One of the most interesting parts of being a Mailchimp Partner is that you enter a worldwide community of professionals, and you can exchange views, experiences, and perspectives with really cool people.
I’ve collected the thoughts of a group of colleagues on how (or whether) Covid-19 has changed the way they approach email marketing.
Marketing generally has shifted. Some brands are making a lot of money in this difficult period, yet most don’t want to be seen to be greedy or opportunistic. I believe email marketing has a more important role to play right now as it’s effective – both cost-wise and by delivering results. There’s lots of people starting businesses and side hustles, so all-in-one marketing platforms like Mailchimp are super important as they’re free to start, and you can use their wide range of tools to build an audience and grow your business.
Doug Dennison
CEO & Co-founder MailNinja
The pandemic has complicated the industry, but also provided excellent opportunity. I have several clients who have seasonal businesses, but the irregularity of this year threw all of that into mayhem.
We’ve had to rethink our strategies from the top down, rework our data and analytics quite frequently, and pay much closer attention to individual campaigns, calls to action and early results than ever before.
Difficulties aside, the pandemic has made us realize the value of email marketing and ensure that we are utilizing it appropriately to reach our goals.
Honestly, that’s something we should always be doing anyway. COVID has just made us a bit more determined and dedicated to that work.
MaryAnn Pfeiffer
Digital Marketing Strategist 108 Degrees Digital Marketing
I’ve always had an “educate first and sell last” approach so it hasn’t changed the content I send. When my clients gain access to someone’s inbox, when the subscriber gives the sender the privilege of emailing them, it’s an honor, an act of respect. I stress this to my clients, and remind them to make sure the content sent to their readers respects the readers time, energy and attention.
Amy Hall
Email Marketing Strategist and Certified Mailchimp Partner and Consultant Amy Hall
No. But, I’ve seen an uptake of the idea of sending email that treats customers more than a number though. That’s a good thing.
Glenn Edley
Director & Email Strategist Spike
We’ve found that since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, email engagement has increased significantly but conversions not as much. Subscribers are showing more interest, but aren’t purchasing as often. We’ve had to be more aggressive with our offers and call-to-action in order to meet our conversion goals.
Adam Q. Holden-Bache
Director of Email Marketing Enventys Partners
Absolutely. It’s required all of us in the email world to be more mindful. Many businesses are struggling. We’re all working from home. It’s a completely different world and we have to be mindful of what we send to people’s inboxes.
Emily Ryan
Co-Founder and Email Strategist Westfield Creative
Yes, it has. I changed my sending times because a lot of people are working from home now. Also the frequency of the campaigns is less often. The main reason is the frozen marketing budgets. I hope (together with a lot of other marketers) that this will be over soon.
Nick Beuzekamp
CEO and Founder Online Marketing Bonaire
The Covid-19 pandemic has – if possible – stressed, even more, my willingness to write relevant emails and refuse to waste people’s time and attention. When a company sends an email, it has to bring some useful information, a message that makes you feel better, something that is worth the time and effort to open, read and think about it.
This brings to a thorough assessment of your list of contacts, better segmentation, more willing to experiment.
It’s not business as usual anymore, so why can’t we be brave enough to change the way we write emails?
Alessandra Farabegoli