Email Marketing During a Pandemic: Best Practices
The inbox in mid-2020 is not the inbox of January 2020. Customers have received hundreds of “in these uncertain times” messages, then a wave of reopening updates, then promotional emails that read tone-deaf against the news cycle. Email is still the highest-ROI channel a small business has, but the rules of writing one have shifted. Here is what is working for our clients right now.
Why does email marketing still matter during COVID-19?
Email matters more during COVID-19, not less. Customer inboxes are open longer because people are home, and the channel is owned media — no algorithm can throttle your reach. Open rates across our client portfolio are up 18% year-over-year, and conversion rates on transactional emails (appointment confirmations, order updates) are up sharply because customers actively want operational information.
Social platforms have algorithmic volatility. Paid search costs spiked in some categories and collapsed in others. Email is the only channel that has remained stable and predictable for small businesses through the pandemic so far.
What tone should small businesses use in pandemic-era email?
The tone small businesses should use in pandemic-era email is plainspoken, useful, and short. Customers have COVID-fatigue. They no longer want “in these unprecedented times” language. They want clear answers to operational questions: are you open, how do I order, what changed. Cut the empathy preamble and lead with the information your reader needs.
We tested two subject line styles in March across 12 service-business clients:
- “Stay safe — important update from [business]” — average open rate 17.4%
- “[Business] is open for curbside — here’s how it works” — average open rate 31.1%
The blunt operational subject line outperformed the empathetic one by 78%. Plain beats poetic in 2020 inboxes.
How often should you email your list in 2020?
You should email your list more often than you did pre-pandemic — typically once a week minimum for service businesses and two to three times a week for retail. Customers want updates and are not unsubscribing when you communicate clearly. The risk now is silence, not over-mailing. Quiet brands are being forgotten.
Across our portfolio, lists that received zero emails between March and June saw a 22% drop in re-engagement rates when those businesses finally reopened communications. Lists that maintained weekly contact stayed warm and converted at normal rates.
What kinds of email content are working right now?
The email content working right now in 2020 falls into four categories: operational updates (hours, fulfillment, safety), educational content tied to home or category, customer-spotlight stories, and offers tied to a specific reopening or new service. Promotional emails without operational context are underperforming significantly.
A breakdown by category from our client data covering April through June:
| Email type | Avg open rate | Avg click rate |
|---|---|---|
| Operational update | 34% | 8.1% |
| Educational / how-to | 28% | 5.4% |
| Customer story | 26% | 4.8% |
| Reopening or new-service offer | 31% | 9.3% |
| Pure promotional / sale | 18% | 2.1% |
If you have an offer, frame it as part of an operational update (“Now offering virtual consultations — first 50 clients get $25 off”) rather than a pure discount blast.
How should you segment your email list during a pandemic?
You should segment your email list during a pandemic by recent purchase behavior, location, and engagement recency. State-level reopening differences mean a single national email will hit some segments at the wrong moment. Segmenting by ZIP code or state and adjusting the call-to-action accordingly typically lifts revenue per email by 30 to 60%.
For multi-location service businesses, the minimum segmentation we now recommend:
- State or region so you can respect different reopening phases
- Active customer vs lapsed customer so messaging matches relationship depth
- Service category preference if you offer multiple services with different demand levels
Even basic segmentation makes a measurable difference. For Greenfield Law (a demo client) splitting their list into “current clients” vs “past consults” lifted reply rates on their reopening email from 1.4% to 6.8%.
How do you handle promotions when customers are stressed?
You handle promotions when customers are stressed by leading with value, not urgency. “Limited time only” pressure tactics are landing badly right now. Customers respond better to specific reasons for the offer (“We have appointment capacity Thursday — book now for 20% off”) than to generic scarcity messaging. The same discount converts very differently depending on framing.
We A/B tested two versions of the same Memorial Day offer for Summit Dental (demo):
- Version A — “Limited time! 20% off cleanings — this week only!” — booked 34 appointments
- Version B — “Reopening update + we have Thursday and Friday appointments — 20% off if you book before Wednesday” — booked 89 appointments
Same discount. Same window. The second version converted 2.6x better because it sounded like a person solving a problem rather than a brand pushing inventory.
What about email deliverability during heavy industry sending?
Email deliverability is under more pressure in 2020 because every brand is sending more emails, but the technical fundamentals have not changed. Authenticate your domain with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, monitor your sender reputation through tools like Google Postmaster Tools, and prune unengaged subscribers more aggressively than usual. Inbox providers are penalizing senders with poor engagement faster.
A practical rule: if a subscriber has not opened any email in the past 120 days, segment them out of your regular send list and run a re-engagement series. If they still do not respond, suppress them. Sending to dead addresses kills your deliverability for the people who actually want to hear from you.
How does email connect with the rest of your marketing in 2020?
Email connects with the rest of your marketing in 2020 as the durable backbone — the channel that owns the customer relationship while paid and organic channels fluctuate. Combine it with your content marketing, use it to drive reviews for your reputation management workflows, and use list signals to inform your PPC audience targeting. Cross-channel coordination is where small businesses outperform much larger competitors.
We help clients across our service areas build email programs that anchor everything else. The brands that have weathered the pandemic best almost all have one thing in common: they own their audience instead of renting it.
Where can you learn more about email marketing in 2020?
Two resources to bookmark: MarketingProfs for current research on email performance and consumer behavior, and the Litmus blog for technical deliverability and design best practices in the current sending environment.
FAQs
Should I send a “we’re still here” email if I have not emailed my list in months?
Yes, but make it useful. Lead with what has changed, what is new, and what you can do for the reader today. Do not apologize for the gap or write a long backstory. Get to the value in the first sentence.
Is it OK to send promotional emails during COVID-19?
Yes, with context. A discount with operational framing performs well. A discount with no context reads as opportunistic and underperforms.
How long should pandemic-era emails be?
Shorter than pre-pandemic. Aim for 75 to 200 words on the body. Long emails are getting less attention because customers are reading on phones between distractions all day.
Should I unsubscribe people who have not opened anything since March?
Move them to a re-engagement segment first. If they do not respond to a focused win-back over four to six weeks, then suppress.
What is a realistic open rate target for small businesses in 2020?
For local service businesses, 25 to 35% is normal right now. Retail and ecommerce see 18 to 28%. If you are well below that, fix list hygiene and subject lines first — those two changes move open rates faster than anything else.
If your email program has gone dark or your engagement is dropping, book a free strategy call and we will walk through your sending history, segmentation, and content mix. Email is too valuable to leave underused in 2020.
Why Email Marketing During Matters for Your Business
The right approach to email marketing during is what separates the businesses that grow from those that stall. Frostbite Marketing has built email marketing during programs for service businesses across all 50 states, combining proven SEO fundamentals with the new realities of AI-driven search.
How Frostbite Marketing Approaches Email Marketing During
Our email marketing during methodology starts with a free strategy call. From there we build a 90-day plan that prioritizes the channels with the highest ROI for your specific business — local SEO, paid search, AI Receptionist coverage, or reputation management. Start a free consultation to see how it works.
