By Brian McKenna, VP Strategic Partnerships and Zach Labenberg, VP Client Strategy

Recently, we published a two-part blog series recapping DMi Partners’ Email Marketing Success During COVID webinar which examined how brands best positioned themselves before the pandemic and steps they took to adjust to the current environment. As a successor to those ideas, we are sharing five ways brands rebound and prepare their email marketing program for future success.

Preparing Updated Flows Despite the value realized from updating automated email flows, there is a tendency for brands to put this task on the back burner once an initial approach is in place. However, due to the overall reduction of messaging being distributed due to the COVID-19 situation, greater internal marketing resources became available to tackle activities that had been otherwise neglected. Brands poised to rebound successfully took advantage of this opportunity to execute updates in the ideal customer lifecycle, revising their flows and implementing the related changes.

In this process, brands are thinking through what that customer journey will look like in the new normal and preparing to turn up the volume on promotional messaging when appropriate.

Planning for Multiple Scenarios Segmentation assumed center stage as brands took stock and outlined a multitude of potential new scenarios. COVID-19 has been a unique crisis, and it is exceedingly difficult to predict how things like staged reopening, secondary spikes in infection and consequences to the health of the economy will play out. Utilizing segmentation, we are working with clients communicating to pockets of the subscriber database that have “reopened” and others still facing restrictions. This thinking extends to planning for factors such as altered demand patterns, shocks to inventory and the ebbs and flows of distribution.

Consider taking customization cues from mega-brands that have been significantly impacted by the crisis, such as industry leaders in the travel space. These well-funded marketing teams are laser-focused on scenario planning as they reinitiate customer communication. Keeping a close eye on their tactics will indicate what is working, how customers are reacting and how best practices are being retooled in a post-COVID world.

Capturing More First-Party Subscribers We place a heavy emphasis on capturing first-party subscribers (the existing customer base that has provided their email address and opted into receiving communication), and it has been refreshing to see clients making it an active priority of their rebound strategy. Brands are recognizing the urgency to secure more of the market share of their own first-party subscribers and as a result are seeing meaningful improvements in email delivery and engagement. In addition to discernible relationship-building, branding and promotional benefits, first-party email has now proven to be a reliable communications channel during emergency situations; battle-tested during the coronavirus pandemic.

A note of caution – building in this area involves exercising prudence to prevent investing in short-term solutions or acquiring more subscribers than can be reasonably managed. Database acquisition is integral, but it is also easy to get wrong. When tackling acquisition programs to add new email subscribers, be sure that you are not biting off more than you can chew and sending emails to more subscribers than is healthy. The consequence is a scenario preventing you from getting into the inboxes of subscribers. By emailing less engaged subscribers, ISP’s are more likely to place a message in spam or promotional folders. These issues not only impact new subscribers but the most active subscribers that are most valuable.

Reactivation Campaigns We saw several clients duly batten down the hatches and pause their reactivation campaigns as the COVID-19 storm raged. At the time, it was a prudent decision to concentrate on actively engaged subscribers rather than segments of a database that had gone stale. These portions of the list consisted of high-risk candidates likely to receive the wrong messaging.

As the rebound begins, brands are thinking about how to best initiate the reactivation and apply optimizations in the process. They need to consider why those subscribers stopped engaging and adjust the content, nurturing reception of the messaging and enticing them to reengage. This can be achieved by starting slow with a restrained volume of messages (with new and varied messaging in each touchpoint) and, as they engage, introduce them to the regular drumbeat of marketing initiatives. An effective tactic to spur this engagement is providing and update and a discount or other form of enticement.

When hitting the restart button, it is important to consider updated learning and segmentation. For example, what does a reactivation flow look like for someone who has stopped engaging because they are working remotely? How do we ensure that similar temporary scenarios do not completely cut ties with an otherwise solid prospect?

Personalization Automation As we have mentioned, brands adjusting to the pandemic situation were forced – often for the first time – to build personalization into their flows. This can be a demanding step, but implementation (and regular expansion) of personalized messaging can propel an email campaign from mediocre to goal-shattering as it provides sharper context on who is engaging and content more tailored to the recipient.

That labor is now bearing fruit, and brands are excited to expand upon that personalization and maximize its results. More advanced steps entail building triggers within flows and ongoing scheduled campaigns to learn more about the type of content recipients deem engaging. Understanding those areas of interest allows brands to send more of that winning content – at the right frequency – for each individual subscriber.

This capacity to adapt amidst an unprecedented and uncertain environment encapsulates the resolve we have seen from brands during these turbulent months. Our silver lining to the COVID-19 disaster is knowing that brands and marketers forged in the fire of this crisis will emerge with a resiliency and deeper understanding of how to communicate with their audiences. As the dust settles on this crisis, all levels of the marketing ecosystem will be more aware of the versatile power of email as a ubiquitous channel to interact with current and prospective customers nimbly and efficiently to drive business.