U.S. small businesses favor email marketing for Mother's Day

Nearly three-quarters, 73 percent, of U.S. small businesses expect this year’s Mother’s Day sales to be strong, a rise in confidence of 7 percent on last year. In fact, Constant Contact's survey found that small business owners now rate Mother’s Day as having “a greater impact on sales than Valentine’s Day, Easter, Father’s Day, Fourth of July, Halloween, Labor Day and St. Patrick’s Day".

As more consumers use the internet to shop so business owners are shifting their attention online. The NRF's recent Mother's Day consumer survey found that spending will total around $15.73 billion this year. Eighty-six percent will use email marketing to promote Mother’s Day offers and events, according to the survey, and 42 percent will use other forms of online marketing including paid search and banner ads.

The survey revealed that 53 percent of respondents thought email marketing was the most effective at driving sales, followed by online marketing (17 percent).

It’s not surprising then that offline marketing channels are being left behind. Just 26 percent of those surveyed will use direct mail, 25 percent will use flyers and 20 percent will advertise on TV, radio or print as they don’t return the same volume of sales as online methods.

Full survey results can be found at Constant Contact’s website.

Tags: email marketing, Mother's Day, online marketing