Email Still Top Engagement Channel For Pandemic-Minded Consumers November 24, 2020, | Posted by Guest

Free Quote

Call Now

Newsletter Sign Up

Sign Up

Company Cookbook

View Now

Multiple studies have shown that in the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, email marketing surged to prominence amongst the various channels--both digital and traditional--for consumer outreach. It wasn’t just brands, either; consumers were hungry for contact, and more engaged than they had been for months or even years. New studies recently released that have tracked the trend indicate that it shows no signs of slowing down. CMO Council recently released a study entitled “Critical Channels of Choice--How Covid Has Changed the Channels of Engagement,” which shows that 91% of consumers polled rate email as their top channel. But Site Impact’s experts know that engagement can’t just be assumed; it has to be earned. Let’s dive deeper into the data, and look at what businesses can do to continue earning consumer engagement.

 

Consumers trust email, but brands aren’t always holding up their end

The survey by CMO Council found that consumers overwhelmingly trust email marketing compared to other efforts; 29% of those surveyed rated email as convenient, 22% rated it as trackable, and 18% called it reliable. But the study also showed that brands are taking for granted the goodwill of their audiences when it comes to email. Particularly as the pandemic started, more brands shifted their marketing efforts to the most cost-effective channels--but without doing the work to optimize. The result has been that consumers report feeling like their inboxes are often flooded with irrelevant marketing messages. This, in turn, makes it harder for even those brands that are doing the heavy lifting of putting data to work to maintain that goodwill. Another pain point that consumers report--documented by the CMO Council study--is the need to put the same information in multiple forms. This, fortunately, is something that brands can readily remedy through better, more specific links in their emails and other measures that help to pre-populate offers or direct email recipients to specific landing pages.

 

How businesses can set themselves apart

The big drive for brands right now is setting themselves apart from the competition--especially when it comes to email marketing, given the higher volume of sending that has been the trend since March of this year. The good news is that it doesn’t take much to stand apart: adhering to best practices--including the responsible and efficient use of data, personalization of content and offers, and so on--already work to set apart the strong businesses from those who are behind the times. Even for small and medium businesses, the shift to more personalized email is easy and cost-effective; there’s little reason to stay in “blast” mode, when you could be offering valuable content to your audiences and expanding your reach. By sending relevant messages to your prospects, you’re far more likely to get the engagement your business needs.

 

Recent studies indicate that consumers and business buyers are more engaged than ever when it comes to email marketing, but brands are not necessarily doing everything it takes to make sure that they’re giving their audiences and prospects the best experience. By providing relevant, personalized content, businesses can ensure that they’re getting the most out of their email campaigns, and maintaining the kind of engagement that makes money. Contact Site Impact to learn how we can help you find and keep your biggest audience.