Victoria Taylor — May 26, 2020 
Everyone is sending emails about COVID-19, your supermarket, shopping site, and even brands you bought from years ago. Now more than ever, people need to be informed about what your company has to offer them during this time.
We’ve taken a look at our inbox and did some research on what kinds of emails other companies are sending. We found that only a few companies were adjusting their email marketing to the times while others still crafted emails as if nothing had happened.
In the end, ignoring the problem and acting as if it’s business, as usual, gives the impression that your brand just doesn’t care. On the other hand, some brands are milking this crisis in a way that almost feels sleazy and shameful.
Luckily we found a few emails from brands that were not only sending professional emails but fun as well, putting their customers first and helping their customers rather than forcing them to their shopping carts and stores.
Today I’m going to show you professional & fun coronavirus email marketing tips you should use to keep your customers active.
1. Let Them Know You’re In the Loop
During COVID-19, a lot of e-commerce companies faced major setbacks to shipping, product/material sourcing, and manufacturing. Some had to close their doors, and others had to let employees go.
During this time, the typical customer journey was interrupted. Shipping was late, new methods to serve customers had to be thought of quickly.
The first place to start? Start informing people about your crisis policy and what your company is currently doing to pivot during the crisis.
The lingerie and bra company Adore Me sent out an email from the company’s CEO to inform customers about late shipping and limited stock that would take place during the crisis.
This not only showed that the brand was making active efforts to pivot during the pandemic, but they wanted their customers to know how their sales funnel, and workflow would be during this pandemic.
- Do: Be as transparent about your crisis policy and business model changes so that customers are well informed, not only via email but via social media, your FAQ, and with your customer service team.
- Don’t: Complain or blame others in your email, instead share how you’re going to help to serve customers better.
2. Make It All About Them Not You
Customers are not spending as much as they use to, and who could blame them. They’re stuck at home worried about the future. So when you’re crafting your email marketing campaigns during the coronavirus, make it about them.
Position your self as a company that serves, rather than a company that’s focused on selling, email products, and resources that will help your target audience.
People are looking towards brands to provide them with a solution or to ease boredom as they ride out self-quarantine.
During the March and April, Tailwind dedicated their email marketing campaigns to sharing COVID-19 resources and relief funds. Along with each email, they also provided a demo and tutorial to try their software and tools.
- Do: Offer free demo’s, resources, delivery options to show customers that you want to serve them during this time.
- Don’t: Focus on your product or sales, instead focus on the solution your product can provide your customers.
3. Entertain Customers with Fun Email Content
People are stuck home and glued to their phones, stuck with kids, and the living room is now the most boring place in the house. Spice things up by sending entertaining and fun emails to brighten your reader’s day.
Ditch boring email templates and start splashing some color and suggesting DIY’s, fun food recipes, and quizzes. Paper Source is a brand that provides paper, stationery, and tools for craft and art projects. Instead of showing off their products, they sent an email with DIY tutorials ranging from professional crafters to kids and beginners.
- Do: Share tips and hacks that your customers can use from the comfort of their homes.
- Don’t: Ask people to do activities outside or something that involves a group or being in close contact with people outside of their home.
4. Show Off Your Products as Problem Solvers Not Sales
During a time of crisis, people want hope and solutions. Reposition your emails as problem solvers. A lot of other brands are sending emails to the same customers you have on your email subscription list, so when you provide emails that give readers a solution their more likely to open it.
Keep in mind that before customers can reach your email, your email subject line is also a critical element to your email’s success. Try to ensure that it’s short and concise and lets people know what kind of problem you’re providing.
Take a look at CVS Pharmacy, they usually send emails with products and sales, but now they’ve switched to medication and Q&A sessions to help people get answers to their biggest questions and concerns.
- Do: Find a problem that relates to your products or services, so your email feels more authentic.
- Don’t: Focus on multiple problems in one email, keep it simple. Write about one major problem at a time so that readers can focus on what really matters.
5. Keep Practising Retargeting with Email Marketing
Shopping habits have changed, and by default, it has affected the way people engage with your online content and emails. So now, the perfect time to clean up your email list and retarget current and new customers back to your store.
If a customer has never bought from you even after visiting your site or abandoning their cart, then send them one last follow up email campaign. If they still refuse to buy from you, then it’s time to remove them from your list because they’ve proved to be an unreliable lead.
For customers who are shopping with you before to keep your retargeting emails going, but tweak them to match the current climate.
- Do: Keep active with your email marketing campaigns and keeping your email up to date.
- Don’t: Send emails that are encouraging people to visit your store
6. Update Them on Your Latest Projects
If you’ve moved your services online (as you should have been doing before COVID-19, but let’s not get into that), you want to keep customers in the loop of your latest projects and services that you’re using to serve them better.
The mistake that most brands make is that when they start offering a new service or feature during COVID-19, they forget to tell everyone and think that customers will start flocking them like crazy.
I’m here to tell you, that’s usually not the way it works, even brands with over 100k followers and customers around the world, yet they still take the initiative to inform their customers and audience about their latest projects. So why shouldn’t you?
Send out an email to remind your customers you’re still active, and you’ve made changes to suit their new lifestyles. Check out National Sports email showing off their online work out courses.
- Do: Add all the details to your latest project, time, date, and well location (URL and all) so they don’t have to search too far to get started.
- Don’t: Forget to send email reminders, sometimes one email isn’t enough.
7. If You Made a Mistake, Apologize for It
Maybe you made the mistake of sending an insensitive email to your subscribers. The first step after your big mistake is to apologize and let people know you realized your mistake. After adjusting all your emails accordingly, try to avoid another email marketing mistake.
Let’s be honest mistakes happen, and especially if you’re caught off guard, so it’s essential to pivot your emails, and marketing sooner is better than later. Keep your ears close to the ground by watching out for changes during this pandemic.
- Do: Own up to your mistake and share how you’ll be moving forward.
- Don’t: Avoid an apology, or act like it never happened; people notice a brand sneaking away from a big mistake.
8. Always Make it Mobile Friendly
Mobile marketing is no longer a trend; it’s a staple to online marketing that brands need to take seriously. If the average smartphone user checks their smartphone 150 times a day.
Before coronavirus made us all stay home, you shouldn’t be surprised to see an increase in mobile devices due to the coronavirus outbreak worldwide as of March 2020.
When marketing on mobile, you have to be sure that you have the right balance between high-quality images and images that load quickly on your social or online platforms. Funny enough, you don’t need to have a team of graphic designers to create stunning mobile graphics.
- Do: Ensure that your images, buttons, and text are mobile-friendly.
- Don’t: Use heavy images because they can slow your emails loading time on mobile phones.
Summary
You should still send emails to your customers, but you have to craft them to match the climate. These tips are not only easy to follow but will ensure that your customers stick by you until the end of this pandemic.
Keep in mind nurturing your leads is the special glue that ties it all together. Customers can sense when you care more about your business than you do about them, so always aim to be authentic with your copy and images.
Here’s a quick recap of the eight professional and fun coronavirus email marketing tips you should use during
- Let Them Know You’re In the Loop
- Make It All About Them Not You
- Entertain Customers with Fun Email Content
- Show Off Your Products as Problem Solvers Not Sales
- Keep Practising Retargeting with Email Marketing
- Update Them on Your Latest Projects
- If You Made a Mistake, Apologize for It
- Always Make it Mobile Friendly
If you need more help with your business, don’t forget to check out Wishpond’s COVID-19 SOS Marketing Series. We share expert advice from the world top marketers, sharing their best tips and tactics for service providers and eCommerce stores.
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