5 Valuable Lessons Email Marketers Need To Apply To Refresh Their Strategy

The world was put to a halt when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. Today, the impact of this global health crisis continues to spread across the globe, affecting millions and millions of lives. Large and small businesses, in particular, have been badly hit and forced to make the necessary adjustments to stay afloat.

As for those who did not make it, they had no other choice but to shut their doors for good.

While email marketing has remained steady and reliable throughout the years, it is also the most underappreciated and unrecognized digital marketing channel. With the COVID-19 outbreak, people are taking notice – email marketing has taken center stage ever since this pandemic started last year.

How COVID-19 changed email marketing?

Due to political unrest and economic crisis around the world, email volume has increased exponentially. Even those that have scaled back on their email marketing spending before this pandemic started are now spending more on this strategy.

In the past, a lot of people unsubscribe to mailing lists because they don’t have time to read all the emails sent to them. So, what makes this year different?

When lockdowns were happening everywhere, people were forced to stay at home. No businesses were open except for a few. No one was allowed to do anything outside except for essential workers. This gave people a lot of time to spend on their mobile devices for entertainment, shopping, information, and a whole range of other purposes. People who never shopped online before the pandemic did so for the first time.

Businesses without a digital storefront or website quickly created one to keep up with the rapidly increasing demand. What’s more, email became the primary mode of communication for a lot of companies. A lot of businesses sent out email blasts to customers informing them about health and safety precautions, as well as educating them about how to shop for things that they can no longer buy in person.

Email paved the way for a lot of companies to make their content more relevant. What’s good about it is that people are listening. A lot of people were taking the time to read their emails for more information about COVID-19 and the measures they can take to protect themselves and their loved ones.

This has resulted in email revenue enjoying a significant increase.

Here’s a breakdown of the five most valuable lessons email marketers need to take to heart in this new normal.

1. Empathy to customers

It is important now more than ever to empathize with your customers and go the extra mile to meet their needs. With email marketing, you can go above and beyond to help customers achieve their goals. In turn, they’ll also be more than willing to help you with yours.

As the pandemic progressed all over the world, it left unimaginable devastation. This is why marketers need to be as empathetic as possible. It’s important now more than ever to keep in mind what customers around the world are going through. In short, it pays to show one’s humanity and recognize theirs. Making customers feel that they are not just a number in your books and genuinely connecting with them will go a long way.

This is why you need to rethink your messaging and shift your focus to solving people’s problems and making people’s lives easier. Emails are a great platform to leverage link building best practices as well: include links back to your website that you know will bring value and solve the pain points of the reader. Keep in mind that, yes, you’re still selling, but you’re changing your approach to acknowledge the shift in how, when, and what people shop. This applies to not just email but also other platforms such as social media and content marketing.

2. Agility and adaptability: keys to survival

No one was ever prepared for this pandemic. Everyone was in shock when it quickly crashed healthcare systems and economies globally. This is why it’s important to be agile and adaptable. To thrive through such difficult times, one must adapt quickly. And in the new normal, you will need to work fast – you need to be agile.

Or risk being left behind by your competitors.

By being more agile, you’ll b able to respond more appropriately and quickly to new customer concerns. A study shows that 84% of respondents say customer expectations have changed immensely, leading them to change their digital tactics and strategies, too.

3. Automated emails

Nowadays, it’s crucial for a business to incorporate all of the technologies you can get your hands on to segment, personalize, and automate your emails. When you automate your emails, you are able to personalize emails based on available user data. This also allows you to enhance your messages to make them more suitable to different audiences.

Automating your email messages means you need to have quick and easy access to data that is essential for agile marketing, where conditions change every so often. Aside from that, you will be able to update campaigns immediately in case you run out of products or services or if you need to pause a campaign to boost it in another location.

In short, you need to stay on top of automation at all times, not just during this pandemic.

4. Being in tune with what’s happening around you

It’s easy to lose touch with what’s happening around you if you’ve got your head down and you’re focused on the tasks in front of you. But to allow yourself to get caught up in your own world would be a grave mistake because the world is ever so changing.

As a marketer, you need to take the time to catch on the news. You need to keep yourself informed of the current trends in your industry. Moreover, you should be well versed in market conditions, too. The point is that you need to understand what your audience is experiencing during such troubled times. By having the necessary information, you will be able to keep your messaging attuned to what’s currently happening around you.

5. High email deliverability rate

A well-planned out email campaign will only be effective if delivered to the right audience. On top of that, you should ensure a high email deliverability rate.

1. Ensure email authentication to verify that emails are coming from a real sender, and not spam.

2. Comply with anti-spam laws to help protect consumers from spamming activities and to prove that your business is legit.

3. Send emails only to those who subscribe to you. Otherwise, your emails will be sent straight to people’s spam boxes.

4. Make the unsubscribe link or button visible to prove that your emails are not spam and that you truly care about your audience’s opinion.

Final thoughts

One of the most important lessons this pandemic has taught a lot of people is that nothing goes as planned. There will always be surprises. What’s important is that you remain agile and adaptable so you can quickly keep up with the changing times.