4 Must-Follow Tips On Email Marketing During COVID-19 Crisis
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4 Must-Follow Tips On Email Marketing During COVID-19 Crisis

Published : July 3, 2020

The world is under a change because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is unmistakably perhaps the greatest test we as humankind have looked right now. Nothing has been as exceptional and dangerous so far in this century.

The COVID-19 crisis is now officially a pandemic affecting millions and killing thousands over the world. This is one of the primary sorts of pestilence to be encountered this century and a first for the more youthful ages.

The devastation of the infection is causing from human mortality, a financial downturn to social portability is life-changing.  Industries like travel, hospitality & tourism industry have crashed. There is panic buying in the supermarkets as people stock up their reserves for months to come.

Individuals all around the globe are restricted to their homes and working remotely.

( I am working remotely as I write this. )

In such crisis times, a brand marketer wishing to effectively communicate on email with their subscribers needs to have specific tact. Primarily, the question every marketer should ask is if they require any email to be sent during this time?

Is it true that you are offering any incentive to your subscriber today which can assist them to overcome this emergency with confidence? Will your subscriber be keen on any promotional emails you send around this time? It is safe to say that you are caring and obliging with your tone?

If you cannot do any of the above, we would suggest refraining from sending any COVID-19 campaign just to capitalize on this phenomenon. If you choose to still send some promotional campaign, it will be lost somewhere in the user’s inbox which is already flooding from CEO messages and other COVID-19 safety mails.

There is an onus on brands irrespective of the industry to create awareness among the general public. Only those emails which mean to genuinely help people will be noticed and form meaningful relationships.

Some brands are flourishing in this art of authentic communication and creativity but some brands are getting it entirely wrong and coming across as insensitive.

In this article, we will come across 4 tips/rules for an email marketer to follow to communicate with authenticity in their email communication.

Additionally, we will give tips for communication to prevent sounding inhumane and prevent getting your email reported to spam!

The 4 Effective Tips to follow for Brands to Create Awareness:

These are the 4 Effective rules/tips to follow to ace your emailing during the COVID-19 crisis and get your message across to your subscribers correctly.

Be Conscious Of Your Audience

Your coronavirus communication should not be sent to everyone on your mailing list.

Don’t be just another email in their inbox. That is not the aspiration to have.

What we recommend is to figure out those users who will be affected by your emailing.

Eg: Some of your regions of service could be impacted due to lockdowns or public closures, then you can send the users of such regions your update.

If your service is not based on location, then send your campaign to an active audience who are engaged with your brand and will respond positively to it.

Eg: send it to the last 90 days activity based on opens and clicks. Alternatively, you can send it to the last 90 days transacted users. Do not touch base with inactive users who you have not contacted for the last 1 year.

This will help your email deliverability too as the engagement of the active audience will be high.

Offer Value To Your Subscribers:

Don’t follow the herd in sending updates on how you are going to keep your employees safe from COVID-19 and ensuring business continuity by working remotely. This offers no meaningful takeaways for your subscribers.

Instead, come up with ideas where you can offer some effective ways to combat the virus and deliver your service to the subscribers.

Eg: 1mg an online pharmacy brand had done a campaign where they attached an e-book that contained an action plan for precautions to be taken against the coronavirus.

How Effective is that?

example of offering value to subscribers
example of offering value to your customers

The zero-contact campaign done by Dominos Pizza [1] to ensure their customers keep enjoying their pizzas without fear during COVID-19 situation was a first of it’s kind.

example of the zero-contact campaign done by Dominos Pizza

Such campaigns convince and persuade your subscribers to open the emails and check the content.

They will remember the communication sent during this crisis time and build affinity with your brand throughout their customer cycle.

Monitor Your Email Engagement And Deliverability Metrics

Once you send your campaign to your targeted segment, monitor your email engagement. What kind of email open and click rates are you receiving for your COVID-19 campaigns? How many users reported the emails as spam?

Answering these questions will help you select the audience for the next campaign in a better way. Target to a volume of users you are used to sending your promotional campaigns till now. Don’t diverge from your usual volume pattern and send it to your inactive audience as that will result in a dip in your inboxing. Unusual volume pattern results in a drop in email deliverability.

Please remember that email spam filters don’t change just because the global scenario has changed. So keep monitoring your deliverability and ensure your domain health is maintained.

Opportunity To Think Out Of The Box

The COVID-19 situation is overwhelming, to say the least, and will take time to subside. But despite the challenges, it offers a golden chance for a marketer to make a mark with brilliant email campaigns.

A dose of creative and innovative thinking can create a special campaign. The point is to come up with something that your users will like to engage in and will leave a good impression of your brand in their minds.

If you can sympathize with your audience and still ensure that you provide some service to your customer which eases their situation then it will be accepted readily.

This could also include community service in such dire times.

Examples:

If you a ride-hailing app and you offer to help with essential transport for health professionals and other emergency services for the people.

Eg: This campaign received in the mailbox by Lyft a US-based ride-sharing service has done a great campaign on the same lines.

example of a great campaign during covid-19 times

Other examples:

If you are an online grocery store then perhaps you can educate your audiences better on avoiding stockpiling. Also, which items are being recommended to be bought and kept in reserves. It will also help if you can provide information on your inventory for certain essential items and how to use them sparingly for the public.

This campaign by Grofers [2] explains the precautionary measures they take for delivering the goods. This will provide relief to the customers knowing that the goods being delivered are disinfected and are safe to use. The staff is also screened hence receiving a delivery from them should not be a concern.

Also with the closures and lockdowns in big cities, the brick and mortar stores are open only for a few hours per day. Considering this, people will prefer ordering from online grocery stores rather than stepping out.

the precautionary measures 'Grofers' take for delivering the goods

Also, Read 5 Easy Ways to Boost Your eCommerce Sales With Email Marketing

4 Practices to Avoid for a Brand Marketer Sending COVID-19 Emails

Being Deceptive And Seek Profits

Some brands may take up this opportunity to sell their service or product under the guise of the corona crisis.

It would be unethical marketing if a marketer wishes to sell their products and make profits under the hood of fake sympathy.

If you are still confused then take proper permission of your customers to send them promotional communication and act on their feedback.

But sending any kind of promotional messaging now without gauging your customer feedback will be seen as eerily deceptive. There could be spam complaints about such emails and that will damage your domain health and deliverability.

Follow The Herd Mentality

Financial and government institutions can send their mandatory emails on COVID-19 precautions they are taking. These are mandatory regulatory emails that the BFSI sector has to send to their customers.

But that does not mean that your brand has to follow suit and send basic precautionary measures that you are taking for your employees.

With the huge amount of messages that the user will be receiving from all the brands during the corona crisis, your email should not land in their inbox as just another message to read and delete.

Hence the brand marketer should stand out from the competition and do something unique to engage their audiences.

For eg: Have a look at this email, which caters to the banking industry of India – a classic example of following the herd mentality.

a classic example of following the herd mentality

Not Offering Any Value

Some questions a marketer can ask themselves before sending a corona crisis email :

Is there something extra you are providing your subscribers during the containment period?

Are you offering any community service or any stay at home kit to ease the pressure on parents at home who have to work as well as take care of their young ones?

Are you offering your services digitally now as physically people are practicing social distancing?

Eg: The restaurant can send their special chef made healthy recipes on the video to your inbox so that you can stay healthy and boost immunity.

A theatre can provide movie recommendations during the quarantine period that you can stream from their online platform.

If you can’t provide any value to your customers, refrain from sending any email communication during this period.

Keeping A Light-Hearted Tone

COVID-19 crisis is a serious matter of concern around the world and any attempt made to ridicule it in your marketing communication will be a setback for your brand.

Any light-hearted communication should be avoided during this period as your customers will not appreciate it and it would impact on your brand image.

Keep your brand tone serious and get your point across sympathetically and formally. Your users will respect your brand for the same.

Wrapping up

The above do’s and dont’s mentioned should help brand marketers across all the industry verticals to create awareness within their subscribers via email. The challenge of coronavirus presents an opportunity to engage with your audiences with some innovative content.

So get your creative ideas on the table and see how you can provide value to your customers during these troubled times.

Have an idea that you can share? Leave your feedback in the comment section below.

While you are busy emailing and working from home never forget to look after yourself and your family. Remember to wash your hands with a sanitizer regularly and of course, do not go outside unless required for essential services.

Stay clean, stay safe!

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