How to Adjust Your Email Marketing Strategy for the Post-COVID Normal

It’s an understatement to say that COVID-19 has affected our plans and campaigns for the year. Businesses are making the necessary adjustments and planning for the long-term effects of the pandemic.

These are different times, and consumers’ behaviors and priorities have changed. So agile marketers need to adjust campaigns quickly and strategize for the new normal. One tried and tested strategy is email marketing, but your old tactics may not be as impactful nowadays.

Email marketing during the current pandemic must help consumers feel a return to normalcy as they seek stable and trustworthy information. Brands can choose from and maximize features from the best email marketing services in the market to serve the varying needs of consumers as they face the new normal together.

Are you interested to learn how to realign your email marketing for the new normal? Check out these top strategies to get better conversions through email marketing despite COVID-19.

Tips to adjust your email marketing strategy

Re-evaluate your buyer persona

Email marketing can be a vital source of information during a crisis, but you must be careful not to make light of a dire worldwide situation. Consumers’ priorities have changed, and they are tired of receiving promotions that do not add value. Since it’s a difficult time in the economy, consumers are looking for products that’ll address their needs, ignore distractions, and are more careful in their decisions.

It’s an opportunity for email marketing to provide timely and informative information. You can tell your customers how your business can best address their needs, and you can generate more conversions by sending the following types of emails:

The educational email shares detailed information about your business. It can be the first step to buyer awareness.
The problem email shows current issues that your customer may be facing because of the pandemic.
The solution email offers what your business can do to address their changing needs.
The testimony email cites product reviews from your other customers.
The promotional email encourages customers to try your discounts and promotions.

Evaluate your current email marketing campaigns

With people primarily stuck at home, studies find that email open rates increased up to 20 percent. That’s why it’s time for you to evaluate if your current marketing campaigns are effective or if they need tweaking.

Critical email performance metrics include open rates, click-through rates, unsubscribe rates, complaint rates, bounce rates, share rates, and conversion rates. In addition, there are many available tools to track and monitor your marketing campaigns.

You can also listen to what your customers are saying about your brand through social media. Several social media listening tools allow you to track brand mentions and identify trends, complaints, and needs. You can then craft your email campaigns accordingly to match these concerns.

Ask permission (again)

An essential part of effective email marketing is ensuring your audience still wants to hear from you. Since COVID-19 severely impacted employment and businesses across the globe, customers had to make the necessary purchasing adjustments.

One way to remain relevant and improve engagement is to ask your customers if they still want to hear from your brand. Then, using a compassionate tone, you can send emails asking customers to reconfirm their subscription to your mailing list. You can clean up your list, optimize engagement rates and increase conversions by targeting the right consumers.

Don’t worry. You can always ask customers if they want to subscribe again after some time once they settle into the new normal.

Be mindful of timing

The time you send emails is as important. Studies say that emails are best sent on Tuesdays between 8 AM-10 AM and 3 PM-4 PM. But, of course, benchmarks change over time due to several factors. That’s why your campaigns should experiment and try different times to find the optimal time for your consumers.

Marketers should also tune it to current events and developments in society. That way, you can avoid any promotional faux pas that may be insensitive. Before sending an email, ask yourself the following questions:

Should my company be communicating this message?
Is the content relevant right now?
Is it transmitted using the right tone?
How should my audience respond to this email?

In addition, remember to email sparingly. Keep your customers updated and interested, but don’t flood their inbox. Finally, remember that your brand can benefit from stepping aside and helping promote voices and causes that deserve more space in your customers’ lives, especially in tumultuous times like this one.

Align your emails with the times

You can also plan an email marketing strategy that documents how your business is affected and responds to the current pandemic and its effects. In addition, email marketing is becoming educational since consumers are looking for better, high-quality content.

For example, you can send emails explaining how you apply the necessary health and safety protocols to deliver your services if you’re running a restaurant. You need to reassure the customer that you’re correctly adjusting to the times.

You can also share how your business contributes to health efforts and charity work for frontline services. It’s best to include a link or CTA on your emails directing to your business webpage about your COVID-19 adjustment or aid efforts. Staying relevant and planning can help you grow your reach and generate more conversions through strategic email campaigns.

Streamline your workflow processes

As much as you miss talking to your favorite coworker by the coffee machine in the office, working from home is here to stay. Aside from getting used to early morning video calls, it would help if you also managed your workflows remotely.

To optimize productivity for your business, you need to use project management tools to streamline your workflow processes.

For example, communication is critical in a remote work setup, and staff relies on real-time updates to check the status of their tasks and projects. Whether you adhere to the SCRUM or Kanban productivity framework, you can find the management tool best fit for your business.

Whether you adhere to the SCRUM or Kanban productivity framework, you can find the management tool best fit for your business.

Keep a close eye on your data

Lastly, remember to track and monitor your email marketing data. Analyzing data-driven insights allows you to optimize your campaigns and know which issues to target.

Aside from sending highly-personalized experiences, marketing data lets you identify your most loyal customers and the leads that need more nurturing before they’re ready to convert. Insight from data can also drive decisions about when to send an email, what content to avoid, and even anticipate what consumers will want.

If you know about your consumer’s current and future needs, you can ensure that your brand can always address their needs.

Key Takeaways

As everyone settles into the new regular, marketers can expand their brand and provide consumers with a steady hand to hold by letting them know they can rely on your brand. Email doesn’t have to be boring. As you’ve learned, email can be one of the most influential and effective communication channels to remain relevant and valuable to customers in light of the ongoing crisis.