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5 Ways to Make the Best of Email Marketing During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Learn the best tips & tricks of email marketing and engage your audience using email in a post-pandemic world.

Alex Tkacovs

In the next 3 years, half of the world’s population is anticipated to have an email address. That’s around 4.3 billion email addresses to be in existence in 2023. While that may seem like great news for email marketers – and it is! – by 2022, it’s expected that 347.3 billion emails will be sent daily.

More and more businesses are trying their hands at email marketing because it works, but that also means that your audience is likely getting a high volume of marketing emails each week.

The COVID-19 outbreak has seen an increase in businesses taking their marketing online, so the space is getting saturated and, if you want your email marketing to hit the mark, you may have to take it up a notch. 

To take you a step in the right direction, here’s our guide to delivering the best email marketing you can during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. 

Give your readers a break from the pandemic where possible

The first rule of COVID-19 marketing is to not talk about COVID-19. Well, not always, but almost everyone knows about the pandemic right now, so there really is no need to keep bringing it up all the time. People may see your emails as a welcome break from reading about the outbreak.

If coronavirus is relevant to your marketing email, or your marketing strategy in general, then it’s absolutely fine to bring it up. But, seeing as the media is already saturated with COVID news and commentary, try to steer clear of it if you can. It’s also really not a good look to be soon to be shoehorning the pandemic into your marketing to be alarmist and get sales, so try to dial it back where you can.

Send out your business’s COVID-19 response & thank you emails

Now that we’re in another lockdown and tensions are running high, now might be a good time to remind your readers of your business’s COVID-19 regulations. Are your staff wearing PPE? Do you have any new regulations that your customers need to adhere to when they come to see you in-store?

Giving your customers a heads up about any of these changes is not only courteous, but lets them know that you take the safety of themselves and your staff seriously.

In a similar vein, email your patrons to thank them for their patience and understanding during these challenging times for businesses and, let’s face it, everyone, to show them that you appreciate them bearing with you. (This can also persuade them to be more patient and understanding in the future, too!)

Keep it short

We know that when you have your audience’s attention you want to keep it for as long as possible. However, in a time when people are inundated with messages from businesses, stick to the necessary information. Don’t be afraid to add ‘Read More’ buttons for those readers who want more information.

Promotions and offers

People are trying to pinch pennies as much as possible at the moment. Lots of people have lost their jobs or are anticipating redundancy and, now we’re coming up to Christmas, people will be considering what to buy for their loved ones.

Avoid time limited offers at the moment because your readers may (1) be waiting to see how their employment status pans out before they make any unnecessary purchases and (2) the effects of the coronavirus outbreak are quite unpredictable for businesses at the moment, so your readers might not be able to use them in time.

Be clear with your subject lines and reconsider your email schedule

With more and more businesses stepping up their email marketing during the COVID outbreak, you can expect that much of your audience is being inundated with emails at the moment. Keep your subject lines clear and say what you mean – cryptic subject lines can be off putting and really reduce your open rate.

On a similar note, try to limit your marketing emails to when you have something meaningful to share – maybe a new article, an interesting case study, or a discount code. If you only send emails with value, your readers should notice and appreciate that, and may be more inclined to open your emails as a result. 

To find out more about how Lockstep Media can help you with your marketing strategy, including email marketing, SEO, content marketing, and more, click here.