5 Rules for Successful Email Marketing to Moms

[tweetmeme]If mothers of young children are your target market, you can successfully reach this audience through email, in addition to social media. A new study from digital advertising agency Brunner has found that a substantial majority of moms with children 12 and under read their email and do respond to marketing offers.

Brunner’s research indicated that this group controls $4 billion in annual household spending. Practically all members of this demographic, nearly 96%, check email at least once a day. Eighty percent say they look forward to checking email, and 80% want to receive offers from preferred brands via email.

Too Much Email Can Spoil the Message

The study also found that 50% of mothers say they will unsubscribe from a permission-based email if it is not useful or if they are being inundated with emails. So here are five rules retailers should keep in mind to successfully engage this audience:

1. Don’t send emails every day. Brunner found that about 45% of respondents indicated they prefer to receive email correspondence from any one brand about once a week.

2. Use time-sensitive subject lines. The study found that nearly 50% of respondents said they tend to read emails with subject lines, such as “50% Off Today Only,” first.

3. Advertise special sales and promotions. Nearly 85% of respondents said they wanted to receive coupons, and approximately 78% said they preferred to receive information about sales and promotions.

4. Offer special coupons that require visiting the store in person to redeem. Nearly 73% indicated they might make a special trip to the store after receiving an email containing a coupon or promotion.

5. Offer coupons for new items. More than 63% said they print coupons for brands they use or want to try so they have it for their next trip to the store.

Social Media & Free Offers

Social media is another excellent way to reach mothers, particularly with offers for free items, coupons and promotions. According to a Retail Advertising and Marketing Association (RAMA) survey conducted by BIGresearch, women with children at home are more likely to use Facebook (60.3%), MySpace (42.4%) and Twitter (16.5%) than average adults (50.2%, 34.4%, 15.0%, respectively). Moreover, 15.3% maintain their own blog.

On a scale of one to five, when asked what types of promotions most influence their purchases, product samples in the store (3.8), product samples delivered to home (3.6), loyalty cards (3.5), and special displays (3.4) rank as moms’ favorites.