The coronavirus outbreak has forced a big shift that’s reshaping the global business landscape. What we’re facing right now is temporary (hopefully). It may not be easy in many cases, but let's come out of this stronger than ever before, eh? Now is the perfect time for you to work on your brand’s marketing, to strategically establish your business and focus on the strength of your connections. Customers (who also happen to be your strongest connection) will behave differently when faced with a crisis, and as a business owner, you need to position yourself and let people know that you're not ignoring the challenges that we're all facing, perhaps even show that you really care? If that’s your M.O of course.If it isn’t your M.O., well, now’s the time to change that!
The economic uncertainties caused by COVID-19 should be a motivation enough for you to take another look at how you maintain and grow your business. While concerns around the pandemic are understandably top of mind, as a business owner, you still need to maintain, build, and grow your strategy and customer relationships. You're not willing to do that? Well...I’m sorry, but someone else will!
“We've been so amazed by our client's hardlines and resolve to not just survive, but thrive during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their creativity in making sure that they're still delivering products, pivoting when necessary, and never standing still has been a true eye-opener. They've all done incredibly well because of their flexibility and willingness to be bold - it's definitely what we'd recommend to any company during these hard times.”
Alexandra Marin, co-founder of CodeCrew
Hang tight before you press the panic button or grab your brown paper bag to relieve your anxiety because, much like Captain America in that last Marvel movie, I'm here to save you and will share some valuable insights on how to increase customer spend through email strategy amidst CoVid-19.
How to increase customer spend through email strategy amidst CoVid-19 highlights:
Focus on the right marketing channel
Email marketing- do more of it
Make your customers feel special
Build loyalty
Automate your marketing
Focus on The Right Marketing Channel
We’re now facing the first pandemic of the digital age (hopefully the last one too… fingers crossed), so what may have been the right marketing channel a few weeks ago can be a completely wrong one today. For example, when it comes to your digital advertising it may be time to look into platforms that allow you to extend your reach without breaking the bank (ie. performance marketing). Our friends at Klickly have a unique, no upfront-cost, solution to advertising — and they’re 100% commission-based, meaning you only pay when they make a sale.
Creating a winning strategy, finding proper distribution channels, and taking the right actions can be challenging, particularly in a fast-changing environment like what we’re seeing today. You need to adapt to change and operate with trust and integrity even as you’re coming under pressure from this swiftly evolving situation. When a moment this massive occurs and dramatically affects the whole world, you need to address this issue with a sense of mindful marketing, tact, and empathy!
If the strategy is about winning, shouldn't it also be about aligning all odds to make that possible? Do you even need me to answer this? Seriously?
Even though things will maybe look dark in the upcoming weeks and days, the last thing you should do is to despair! The digital-led experience will continue to grow in popularity once the COVID-19 virus is quelled, and businesses that act promptly and innovate their delivery model to help their customers navigate pandemics effectively and safely will establish a definite advantage. Keep building these relationships and keep the communication channels more open now than ever. Educate customers. Offer deals. Sell the future. Sales will continue; it's just the details and pace that will temporarily change. In layman’s terms, it all comes down to this one fundamental idea in marketing – The more focus you put on making sure that the little things resonate with your potential customers, the more effective the strategy.
Chances are, there is a specific song that is sparking some kind of emotion in you every time you hear it. Maybe it's a ballad you and your partner danced to on the wedding day or some classic rock tune that reminds you of some crazy experience you had with your friend back in the day. Whatever the connection, it's usually that little thing about it, like a swooning chorus line or a guitar riff that makes it grab your attention. It's those simple and unique details that drive customers to connect with your brand and your marketing campaigns.
Don’t miss the opportunity to show that you really care and that you want to provide your customers with as much value for as long as possible. But what would be the best way to achieve that?
- Email Marketing? Congrats, that's the correct answer!
Email Marketing. Do more of it.
Do you think you should maybe pause your campaigns during a pandemic? No. No. No. Whyyyyy would you ever do that?! What you actually need to do as a modern marketer is to adjust the way you communicate with your customers and clients - simple as that. Consider messaging and its relevance in this situation. What a perfect time to examine what you have in place and to analyze your community with a fine-toothed comb right? Are they mostly women? Are they millennials, or a more mature group? Regroup and stay true to what has always set you apart from competitors and what makes you who you are! Don't lose sight of your unique value proposition in these hard times!
The worst thing you can do right now is send a million ‘we care for you’ emails with no actual action behind them, just because every other brand is doing it! Don’t be a sheep and follow the herd - this mentality doesn’t get anyone anywhere. Stand out from the crowd - you can still show that you care, just don’t do what everyone else is doing. Innovate, inspire, and show that you truly care in your own way.
Don't kid yourself - if you think that marketing is not just as important now as it was before the COVID-19 pandemic, you’re just giving yourself a good reason to fail. On top of that, email marketing is still the most important channel to get right. You have the ability to be 1:1 with your customers but at scale! How cool is that?! Use this tool to your advantage, people!
In this time of crisis, not only should your emails express appropriate statements, but they also need to be aligned with your brand. If you’re selling beard products and you’re planning on sending an email with flowers in it...you get the idea.Be clear, be supportive, and most importantly, do what makes sense for your brand and your customers. It shouldn’t be difficult, but we’ve seen even the biggest brands make huge mistakes here, even though you’d expect it to be Marketing 101. Think about your subscribers, and think about how you can provide real support and a breath of fresh air. Now is the time for you to be creative, get out of the box and to be customer-centric more than ever. Remember, people never love businesses for the names or logos. They love them because of the team or mission that’s behind them, and it’s a proven fact that millenials are more likely to engage with a mission-driven brand that’s actually trying to make a difference in the world. A powerful way to do this can be a simple donation with every purchase, for example. It barely hurts your bottom line, and the number of customers who will become more loyal to your brand (and share your brand with others who, in turn, can become loyal customers) greatly outweighs any negatives.
According to the research conducted by our friends at Klaviyo, brands still consider email and content marketing as the best working channels for them. They found that personalized marketing messaging has significantly helped 40% of respondents during this time.
Klaviyo quotes on their Covid-19 post from early April “We've slowly upped our email marketing and implemented new flows. We're also testing new content on social media, as well. Both, so far, have yielded good results.”
Make Your Customers Feel Special
Your customers aren’t just worth the sum of money that they spend on your products during the pandemic, but they also have future value in case you're capable of retaining them as customers in the long run - think about that. This is where most brands fail to understand how customers engage with them and how to increase lifetime spend for those customers, thus having a really strong LTV average.
Personalization increases conversion rates by 10% and click-through rates by 14%.
What am I trying to get at?
Don't just sit there, people! Read your next email and see whether you can make it a bit more personal without sounding creepy. Make your customers feel special. Most of them are craving information, support, and entertainment while being quarantined at home. Give them what they want. If you don’t, someone else will, and they’ll be happily on their way to a stronger client base.
Build loyalty.
Personalized content is number 1. for building onCLV. Harvest the huge potential that segmenting brings and massively improve your ability to upsell that customer. Do they need a reorder message? Is it a cross-sell that’s missing? Perhaps there’s some loyalty missing? . The key to increasing your customer lifetime value is a focus on the individuals that engage with your brand the most. If you’re picking up what I’m putting down, the TL;DR of it is: don't be afraid to get creative and experiment with your email marketing- make your customers feel special!
Automate Your Marketing
According to Jupiter Research, automated emails generate 18x more revenue than blast ones.
Eighteen times the revenue? Stunning! - you say. Sign me up!
… now what?
Some of the foundational automations that can boost your revenue overnight are: Welcome series, Abandoned cart flow, Browse abandonment flow, Back in stock, Replenishment series, Winback series, and a good few others from loyalty-related ones to non-purchaser ones. The list goes on and on, but these are your bread, butter, and heck even the meat of your email marketing sandwich.
Definitely one of the first things you just simply need for your business is to set up a Welcome Series. Not only do they average a conversion rate of 3%, but you can use your welcome series to make your business human, friendly, and approachable. Talk about your mission, share relevant content. Chances are, your customers are struggling to figure out how to function under extraordinary circumstances like these today. If you think that you're in a position to help them - go ahead! It's entirely appropriate to offer them help and support. In my humble opinion, this is what is going to have a lasting effect.
What I would also like to mention here is the importance of responsive email design since it has been increasing steadily in popularity, so it's no surprise that around 80% of emails opens occur on a mobile device, and over 67% of online shopping happens on e-commerce. Remember, mobile-friendly is user-friendly - no matter if your potential customers are seated relaxed in their home (which is the only option right now) or on the go, they are always ready to take action, whether it would be to open your email and connect with your brand or even to make a purchase.
People Research a Lot Before Buying
Think about that.
Think about the 64% of customers that choose to buy from socially responsible companies. The way companies set up to play this role today for their employees, customers, and the broader community is more likely to leave lasting memories in their customers' minds. Many companies have found ingenious ways to help fight against the enemy better known as coronavirus, for example, BrewDog, an alcohol brand is using its distilleries to make hand sanitizer, whilst Mercedes, Formula 1, McLaren, Red Bull, and Williams have put their factories to produce Ventilators.
Whether we like it or not, it's vital to understand that this socioeconomic change is not just gonna disappear out of the blue. Put bluntly, only those that can adapt will thrive in the new market reality. To make high-value decisions, knowledge, social consciousness, email marketing and perseverance are indispensable.
About CodeCrew
Based in Oakland, California, CodeCrew is a full-service email marketing agency that provides strategy, design, content, and implementation. From workflows and triggers based on client lifecycle management to advanced segmentation and reporting, CodeCrew guarantees, and increased ROI for clients within the contract. 1% For The Planet partners and genuinely kind human beings, they're welcoming you on their website, CodeCrew.us