Email – a powerful medium to connect with your customers today

This post is sponsored by Epsilon

In these trying times, there has been a significant shift in the way customers interact with brands. For example, traditional retail shopping has given way to eCommerce, according to a recent Adobe survey¹ conducted in the APAC region.

Around 58% of consumers increased their online shopping frequency during the lockdown with a whopping 74% intent on changing their future shopping habits. Marketers have turned to their most trusted and reliable medium to communicate with their customers in a contactless world – email.

We explore four phases that marketers will find useful during these uncertain times:

• Response
• Recovery
• Rebuilding
• Resurgence

In response to the pandemic, we find email to be a powerful connector between brands and customers. It’s personal, as it delivers 1:YOU communication, and can build lifetime connections. Email can provide valuable information to consumers at a time they need it most, making it a highly reliable mode of communication.

With the right email templates, plans and processes, brands can be flexible with their messaging and stay relevant to their audience. They can be highly targeted, sending meaningful messages to people who matter most.

While you continue to reassure consumers, it’s best to plan your post-crisis period and get to market quickly. This brings us to the next phase – recovery – keeping in mind the latest news and trends:

Develop your email marketing calendar, content plans and audience plans.

Close gaps in your life cycle and relationship-management efforts.

Enhance your conversion triggers.

Invest in your infrastructure and capabilities.

Build email programmes that are agile and efficient.

Continue with supportive messaging.

Phase three is rebuilding when your consumers are feeling positive and optimistic once again.

This is the time to carefully rebuild your brand.

• Begin rolling out your improvements and innovations from the previous phase to position your brand as top-of-mind among the competition.
• Provide valuable information and incentives to protect your loyalists, as your competitors will likely be racing towards them.
• Keep an eye on both short-term and long-term results. You need to be able to optimise on the fly and plan for possible future-state optimisations.
• Assess your competition’s approach to and effectiveness in outreach, content, acquisition and retention – so you can match or surpass market expectations.

The final vital phase is resurgence. It’s once again time for your brand to flourish. But be prepared for any kind of disruption. Integrate your email into your larger omni-channel engagement strategy. Consolidate your marketing stack and bring your marketing technologies closer together.

• Unify your disparate marketing channels into an integrated omni-channel engagement strategy.
• Create clear eCommerce KPIs and goals for the business.
• Use your data to gain insights about customers’ latest preferences and behavioural patterns.
• Map the new customer journey.
• Design new programmes to fill any experience gap you’ve identified.
• Continue to scale and innovate for potential recurring waves of slowdowns in a prompt, consistent and personal way.
• Monitor digital conversations closely so you can pivot your approach as needed.

We can help you understand your consumers in their dramatically changing journeys. Using Epsilon PeopleCloud Messaging’s platform and strategy, analytics, creative and tech integration services, we’ll help you make meaningful connections.

Read the full e-book with case studies here.

¹Adobe Consumer Outlook Survey for APAC region (excluding Japan)

Visit us at apac.epsilon.com or email us at APAC-Info@epsilon.com