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Email usage spiked by more than 100% during the coronavirus pandemic, which has been ravaging the world for several months in a row. Gone are the days that emails were simply used to communicate. Emails are now an essential marketing tool that both startups and established businesses use to reach existing and potential customers.

The types of emails sent when the first marketing email was drafted in 1978 are not the same as what we have today. The last few decades have seen a transformation in this area as well. The Covid-19 pandemic was like a wake-up call for many people and has changed how people do business.

In this article, our expert Alex Lysak will enlighten you about email marketing, how beneficial it is to business, and what the future holds for it. Keep reading his articles here.

Overview of email

Emails are amongst the most-used forms of communication that have been in existence for the longest period. It's commonly used by many in the offices, others in their businesses. It's also a confidential communication mode that values the recipient and sender's data.

What is email marketing?

When you visit a website, you will likely see a pop-up notification asking you to subscribe to the website's newsletter. Have you ever wondered why they set it that way? First, they want to get your data, i.e., email address and other essential contact details. Secondly, they want to be sending you emails about them and their products.

Email marketing essentially involves informative messages about new services and products. The services and products can be those that have been there, but the mail is used to create emphasis on the customers. The messages sent are majorly commercialized to bring sales to the business.

As a business owner, there is no essence of sending many emails that do not convert. You must craft your mails well to make them impressive to your customers. Your emails should also have a call to action element that prompts the subscribers to take action.

Types of email marketing

Below are some of the types of email marketing;

Informative emails

As mentioned, emails help create room for businesses that want to inform their subscribers about their products, offers, and upcoming projects. Emails are essential in informing the customers because it allows the business to communicate with them directly.

Promotional emails

They are used to promote new products and existing products that a business is offering. They are almost the same as informative emails, only that they focus on driving sales. When creating them, you should use a tone that convinces the prospects to buy the products.

Importance of email marketing amidst covid 19

Besides the benefits people know, email marketing has helped a lot of businesses during the outbreak. Here is how;

Cost-effective method for many businesses

Since the outbreak, the majority of the business' revenue has greatly reduced. That is because of the reduction of the workforce.

Most employees have been working from home, thus reducing productivity. It's only the essential service providers who have been working. The businesses which do not provide such services experienced a reduction in revenue hence cannot spend a lot on marketing activities.

However, with email marketing, that became possible because only the subscribers' list was required. After creating the relevant content, it became cheaper to send to them, making it an effective method for many businesses.

Email marketing reduces customers' spending time

With covid-19 in place, the last thing customers would wish for is time wastage. Most businesses use the email marketing strategy to help customers in selecting whatever products they need. That happens within a shorter time. It also saves the employees time because the customers already know what they exactly want.

Increased brand awareness

Almost every business has shifted its operations online. They are all striving to get the attention of their existing and new customers. Also, they use different marketing strategies to reach their customers. Part of the strategy is email marketing.

It allows businesses to get into their customers' inboxes and deliver the message directly. Doing that grabs the attention of the customers once they go through the messages.

Has helped in maintaining loyal customers

Emails help businesses to stay connected with their customers during the pandemic. That's because most of them are away from the physical premises to adhere to the world health organization guidelines.

Sending the messages also allows them to get feedback on improving their services both online and offline, thus giving them a competitive advantage.

Email marketing trends during covid 19

Things keep changing in the way they are done from time to time. In fact, with the globalization brought about by the technological enhancements, things are still deemed to change.

Similarly, businesses using email marketing have also adopted advanced trends during the pandemic. Below are some of them. They mean a lot for future email marketing. Don’t feel worried because you can consult experts at Scanteam to understand how to go about it

Use of Videos and Animations

Can you remember the number of promotional messages you received in the past week? Probably no. That means that in a month, you can receive more than what you receive weekly.

Many people's inboxes are filled with a lot of promotional messages because the companies have shifted most of their operations online.

However, a few companies have mastered the new art of standing out. They attach videos in most of their emails. It is a belief that many people like watching videos rather than reading. Therefore, when the companies use the videos, it allows them to outdo their competitors.

Increased use of interactive mails

Have you come across emails asking you to fill a survey or act on an attached call to action? If yes, then that's what it is. Companies have turned to use such strategies to get the feedback of their customers.

Feedback is important to companies in many ways. First, it allows them to figure out their strengths and weaknesses. It also enables them to know their loyal and active customers.

AI in email marketing

The use of artificial intelligence is one of the coronavirus email trends. Despite the tremendous benefits it brings to businesses, some marketers fear the approach.

A lot of companies value artificial intelligence as part of their strategy. It works best for them because it delivers personalized messages to their subscribers. Also, artificial intelligence can choose the best subject line for each mail and delivery time. It works best compared to humanely drafted messages.

It's accessible to small businesses because most email service providers are beginning to adopt it in their systems. That makes it affordable to almost every business that is starting.

Subscribers preference control

Initially, after subscribing to a newsletter, the company would deliver a random message to your inbox. However, trends in email marketing effective 2020 allows businesses to give their subscribers freedom of choice.

Subscribers can choose the type of messages they want to see in their inbox. That, as a result, makes the companies know the type of messages to send them.

Increased user-generated content

A move by most marketers and businesses is creating user-generated content. An example is the use of product reviews to inform the customers more about the products on sale.

If it's a product that needs technical knowledge, the product review will help the buyers or prospects to understand how to use it better.

Customer testimonials also form part of the User-generated content. They help in showing the customers about the legitimacy and quality products of the business.

How to get started with email marketing?

After reading how email marketing is good for a business, you may consider using it in your business too. Although, you may get stranded on how to start.. To help you out, you can consider the below steps.

Establish your goals first

Before starting, you need to know why you want to use email marketing. You should also know your target audience. Doing that will save you greatly on your cost.

Choose your email service provider

After knowing your goals and setting them right, you can select a good mail service provider. The essence of getting a good provider is because doing email marketing manually may be tedious. You need to utilize smart tools to make things happen.

Focus on building a contact list

The best way to get started is by having a good contact list. You can make that possible by creating newsletters with the "subscribe" option so that those who read it can subscribe. You can also put an opt-in form that will see your customers take the action you expect.

After creating the contact list, you can start sending emails to the subscribers. You should also note the niche they like so that you don't send the wrong messages. However, if you feel stuck, you can consider researching more to know better about it.

Above are just simple email marketing best practices 2020 that have revolutionized the marketing sector. You are now in a position to do email marketing predictions for 2021. Keep looking out for trends, and do not forget to observe the leaders in this field.

Author's bio: Alex Lysak is the CEO of ScanTeam. I have been working in online marketing since 2011, my main areas of expertise are marketing research, social media marketing, and SEO. During 9 years of experience, I have helped many products and startups to develop marketing strategies and to implement them further.