How to handle your email marketing during Covid-19
Let’s talk about email and Covid-19….
Recently I was on a call with different email marketers across the country, and actually across the world, trying to figure out email marketing through this Covid-19 situation. I know that everybody has received the COVID-19 emails multiple times from multiple stores and businesses. I even received things that I didn't know I was signed up for. It's a little crazy, I know, but I just wanted to give you a couple of pointers on how to handle your e-mail marketing during this crisis (you can use these for other crises).
Why has e-mail increased these last couple of weeks?
Everyone has an e-mail address, but not everyone has a social media account. So the quickest and fastest way for people to communicate with their customers on a mass scale is through e-mail.
We have seen an increase in open rates across the email marketing realm from all these bigger analytical companies that are analyzing all these e-mails. Why? Because people are home, they are more attentive. Why? Well, they're bored and sometimes don't have anything else to do and they're on their phone, so it's much easier for them to be captured by your e-mail.
Generally, email has a more formal tone than other channels. Social media is a lot more fun, more relaxed. With e-mail, you can do that, but also be a little more serious, so it's a proper channel for you to communicate through this crisis.
A couple of tips on how you should handle it:
Be straight-forward.
Go to the point. Don't use fear and uncertainty, because everybody is already feeling it. Try to reassure your consumers or prospects that you are doing your best and you are here to help them in any way that you can.
Do not call your sales "Coronavirus Sale".
That's just very poor taste, people remember that and from a branding perspective, it's not good for your brand to be associated with something like that.
Review your automated e-mails.
Your "Welcome CV's", "abandon", "window-shopping", there's a ton of automation that you can set up, but if you haven't done so, it's fine. But if you have, please review them to make sure the content is relevant and is not too cheeky or too pushy. Especially during these times.
Crisis emails are not transactional.
Be very mindful of sending those types of communications. The e-mail providers such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, they're still looking at what you're sending, so don't overdo it with that, because people can hit spam, and then you run into delivery issues. You don't want to go there.
Segmentation is critical.
What is segmentation? Say you have a list of 1000 people, or however long, you can still segment. If people are not engaged with you, try not to send them any COVID-related e-mails. They don't know who you are, so try to segment and only send to people you are engaged with you and your brand.
Think long-term.
Just because we are in this crisis now, it doesn't mean we'll be in a crisis in 6 months. You don't want to annoy people - still communicate with them. My recommendation is to send an e-mail once a week, at least.
Be top of mind, be in that inbox. Be relevant. Be sensitive. Be empathetic. Don't go overboard with sales when people are not in the mindset for that, but don't stop selling, or communicating with your customers. Don't go to the extremes.
I hope these tips have helped you on how to best approach your email marketing during this crisis. We're all in this together, so try your best and if you have any questions, feel free to contact me - I'm more than happy to help you.