As marketers, we know we need to adapt our strategies to our consumers’ behavior. This is especially true when times are as hard and unexpected, as they were during 2020. How we adapt can make or break our business during uncertain times.
Today, we are uncovering insights from a range of SmartBug Media® clients in the finance industry that use HubSpot, as well as insights from our own team, on which email strategies they employed during the COVID-19 pandemic. We hope these strategies help you adapt your email marketing efforts whenever change arises in your industry.
COVID-19 has unraveled the economy—and highlighted the need for trustworthy, effective financial services. SmartBug worked with our financial clients to develop email campaigns that emphasized value, advice, and reassurance.
We’ll dive into specific use case scenarios, but before we do, let’s look at some existing data for comparison’s sake. Here are HubSpot’s 2019 average open and click rates for the financial industry:
Similar to HubSpot, here are Campaign Monitor stats:
When the impact of COVID-19 grew more severe, we saw that First State Community Bank (FSCB) customers could benefit from increased touchpoints.
FSCB, based in Missouri, has branches in rural towns and customers who prefer an in-person banking experience. One of our email goals during the crisis has been to promote mobile services and remind customers that they can handle much of their banking from home.
Here are some of the email strategies we used:
After sending many more emails to customers than before the pandemic, FSCB saw the following results:
Quotit is a SaaS company that provides software for health insurance professionals.
With so many people losing their jobs, we wanted to share email content focused on helping agents navigate an influx of new policies necessitated by people losing their company coverage. We also provided resources for agents who were now working from home.
Here are some of the email strategies we used:
Slightly more emails were sent to Quotit customers during the pandemic, with the following results:
People have been, and will continue to be, understandably worried about the economy. You can help them navigate their concerns—and earn their trust—with informative content and timely emails.
These tips can get you started:
There is one thing that I’d like to leave stamped in your head after reading this post: There is no better strategy than knowing when and how to adapt, not just to consumers’ needs, but to the world’s unexpected nature.
If you want to take your inbound and email marketing strategies to the next level but need support leveling up your marketing and automation strategies, our experts are always available to help.