up time for the team to focus on more strategic and creative projects that helps their activity to grow and innovate.
But don’t take our word for it. Reports show that time-saving is the number one benefit of marketing automation, making it a fail-safe for many businesses.
Reduces costs
When it comes to a recession, saving money is at the top of any business's mind. Fortunately, one of the main benefits of marketing automation is that it reduces costs.
It’s a natural assumption that if email marketing automation saves time, it will in turn save money. But there are also other cost-saving benefits to this technology.
We previously mentioned freeing up employees’ time to focus on strategy. An essential part of this is identifying cost-saving opportunities, such as new tactics and technologies, and streamlining processes.
Additionally, many email automation software providers will house multiple technologies under one roof. Meaning that marketers can reduce their email marketing stack, and the associated costs.
Boosts engagement
During a recession, immediate monetary returns aren’t the only concern for marketers. They also need to focus on growing and retaining their customer base.
With consumers feeling the financial squeeze too, previous loyal customers soon become tempted to look elsewhere for more budget-friendly options. Meaning that competition is fierce. And engagement is essential.
With the help of email marketing automation alongside data collection, businesses can transform their one-size-fits-all communications into highly personalised, one-to-one experiences.
This could be in the guise of recommended products to encourage purchases, anniversary celebrations, or VIP discounts. To name just a few options.
Generates high ROI
A simple but effective reasoning for why email marketing automations are crucial during a recession is ROI.
Marketing automation is regularly cited as a key revenue driver for businesses. With 75% of marketers using automation seeing ROI in just 12 months. And marketers reporting 53% higher conversion rates when they automate parts of their activity.
Whether it be a marketing head or the main budget holder of the business, focusing on the activity that has the most chance of generating a high ROI is essential. Making marketing automation a straightforward cost to sign off.
Enables reporting that matters
During times of financial stress, businesses often increase their focus on reporting.
They want to deep-dive into the activity which is working, and which isn’t. What revenue or losses departments are making. And where they can generate the most ROI, quickly.
One of the lesser-discussed benefits of email automation technology is that it can easily collect data for your business. From open rates through to conversions.
Furthermore, all of this information is safely stored and organised in one easily accessible place. Creating a timeline of campaign performance that can be tracked, and ensuring that each individual can access the information that is most useful for their specific reporting needs.
Maintains a competitive edge
We’ve previously mentioned that during a recession, competition can become particularly fierce.
So, despite the challenges and restraints marketers may face during this period, they cannot afford to take their foot off the gas. And let their competitors steal their hard-earned customer base.
By embedding email marketing automation into the heart of their strategy, marketers can benefit from all of the above to stay ahead of the curve.
Cost savings mean that budgets can be utilised throughout the business where it is really needed. More time helps marketers to keep an eye on their competition and generate more compelling campaigns. Personalised messaging gives businesses an engagement edge over their competitors. And in general, the ease of automation ensures that all of these benefits are scalable. Supporting the business in growth during a time when this was previously unfathomable.
Want to make the most out of your email marketing automations?
During difficult financial times, such as a recession, it can be tempting to cut budgets and cancel marketing activity.
But with email marketing being one of the most cost effective channels available, investing in email marketing automation can make a significant difference down the line.
Why not get in touch with us to explore your options for email marketing support? We’d love to hear about your email marketing strategies, and offer our email marketing expertise.
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