Email-marketing During Coronavirus
As the impact of the Coronavirus continues to establish its own rules all over the world, we as digital marketers should adapt and definitely work on our creativity. However our profession has its perks: we have the privilege of being flexible to integrate into nearly all sorts of changing landscapes.
Email marketing is one of the lowest cost, highest ROI digital channels, and no wonder you might be leaning heavily on your email program to keep lines of communication open with your existing customers.
Today we share some tips to help you address the crisis with the right message and tone for your customers. It’s not a time for panicking, it’s time for acting and staying motivated. Cause remember, every crisis is an opportunity!
Your Language
Sometimes it’s what you say, but more often it’s how you say it. Words we marketers would typically use without question can be perceived differently now. We need to evolve the language we’re using to be sensitive to the current climate.
Be cautious of insinuating what is an essential or a necessity. Although we would love for our subscribers to think of our products as a critical part of life, the new normal is changing how people define “essential.”
Focus on how your product or service can fulfill a different type of need. Rather than speaking to general ‘summer must-haves’, or ‘BBQ essential tools’ , ask how your product or service will make the purchaser feel. Will purchasing your product brighten the recipient’s day? Will it make them more comfortable? Will it bring joy to their time while staying at home? Everyone is now seeking comfort and positivity. Convey how your product might bring them that little bit of relief.
Don’t create panic or negativity. Avoid using ‘stock up’ or any other type of messaging around urgency. You don’t want to instill any more fear or feelings of uncertainty these days.
Your Content
Content is still a king. What type of content makes sense right now? How will you get your subscribers to continue to engage, and hopefully purchase your products?
The first thing you might want to do is to send as many COVID updates as possible. Yes, it’s the news of prime interest right now, but most of times it doesn’t bring joy. It makes people even more nervous and uncertain. How can I think about shopping clothes online when the end of the world is knocking on the door? We are kidding obviously. Everything will be fine, and the end of the world is most probably not gonna happen in the next hundred of years. The point is that such updates are important, but they shouldn’t be the only thing your email contain. Try to provide the content that will benefit your subscribers.
Avoid focusing on individual products if there is any possibility that the product could be out of stock. Feature more category-specific CTAs and landing pages if inventory is unpredictable.
Have a slew of new products coming? Space out the release schedule so subscribers have something new and exciting to look forward to. This strategy has the added benefit of distributing revenue over a longer period of time.
Be thoughtful about your image and the story it tells. For now, this story is better not showing large groups of people or traveling. There is simply no point in rubbing salt in the wound.
Time, time, time…
For the majority of people, schedules have been flipped upside down with people working from home there’s no more morning commute, there are no more appointments, so the impact on email timing is real.
The best solution here is testing what send time works right now for your audience. With users being mostly home-bound the previous send times you’ve tested may not be the optimal times to send at the moment.
Final Thoughts
In these days, it’s important to establish some new set of approaches when communicating with the audience. Try to integrate these simple tips into your email marketing campaigns and let us know how it goes.