Email Marketing for eCommerce during and beyond Covid-19

With a 40% year over year rise in the number of digital shoppers in the first quarter of 2020, online sales are definitely booming.

Businesses are working constantly to fit in the new normal.

But, given the changing scenario, marketers have a plethora of unanswered questions. Some of them include –

• How has the pandemic affected email marketing?
• Did email marketers increase the number of emails?
• How has the response of email recipients changed?

And much more!

But one major question that companies often wonder is if they should continue email marketing amid the ongoing pandemic.

The answer is to continue it as it is one of the best ways to stay in touch with your customers.

In fact, according to a study, B2B customers spent an average of 118 minutes reading emails in February. However, this number increased to 241 minutes in April after companies started working remotely.

In this blog post, we help you understand how email marketing has changed and how it is beneficial to communicate with your customers, more so now! So, let’s dive in.

But first, why is email the best marketing channel during COVID-19

With the growing business in the retail industry, email marketing campaigns have become important more than ever. Here are three main reasons why:

Direct access to your customers

Email helps you reach your customers directly. When a customer is interested to buy your products or services, the first thing they do is email their queries to get more information.

This is because email helps you directly reach your customers.

Helps build trust

Another reason you cannot bid adieu to email marketing is because of the trust people have on emails as compared to other channels. For instance, social media has so much information that it becomes difficult to figure out what is genuine and what’s not.

This is the reason you need to communicate through a proper channel such as email, especially during the current situation.

Increases engagement

We know how organizations have now shifted to remote working amid the pandemic. People are spending more time online now as they avoid going to the brick and mortar stores.

As a result, companies can leverage email marketing to increase engagement and offer good deals to their customers.

Now that we know how important email marketing for eCommerce is, let’s take a look at some tactics you can use to excel at it.

Best email marketing practices:

Be transparent

When you send an email to your customers, tell them how your business is dealing with the situation. In your email outreach, you can include specific details about what your company is doing to prepare, and how you’ll continue to support your customers.

Customers admire the transparency, especially in times like these. This will reduce their stress they may be currently experiencing.

Talk about COVID-19 measures

Everyone is doing one thing or the other to control the spread of viruses. While broadcasts, radios, media and podcasts are doing their job well, a lot needs to be spread yet.

You can send your customers personalized emails so as to make sure you have their complete attention. If your email has got important information, they may share it further too. This ultimately increases your engagement with the customer and brings your brand in notice.

Be empathetic

Your emails should be empathetic. So when you write an email for your customers, ask yourself—does the email sound personal? Does your content share genuine emotions? Simply put yourself in another person’s shoe and see if it works for you.

When you show empathy in your message, it helps you build relations and loyalty.

In a nutshell, you need to keep your people informed during the crisis. This is the time when you talk about them and not about your eCommerce store. By doing this, you can stand out in the crowded inboxes with the content that people are looking for during the pandemic.

Wrapping up

While COVID-19 has left a major impact on the brick and mortar businesses, it has provided an opportunity for eCommerce companies. It is a good idea for you, as an eCommerce store owner, to grow your email list and engage more customers. While businesses are cutting down on the marketing spend, this lessens your competition. So, even if your business slows down, you should have no reason to slow down your marketing efforts.

Are you making the most of email marketing? Talk to us!

If yes, let’s take it up a notch. If not, feel free to drop in a line [email protected] and we’ll take it from there.