Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, internet usage has sky-rocketed across the U.S. as a result of people turning to their devices and computers even more for news updates, shopping and entertainment. For businesses, this presents a great opportunity to employ an email marketing strategy if you haven’t already.

Email marketing is a way to send marketing promotions directly to a specific audience via email. It can include anything like discount promotions, newsletters, business news, new product or service offerings or adjusted business hours. Getting messages like these out to as many customers as possible is always helpful, and even more important during situations like the one being faced during this pandemic. 

If you are new to email marketing it can seem like a daunting thing to jump into, but it doesn’t have to be. Getting started can be simple, and it can offer great short- and long-term profit for your business. To start, you will need an audience.

Building an Email List

When asking people to sign up for your campaign, try to remember the email lists you have signed up for and what made them appealing. If you’re like me, you make sure the “receive email offers” check box is empty at the end of an order confirmation so your inbox isn’t filled with dozens of emails every week. That’s an important thought to keep in mind throughout your entire strategy. Make it worth your customers’ time and effort to sign up by offering something. This could be a number of things depending on the products or services your business provides. 

Once you create a reason for people to sign up, let people know about the offer. Don’t wait for the checkbox at the end of an order summary. Promote the subscription throughout your website’s homepage, in sidebars or using pop-ups. Make it so even casual browsers notice it and have a chance to sign up.

“Subscribe Now for a Free Consultation,” or “Free Webinars and Demonstration Videos with Email Subscription,” or “Sign up Now for 10% Off Products and Services!” are examples that create a sense of urgency and will make readers realize there is a reward for signing up. 

Creating an Email

As soon as people sign up, let them know your appreciation by sending a welcome email. The first emails received have the highest open rates— up to 82% — so make it a good one.

The subject line should be short and concise and use words to grab attention without being too generic. Using their name in the subject line can be great ways to make it sound personal and not like just another spam email. Avoid using words and symbols like free, win, cheap or $. Using these types of words, excessive punctuation and emojis will trigger accounts to send the email to spam.

Follow that with a message to introduce your company, why they should work with you and how you can help them. Don’t be afraid to tell a short story about your company, such as why you started your business and what it means to you. This is another way for your business to get personal and develop a relationship with the reader. Relating to your audience is proven to reflect in sales.

And finally, don’t overdo it. Limit the number of emails you’re sending. Getting multiple emails every day or every other day about the same things will only annoy readers and make them disregard your emails. Make sure when you send an email it contains important updates and useful information. Emails should be helpful to the reader and to your business. Include links to the best content on your website, or share events and links to webinars — anything to get readers back on your website and spending money. The more links you send, the more clicks you will get, so don’t be afraid to use a lot of them.

There is Help

You don’t have to become an instant expert in email marketing to be successful. A handful of websites have experts for you to use. Sites like Constant Contact and Contact Monkey specialize in internal email tracking and ways to boost business online using email marketing strategies. Some are even offering separate support packages during the COVID-19 crisis to help a business get a plan in place.