Contact

Should you send that Covid-19 email?

Apr 16, 2020 | Email Marketing

We’ve noticed some email marketing trends emerging in reaction to Covid-19. Some emails getting it right and some others not so much. The implication for businesses differs: for some to communicate is valid and relevant and for others, communicating about Covid-19 just adds to the noise. Rule of thumb, you should be communicating if:

Melaina Gross

We’ve noticed some email marketing trends emerging in reaction to Covid-19. Some emails getting it right and some others not so much. The implication for businesses differs: for some to communicate is valid and relevant and for others, communicating about Covid-19 just adds to the noise.

Rule of thumb, you should be communicating if:

  • You’re cancelling or postponing an event 
  • You’re changing your policies with regards to visitors or shoppers
  • You have a system outage
  • You’re cancelling flights/hotels/appointments
  • You’re a healthcare provider
  • People are looking to you for thought leadership
  • You’re offering a genuine solution that helps (for example online learning, apps that help with communication, collaboration, wellness)

Key take away:

Pause, reflect, don’t click “send” unless it’s 100% necessary. Don’t send email for the sake of sending email.

And if you must send an email about Covid-19 then these guidelines will help:
Email tone - be a human being.
When creating email copy, be authentic, be genuine, and show that you care with words and deeds. Now is not the time to talk about what you do and your product, instead, show who you are.

Avoid over-used language which is starting to come across as fake sympathy: “Out of an abundance of caution,” “Unprecedented times,” “We’re in this together.”

Email content - take care of relationships with your customers
It is a good time to practice good customer marketing with communications that maintain the great relationships you already have. Think about how your brand can add value to your customers.

Unless your product or solution is directly related to helping people now (medical or otherwise) move away from emails that are all about new client acquisition.

Remember to check and adjust the content of your email automations too.

Planning - agility is key
Adjust your content calendar to keep your communication relevant. Things are changing at such a quick pace.  Advice you read last week may not be relevant this week. At the same time try to imagine where people are going to be in two weeks rather than where they are at this moment in time and consider your message for the future.

You can comment days, maybe a week in advance. Afford yourself the ability to quickly change plans if there’s a better option. You may switch your communications to visuals that are more relevant to lockdown and being cognisant that many people aren’t in social situations right now.

Keep your brand sentiment positive
Our response leaves a lasting impression with our audiences. Staying positive is important. This could mean including more colour in your marketing or using humour if that works with your brand (so long as you aren’t making jokes about anything like a lack of medical equipment).

Hop on over here and see some of the better examples of Covid-19-related emails:

https://reallygoodemails.com/categories/emergency/

https://reallygoodemails.com/blog/how-to-be-a-human-marketer-in-a-pandemic-like-covid19/

i

Links for further reading:

Read this FAQ page over on Linked in from Skylar Holobach, Senior Manager, Salesforce Privacy & Abuse https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/email-time-covid-19-faq-page-skyler-holobach/?trackingId=I2XrLdJ7YaI1m5X5%2Blc56A%3D%3D

Check out Litmus’s webinar on emailing in a crisis: https://litmus.com/blog/best-practices-for-email-marketing-during-a-crisis-webinar-recording-qa

Gartner: https://blogs.gartner.com/augie-ray/2020/03/15/beware-virtue-signaling-outright-greed-brand-communications-covid-19/

On Spamtacular: https://www.spamtacular.com/2020/03/16/policy-practicum-covid-19/

Ask us anything

Please ask us your burning question that you would like answered in a future webinar.

I want to know...

Recommended reading

Browse by cateogry:

Accessibility in email / Code snippets / Data privacy / Event invitation emails / Email marketing / Email production / Marketing automation / Online marketing / Webinars

The Cantaloupe Story

Read about us and meet our team

Join our team. Work from anywhere

Help us make email marketing better

Helping marketing teams and agencies since 2006

Overview of email marketing. Learn more

Email templates

Tried and tested 
PSD to HTML
Custom designs

Managed service

Data work
Production
Campaign Management

Automation

Automate marketing processes & tasks
Lead nurturing

Email Masterclass

For marketers and communications specialists

Learn to email market like a pro

Read all blog posts

Browse by cateogry:

Accessibility in email
Code snippets
Data privacy
Email marketing
Email production
Event invitation emails
Marketing automation
Online marketing
Webinars
Html email for Outlook

Html email for Outlook

Mar 20, 2023 | ,

Have you ever wanted to send an extra special email from Outlook but find that your beautiful layout breaks when it arrives in your recipient’s inbox? Formatting html for Outlook can be tricky – help is here.