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

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/

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/

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