Mastering email marketing during a recession: Proven tactics for tough times

Email is a timeless and universal marketing channel. Among the many advantages of this medium are a low investment threshold and a high ROI, both of which make email marketing unique in times of a recession.

We recently spoke with Radek Kaczynski, CEO of Bouncer, an email deliverability verification platform (usebouncer.com), about marketing via email during an economic downturn.

We began with the elephant in the room: Is email marketing dead? After a hearty chuckle, Radek recalled a similar conversation he had nearly two decades ago. Needless to say, email is still one of the primary means of communication for businesses today.

There were countless takeaways from our conversation with Radek, but here are the ones we consider the top five:

1. The main reason email marketing refuses to die

The reason email marketing continues to be used widely is that businesses have control over it regardless of the fiscal climate. It's an all-weather marketing tool that's simultaneously cost-efficient and robust in terms of control.

2. Building trust in the customer's journey

Trust is the main factor that drives email marketing success. The sooner email marketers understand this, the sooner they can start seeing a soaring ROI.

It's common not to receive much information from subscribers at the beginning of the customer journey. The focus then should be on gaining trust by building human-to-human connections, which leads to customer loyalty and higher-quality information, and ultimately to much better connections between brands and customers.

3. Empathy and buyer sentiment

Buyer behavior changes rapidly during downturns. Businesses in general—and marketers in particular—need to empathize with their customers during such times. Plan less and spend more time in your customers' shoes. If you can design an experience your customers appreciate, your business will survive the recession and thrive in times of growth.

If your target market is price sensitive, consider introducing a line of products more suited to the times. Revisiting your business model to suit buyer sentiment is superpower only a few marketers have.

4. Human interactions

Customer interviews are one of the most effective means of gathering insights into the user group. In times of difficulty, go to the source. Talk to your loyal customers and you'll get insights deeper than any generic survey can bring to the table.

Well-designed surveys may yield useful insights, but you'll get much closer to the heart of things via human-to-human conversations.

5. Automate only where necessary

Marketing automation is just the door. Whether we're in a period of recession or boom, human-to-human interactions will continue to play a prominent role. It may be counter-intuitive, but automation helps us to be better connected if we use it mainly to save time, energy, and talent on repetitive things.

The main benefit of automation is to save us time that we could otherwise spend on things that will get us closer to the customer, so we can better understand and serve them.

Final word

Irrespective of market sentiments, trust remains the foundation of success in email marketing. Early interactions can yield limited customer data, but by engaging in genuine human-to-human interactions, brands can build lasting trust and loyalty. This trust, in turn, leads to higher returns. So in challenging times, too, embracing human interaction becomes paramount.

Radek sees times of crisis as an opportunity. Through thoughtful re-evaluation of strategies, marketers can find innovative ways to maximize value and minimize costs.

By focusing on customer retention through trust-building and personalized communications, businesses can leverage email marketing to navigate economic challenges and emerge stronger on the other side.

As businesses navigate the ever-changing landscape, email marketing continues to endure and thrive as the evergreen channel for marketing.

(Radek is a tech industry stalwart and CEO of Bouncer, an email deliverability verification platform.)