Email Communication“How-To” During COVID-19

May 12, 2020

• Today’s webinar will be conducted in listen only mode to minimize background noise.

• The webinar is accessible through computer speakers (VoIP) only.

• If you are having trouble with audio, please check your speaker volume.

Important Notes

3

Jason SisleyPresident, Den Aviary

Jason is an experienced digital marketing professional, spending the last 20+ years managing communication strategy, email

marketing operations, messaging strategy, and customer journey mapping.

Meet Our Presenter:

3

Chris DuncanChief Marketing Officer

Webinar Tool Overview

Hand IconClick here to raise your hand. The presenter may ask you to do so periodically.

QuestionsSubmit questions for the presenter here. Questions will be answered in a follow up email after the presentation.

4

Jason SisleyPresident, Den Aviary

Jason is a digital marketing expert, managing communication strategy, email marketing

operations, messaging strategy, and customer journey mapping for top brands in multiple

industries for over 20 years.

Meet Our Presenter:

5Overview

• Now is not the time to try to force brand equity, but it’s important to maintain it with your customers

• Be thoughtful with your communications and pay attention to what your competitors are doing• Don’t make big, broad changes (creative, content, volume, frequency). Make small changes

over time.• Keep an eye on your signals:

• Keep a close eye on deliverability and how ISPs are responding• How is your messaging resonating with your best customers and your less active

customers?• Who should you ultimately be emailing?• Shift your email marketing goals and success metrics to focus on retention• Actively measure your results & learn for future communications.

Anything online right now will be consumed (and scrutinized!) more than ever before and it’s not the time to become invisible and hope for the best.

6

Many companies are laying low and others are sending out email that seems self centered.

COVID-19 emails can be an effective strategy, but it depends on the person receiving them —someone who last ate at a restaurant in 2007 might dismiss the message, but a person who orders delivery twice a week will be looking for that information.

11.7% of retailers analyzed used coronavirus or COVID-19 in their email subject lines from March 9-17.

Current State

7

DO DO NOT

• Protect your deliverability by maintaining a relatively reasonable frequency. Judge this based on engagement.

• Send to the most engaged customers at a similar frequency, but don’t forget about your lapsed customers.

• Maintain email content best practices (minimal copy, clear CTAs, maintain a high live-text to image ratio).

• Keep information on other mediums such as Facebook, Instagram, or your website if you are announcing new hours or any additional information that does not require immediate action.

• Send mass COVID-19 emails if you do not have anything critical and valuable to say to your customers.

• Send email to subscribers who have not opened or clicked one of your emails within the past 9 months (at a maximum).

• Sound desperate by mentioning your business is suffering as this is impacting all companies and sectors.

• A global pandemic may or may not be a business opportunity for your brand, please use email very carefully and make sure your message is timely and helpful to your subscribers. Otherwise, you will pay the price in the form of a damaged brand sentiment, customer engagement and sender reputation.

Email Marketing During COVID-19

8

You must have a very focused data-driven approach to your marketing activities.

Make sure you’re investing in your highest performing segments first and make sure

your email marketing activities are measurable.

Email Marketing During COVID-19

However the business is managed, now is the time to be disciplined.

9What is Email Deliverability…

• Email deliverability is the measurement of overall program reputation, your ability to maintain high inbox rates and take preventative action based on signals from the ISPs.

• Deliverability is a major issue for brands, especially in times of crisis due to a high rate of fraudulent emails. ISPs are simply protecting their customers.

• Brands rely heavily on digital communications and want to know that these communications will reach their intended recipients.

…And why is it so important in uncertain times?

10Deliverability: A Major Concern

• The increase of COVID-19 emails and decrease in engagement is a huge deliverability problem. People are more selective in the emails they open related to the coronavirus.

• Decreased engagement leads to more unsubscribes and spam reports.

• Email providers will begin to filter these emails into the junk folder. Some email providers can’t handle the increased traffic of emails, causing delays in delivery.

• Above all, work to avoid deliverability issues vs. reacting to them when they occur.

11Email Messaging Tone

• What is relevant this week can change the next. A willingness to adapt, move quickly and grow will help during a crisis.

• Sensitivity is paramount. Put the needs of your customers first.• Consider a “service over sales” approach to avoid sounding insincere

or self-centered. • Provide service with ideas, discounts, suspended fees, free shipping or

great content. Focus on the things your customers will care about.• Examine every message, including promotional, automated and

recurring campaigns, for1. Relevancy2. Tone3. Usefulness and4. Service.

When Levi Strauss & Co. decided to close its stores, it sent a short email explaining that while its doors were shut, its website would remain open, and that the company understood that “shopping for jeans is probably the last thing on your mind right now.”

“No one wants to get a bunch of emails from brands and stores saying what they are doing,” said Levi’s Chief Marketing Officer Jen Sey. “It’s spam.”

No Longer “Business As Usual”

12Audience

• Retail companies rely on customer data to send the right message to the right people at the right time.

• You may find that active customers with your brand aren’t very active right now.

• Don’t mark them as inactive. Because they are not interacting with your content does not mean they are truly inactive.

• The changing social and economic environment requires us to view active and inactive recipients through a different lens. Becoming inactive may have nothing to do with your brand.

Inactives Don’t Exist (At the Moment)

13In Summary

Ramp down your volume if you’re decreasing your send frequency/weekly volume.

MEASURE and closely monitor your email deliverability rates.

Listen to your customers react based on their engagement. Be relevant.

MEASURE and monitor activity from your most engaged customers and those who have become less engaged during this time.

Ramp up your volume when returning to “normal” and continue to MEASURE email deliverability.

1

2

3

4

5

ARE YOUR EMAIL CAMPAIGNS REACHING CUSTOMER INBOXES?

Find Out with Inte Q’s Email Deliverability Audit.

Inte Q brings together comprehensive deliverability features to protect your sender score, we can help you

boost delivery rates and optimize inbox placement across your entire email list.

DeliverabilityMetrics

Real-TimeReporting

StayInformed

ValuableInsights

To learn more, or to schedule your deliverability audit, contact Karyn Speckels@kspeckels@inteqinsights.com

14

ResourcesArticleshttps://emailkarma.net/2020/03/coronavirus-and-the-prominence-of-email-fraud/https://www.emailmonday.com/guide-crisis-email-marketing/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/22/business/coronavirus-emails.htmlhttps://www.wsj.com/articles/coronavirus-emails-from-companies-may-not-be-calming-to-customers-11584957184https://www.business2community.com/email-marketing/covid-19-emailing-best-practices-in-times-of-crisis-02296953

DeliverabilityMxToolBox: http://www.mxtoolbox.comMailTester: https://www.mail-tester.com/Talos Reputation Check: https://talosintelligence.com/reputation_center

Competitive AnalysisMail Charts: http://www.mailcharts.com

Content & Design IdeasReally Good Emails: https://reallygoodemails.com/