What Changes Do You Need To Make To Your Email Marketing Campaign During A Crisis?

As businesses slowly shift in order to comply with the “new normal”, marketers are making changes to their campaign strategies in order to address the needs of their audience. For most brands, emails are the best way to relay important information such as branch closures, alternate ways to transact with their brand, changes in operating hours as well as shipping schedules, and cancellations of events.

But how exactly do you get an important message across during a time when your audience is bound to be bombarded with similar messages? How exactly do you ensure that your emails don’t just make it to the inboxes of your audience, but that they are also opened and read in earnest?

These are some tips to help you conduct a successful email marketing campaign during a crisis.

Don’t Stop Promotional Campaigns Abruptly

A recent survey among email marketers showed that about 71% of marketers suspended their promotional emails. While this might seem like a good idea in light of the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic, doing so — even for a few weeks — shouldn’t be the case because you’d be killing a much-needed potential for leads. Even if this suspension is done in good faith, the fact remains that you need to keep trying to sell, whether it’s a product or an idea.

If we all stop buying and selling things, then the economy is going to suffer more than it already is. There’s nothing wrong with trying to sell something during a pandemic, but we have to do so tactfully. Acknowledge the situation that we’re all in, especially when what you’re trying to sell isn’t something essential. The more genuine a message is, the better. An particular email from Levi’s said “here’s an update on what’s going on at Levi’s” and it later said “not that this is the time to be thinking about buying a pair of jeans.”.

That kind of awareness sends an audience an impression that yes, Levi’s is still around, but that they’re also aware of the situation, and that is exactly the kind of honesty and tact we need. Continue promotional campaigns, pull back on frequency as needed, but never completely stop.

Update Email Templates and Automated Messages

While this should go without saying, its importance warrants a gentle reminder. If your brand has been forced to make changes that directly affect your consumer base, it’s necessary to reflect these changes in your emails. An efficient way to do this is to create temporary templates for your upcoming campaigns. This way, you can simply revert to your original templates once things return to normal. This should also reflect across all your departments to avoid sending mixed messages to your customers.

Specify And Reward Loyal Customers And Subscribers

Nothing tugs the heartstrings as much as a personalized message. A long message from your CEO might appeal to your management and legal team, but it won’t have the same effect on your entire email list, and it may even cause them to unsubscribe from your newsletter. Again, it’s important to send a personalized email to your loyal customers. Even a simple thank you (insert subscriber name here) will do your brand well in nurturing a lasting relationship with your audience.

The need for an online presence cannot be stressed enough, especially during a pandemic. It’s also important to ensure that the content on your website matches the messages you send. It’s for this reason that you might also want to consider working with web design companies like Excite Media to help you.