Is anyone reading your mass emails?
It’s been proclaimed from the rooftops: coronavirus has changed everything. Including, you’re slowly discovering, the way consumers and customers engage with brand emails.
Worried about your open rates? Unsure what your contacts actually still want to read?
You’re not alone. As the pandemic continues, brands and businesses are studying the effects of coronavirus on their email marketing efforts.
Initial email rates skyrocketed as COVID shut down normal business operations, with 44% more emails being sent now than before the virus outbreak. The good news? Along with the barrage of emails, open rates correspondingly increased: data shows a 38% open rate increase from February to April 2020.
Some industries fared better in engagement than others. Compared to their historic average, these industries saw greater click rate than they did pre-COVID:
Email still has strong potential for your business growth, especially during the pandemic. One surprising stat demonstrates that people want to hear more from brands during this time, not less. MailChimp measured the percentage of engagement against the frequency of emails and concluded that in March and April of 2020, subscribers “overwhelmingly seem to prefer frequent campaigns, especially those sent a week apart.”
So what do consumers want to see in your email? One Nielsen study concluded, “The keys to success for the foreseeable future will center on empathy, authenticity and putting the consumer at the center of the equation like never before.”
Strategies for email growth and engagement:
- Email more frequently—ideally, once a week
- Design for desktop (desktop email opens and interactions have seen a 10% week-over-week jump)
- Show empathy and authenticity Provide opportunities for click-throughs