Tips for maximising the potential of email marketing during the pandemic

Lockdown lift

Using Google Analytics Benchmarking Data Gastaud revealed that between April to June this year email marketing correspondence drove 12% of all visits to UK travel websites, an increase of 36% compared to the same time period in 2019.

Data also revealed that compared to other marketing channels, such as social, direct, organic search, paid-for search and referral, visitors who visited travel websites as a result of email marketing were not only more engaged, visiting multiple pages on a site in one visit, but were also far more likely to return to the site – with 70% of visits from returning users compared with just 52% from other marketing channels.

Guy Hanson, vice president of customer engagement at Validity, added that he believed the high number of returning users when it comes to email is a “reflection of the post-GDPR halo effect” – i.e. email senders have implemented stronger consent, greater clarity around how personal data is used for marketing purposes, and greater choice around what consumers receive, such as types of messages and frequency of messaging. “This means they are now more engaged with the brands operating these programs,” he said.

He added that Validity’s research had shown “shown strong uplifts in email deliverability, open rates, click rates and attributable sales revenue” during lockdown, while “negative engagement metrics” such as opt-outs and spam complaints were reduced during this time period.

“[During lockdown], email has been critical to maintaining the relationships with existing clients and prospective clients, who may be unsure about the effect Covid is having on travel businesses,” explained his colleague Gaustaud.

Despite the efficacy of email marketing in “[bringing] back loyal clients and visitors,” so far in 2020 email has only represented 3% of digital marketing spend, meaning travel companies are prioritising other, perhaps less effective marketing channels.

Given email’s outperformance over other marketing channels, Gastaud believes an extra 1% of digital marketing budget in email would drive a 1.8% uplift in online visits, compared to just 0.6% for social, 0.2% for paid search and 0.1% for display ads.

Travel companies should therefore reconsider how much email marketing can contribute towards their success, concluded Gastaud.

Content shift

Icelolly.com’s Kirk explained that a new approach to email during lockdown that prioritised content kept customers engaged while other primary marketing channels were put on hold.

“It’s not been the time where we could push product [over email]. Now really has been the time where content has been king,” he explained.

Email marketing from icelolly.com included a #holidaying at home campaign, a series of short videos featuring icelolly staff holidaying at home to engage with and entertain users. The company also created emails embedded with activity packs filled with online quizzes, games and puzzles that users could enjoy with their families from home.

The content resulted in a 32% increase in click-through rate “and helped sustain engagement throughout lockdown,” said Kirk.

“The whole point was to show that icelolly really cares about its customers and we understood the challenges we were all facing together. By creating quizzes in the emails we were able to encourage customers to repeat engage,” he adds.

Emails were also used to inform customers and keep them up to date with relevant information, including content about what travel would look like post-lockdown, and messages from icelolly’s chief executive. “It really brought forward the human element of the business,” says Kirk.

The new strategy was effective, with 40% of icelolly’s traffic now coming from email. Before Covid-19 and lockdown, the amount of traffic generated by email marketing was 10%.

As the business now looks towards recovery and keeping costs low, Kirk reveals that email marketing will remain an integral part of the company’s digital marketing strategy.

“As email is one of the most cost-effective ways to deliver traffic, the business has begun to utilise this resource much more in supporting icelolly.com moving forward as it offers some of the most positive Return on Ad Spend.”