Marketing emails with words like ‘shop small’ are a hit with consumers: survey

What does it take for a small business to succeed in the current economy? Good products, good prices, and…terrific marketing, it seems.

Per new data from email marketing firm Constant Contact, which analyzed more than 12,000 campaigns sent between June 1 and July 11, authentic, community-oriented messaging outperformed both big-brand and urgency-driven promotions.

Campaigns that included phrases like “shop small” or “shop small business” saw average open rates of about 45%, while more conventional hooks like “exclusive sales” and “early access” still performed well, drawing open rates of 45.3% and 42.3%, respectively.

Even Amazon couldn’t quite top the trend. Emails referencing “Amazon Prime Day” saw slightly lower open rates (41.3%) and click rates (3.9%), which Constant Contact attributed to growing “consumer fatigue” around big-event marketing.

Moreover, sales buzzwords such as “mega sale” and “today only” seemed to have lost their magic with audiences, drawing 35%–36% open rates and a mere 0%–1% click rates.

Taken together, the findings suggest consumers are still eager to support small businesses even as economic uncertainty lingers.

The CNBC SurveyMonkey Small Business Confidence Index was at its highest back in January 2024. While concerns around rising costs and inflation were still heightened back then, 28% of SMB owners labelled the economy “excellent” or “good” at the time.

And while the political landscape has shifted since President Trump took office, small business optimism remains resilient with the small business confidence index, reported by the US Chamber of Commerce, reaching its highest point last month since 2017.