Email Marketing During COVID-19 and Beyond

The world has rapidly changed – COVID-19 has created new and unexpected challenges for small businesses and has produced previously unpredicted consumer behaviors. And while many marketers are working to understand where we will stand in the coming months, COVID-19 should not mean a pause to your digital pursuits. Growing your digital footprint can be challenging but you don't have to wait to take the next steps. Small business growth can continue to happen in 2021.

Creating Multiple Touchpoints with Email Marketing

Especially during the pandemic, having multiple touchpoints and ways to bring consumers back to your brand has been essential to marketing strategies. Overall, audience engagement has continued to rise above average since early March 2020, showing that people are eager to hear from businesses they value. Email marketing is a valuable tool to reinforce the connection.

Metrics from last year supported growth in email engagement. Email sends were up 19% from February 2020 to March 2020, at the beginning of the quarantine in the United States.

Mailchimp data shows that smaller businesses (those with less than 2,000 contacts) saw the most significant increase in engagement in 2020. Larger companies saw a boost as well, but this increase was not as dramatic. This data difference suggests people are looking for opportunities to connect with the small businesses in their communities.

While open rates continue to increase yearly, the dramatic 16% increase in opens in 2020 indicates audiences are more interested in businesses' communications. Customers want to know how valued brands responded to the crisis or are pivoting business plans. The increase in opens shows that email is still where consumers go to hear important information from brands.

Non-profits specifically have seen a sharp increase in email engagement. This increase was an excellent indicator for the industry. It presented an opportunity for nonprofit audiences to show their continued support.

Growth and Giving Back, A Non-Profit Email Use Case

Outcast Food Network (OFN) is a non-profit food and supply distributor on the East Coast dedicated to feeding the hungry and improving life situations. Its business model thrived on and was led by its on-the-ground efforts dealing face-to-face with the community. At the beginning of the crisis, this quickly became difficult, if not impossible, due to safety and health risks. While direct engagement is still the backbone of OFN, it decided to take the initiative to expand its digital footprint and grow its impact and abilities through digital awareness.

When electing to grow their digital footprints last year, many businesses quickly realized they didn't have a fully developed digital service infrastructure leading up to the crisis. OFN found that email was a great way to bridge that gap to serve and reach customers digitally.

We worked together to design an effective email marketing strategy that kept consumers safe and informed while better connecting them with the brand they’re invested in. This led to growth in awareness across all OFN platforms as email campaigns drove audiences to social media, organic content, its website, and donation and volunteer pages.

By taking a proactive approach, OFN was able to:

• Increase brand awareness

• Create valuable content to foster continued engagement

• Grow their email list

• Building stronger relationships with volunteers and customers

• Driving traffic to old but relevant social posts using email

OFN's ability to increase its awareness during unprecedented times helped to continue and expand volunteer involvement and maximize impact on the community.

Conclusion

As challenges arise, it’s imperative to think adaptively about your digital strategy. Seize the opportunity to work on your business through unique solutions. 

Use this time to connect with your audience and think about how to deepen the loyalty within your community. Provide customers with valuable content – even in times of crisis.

Connect with our team to learn more about mastering competitive markets or setting up your digital strategy with a data-based approach!