Email marketing during challenging times – how to adjust?

It’s not an overstatement to say that the world drastically changed in 2020. The coronavirus pandemic has altered all of our purchasing habits, behaviors, and general priorities. It’s safe to say that we’re facing an entirely new reality. As such, every business has to adapt to the post-COVID-19 circumstances and the new state of the global economy. The world of digital marketing is no exception in this regard. In this article, we’ll examine how to adjust your email marketing during challenging times!

Email Marketing Evolved

The way we do email marketing can’t remain the same in post-coronavirus days. People are bombarded with all kinds of emails in general, but the content they pay attention to has changed in the last two years.

Your business must maintain a decent rapport with its target audience without flooding people with content that they don’t care about at the moment. Keeping your subscriber count intact is the most important priority here.

With this in mind, we’ll give you some general pointers regarding email marketing during challenging times that will guide you in the right direction. To know more about the Future Digital Marketing Trends, visit our Home page. 

The Customers’ Perspective

A generally good rule in marketing is that you need to look at your company and offer from the customers’ perspective. The “good” part is that both you and your target audience have quite a lot in common nowadays. At the end of the day, a company is still just a bunch of people, and everyone is experiencing the same issues such as the rules of social distancing, lack of travel, and various quarantines in different areas.

This experience that we’re all sharing is certainly a challenge, but there’s still a silver lining. You can now understand what your customer base is thinking better than ever before. Their situation is pretty much your situation as well. You’ve got a human bond. Use this in your content to spark empathy. In fact, take a moment and ask yourself what you would like to read about when you receive an email from a company — an email you know to be promotional as well.

It would be best to hit the right balance that works for your brand. That does not just go for the content that you are writing, but the frequency of sending as well. Alter your drip emails if you want to strike the right tone for your customers in times of crisis.

Be Responsive

While everyone has felt a hit from the coronavirus pandemic, there are certain industries that have had it worse than others. Sectors such as education, healthcare, and tourism have all been severely impacted. If your company is a part of these industries, you need to be more responsive than ever before if you want to retain your customers. Don’t use any fluff — get straight to the point and tell your customers precisely how you’re handling the COVID-19 situation. Let them know how they might be affected as well.

If there are people that want to hear from your company, the last thing you want is to stay silent. Try to find words of reassurance and emanate a strong organizational structure and plan. Most crucially, be ready to put the needs of your customers before those of your company for a short while. That’s why airlines have been waiving certain fees, even though they’re in dire financial straits due to a lack of travel. Showing a human, empathetic face to your customers is important. 

Tastefulness 

As we’ve mentioned above, each one among your subscribers is currently receiving many emails related to COVID-19. And to be sure, some of these are messages from health organizations and government agencies that have something urgent and important to say. On the other hand, plenty of emails are unnecessary and clutter up people’s inboxes with useless information.

So, does this mean that you should not send out anything if you’re not a public health organization? Certainly not. What it does mean is that your emails need to be extremely relevant to the current situation that your target audience is going through. What you’re sending them needs to add value to their daily lives.

Helpful Content

As professional digital marketers at digitaldot.us assert, one of the most important aspects of providing tasteful content to your subscribers in times of crisis is giving them something they can actually use. That will go a long way towards helping your company’s image. For instance, if you’re running an email campaign for a cooking blog or a food manufacturer, your emails could contain helpful recipes for immune-boosting food. This is one of the tips for email marketing during challenging times you shouldn’t ignore.

Immediate Gains

If you’re promoting a particular product, it’s not a bad idea to think about offering a discount or a similar promotion that gives your target audience a palpable gain. Many digital publishers offered discounts on their downloaded books, for instance.

Community Groups

In many situations, camaraderie is essential for helping people cope with difficult situations. That’s why your business may want to connect its disparate subscribers in order to increase loyalty and morale.

Basically, whatever you decide to do with your email content, one thing is crucial — you need to show that you care. Don’t attempt to upsell customers on products that they don’t need at this point, and only try to show your empathy. If people gain the impression that you’re after a profit in challenging times, they’ll sour on your brand for good.

Final Words

As you can see, email marketing during challenging times is about striking a balance. You want to show your customers and readers your company’s human side but also provide them with enough value to remain your customers. If you manage to find the right voice, there is nothing stopping you from growing your business even more.