Summary
The COVID-19 pandemic profoundly reshaped digital communication in 2020, with email playing a central role as businesses and individuals adapted to new realities. This period saw notable shifts in email engagement metrics compared to 2019, driven by increased reliance on digital channels for information and commerce. While initial reports indicated a universal surge in open rates and email volumes, the landscape evolved as consumer behavior adjusted and message fatigue began to set in.
Key findings
- Increased volume and opens: Many industries experienced a significant increase in email send volumes and corresponding open rates, particularly during the initial lockdown phases of early 2020.
- Stable click-through rates: Despite the surge in opens, click-through rates (CTRs) often remained relatively stable or saw smaller gains, suggesting that while recipients were opening more emails, their intent to click and engage further didn't always scale proportionally.
- Industry variation: The impact of COVID-19 varied significantly across industries, with e-commerce, marketing, and manufacturing seeing increased engagement, while others faced declines.
- Subscriber behavior shifts: The pandemic prompted changes in how subscribers interacted with emails, with some reports indicating slight increases in unsubscribe rates related to message overload, while others saw decreases in spam complaints initially.
Key considerations
- Data lag: Many comprehensive studies and public data releases regarding email engagement trends during 2020 had a lag, often only covering periods up to April or May, making it challenging to assess the full year's impact or subsequent shifts.
- Fatigue and relevance: As the pandemic progressed, a degree of 'COVID fatigue' emerged, affecting how recipients perceived and engaged with emails, especially those deemed tone-deaf or irrelevant to their immediate circumstances.
- Long-term impact: The initial surges and shifts in engagement underscore the importance of maintaining a healthy sender reputation by continually monitoring metrics and understanding email engagement thresholds.
- ISP tracking: Internet Service Providers (ISPs) actively track engagement metrics, and significant deviations can impact deliverability, even during anomalous periods like a pandemic.
What email marketers say
Email marketers navigated a complex and rapidly changing landscape in 2020. Many observed an initial surge in email activity and engagement as businesses shifted communication heavily to digital channels. However, this was quickly followed by concerns about subscriber fatigue, the challenge of maintaining message relevance, and adapting holiday marketing strategies in an unpredictable environment. Marketers were actively seeking recent data beyond the early months of the pandemic to understand evolving trends.
Key opinions
- Initial engagement boost: Many marketers saw a significant boost in open rates, particularly for COVID-related emails, but also across general email sends in early 2020.
- Hotmail deliverability challenges: Some marketers reported ongoing struggles with Hotmail (Outlook/Microsoft) deliverability during this period, indicating that ISP-specific issues persisted even amidst broader engagement trends.
- Anticipating holiday trends: As the year progressed, marketers were keen to understand if the increased email volumes and engagement would continue into the crucial holiday season, with some planning to start promotions earlier.
- Internal data focus: Many marketing teams relied on their own internal benchmarks and retrospectives due to a lack of publicly available, up-to-date studies beyond May 2020.
Key considerations
- Messaging fatigue: The initial influx of COVID-19 related emails led to concerns about subscribers becoming fatigued, making it critical for marketers to ensure message relevance and avoid over-sending, especially with high email volume.
- Delayed publication of data: Many companies delayed publishing their full 2020 email engagement retrospectives until after the holiday season, making real-time insights scarce during the latter half of the year.
- Industry-specific dashboards: Some platforms offered industry-specific dashboards to track trends, providing valuable insights for marketers focusing on retail or other sectors (see Ometria's retail dashboard).
Marketer view
A marketer from Email Geeks notes that early in the pandemic, emails related to COVID saw a significant boost in opens, and most other emails experienced increased opens across the board. However, this was likely before the widespread fatigue from constant COVID-related messaging set in.
Marketer view
A marketer from Email Geeks states that their company had not posted anything publicly but their clients had completed their own internal retrospectives on email engagement during COVID. They felt most were waiting to publish until after the holiday season.
What the experts say
Email deliverability experts observed a multifaceted impact of COVID-19 on email engagement in 2020. While there was an undeniable surge in email volume and, for a time, engagement, experts also highlighted the swift onset of message fatigue and the need for senders to maintain list quality and relevance. The focus shifted from merely sending more emails to ensuring those emails truly resonated with recipients, a critical factor for long-term deliverability and sender reputation.
Key opinions
- Boost in covid-related emails: Experts noted a significant boost in opens for emails specifically related to COVID-19, particularly in the early stages of the pandemic.
- Widespread open rate increases: Beyond just COVID-related content, most emails across various sectors saw increased open rates for a period.
- Fatigue warning: Experts quickly cautioned about the onset of message fatigue, as many senders used COVID-19 as an excuse to send to everyone, even for non-COVID content.
- Demand for recent data: There was a clear need among experts and marketers for more recent studies and refreshed analyses that extended beyond the early months of the pandemic.
- Revenue and open rate trends: Some experts provided specific dashboards showing retail industry trends, including revenue and open rates throughout 2020.
- Year-over-year statistics: Experts highlighted the importance of year-over-year statistics to accurately gauge the pandemic's impact on email metrics, rather than just month-over-month comparisons.
Key considerations
- Maintaining relevance: To counteract fatigue and maintain engagement, senders had to prioritize content relevance and audience segmentation, adjusting to evolving subscriber needs and concerns.
- Complaint rates: While open rates were up, a key concern for experts was monitoring complaint rates, especially given the potential for tone-deaf or irrelevant messaging to provoke negative reactions. This is crucial for overall deliverability benchmarks.
- Unsubscribe rates: Experts debated whether unsubscribe rates were higher than usual due to the 2020 insanity, seeking data to confirm if this was a global trend or isolated incidents.
- Data analytics rigor: Even if published as lead magnets, experts emphasized that the underlying analytics of COVID-19 impact reports should remain rigorous to provide credible insights (e.g., as mentioned in the NationBuilder report).
Expert view
An expert from Email Geeks, responding to inquiries about recent studies, mentioned that early on they conducted their own analysis showing a significant boost in opens for COVID-related emails and generally increased opens across the board. They noted this was before fatigue from excessive COVID messaging set in.
Expert view
An expert from Email Geeks shared that their last anonymized analysis of customer email engagement data was published in March 2020. They acknowledged that while the post was also a lead magnet, the underlying analytics were rigorous, and it felt like a good time to refresh the analysis.
What the documentation says
Documentation and research from reputable sources provide a clearer picture of email engagement trends during the COVID-19 pandemic, often based on large datasets. These analyses generally confirm the initial surge in email volume and open rates but also highlight the nuances of engagement as the situation evolved, including industry-specific impacts and the longer-term implications for digital communication strategies.
Key findings
- Across-the-board increases: Mailchimp's data indicated a steady increase in click and open rates among its users tracking engagement, alongside a decrease in unsubscribe rates around March 2020.
- Significant send rate increase: Campaign Monitor's research showed that email send rates increased by 19% between February and March of 2020, emphasizing email's heightened importance during the pandemic.
- Average open rate lift: Campaign Monitor also observed an average increase in open rates of 4.1% in March 2020 and 3.6% for April, with April's average open rate specifically hitting 21.2%.
- Digital adoption acceleration: McKinsey's survey revealed that responses to COVID-19 accelerated the adoption of digital technologies by several years, transforming business operations, including digital communication.
Key considerations
- Contextual analysis: While raw engagement numbers provide insight, it's crucial to analyze them within the context of unprecedented global events. Marketers must remember that a temporary lift in metrics, such as what might cause a sudden drop in email open rates if not maintained, doesn't necessarily indicate a sustainable change in subscriber behavior.
- Shifting priorities: The pandemic forced businesses to adapt rapidly, often leading to increased email volume and changes in content strategy. This period highlighted the importance of understanding benchmarks and audience needs for effective communication.
- Beyond email: Some documentation (like MarketingProfs' social media analysis) showed that while email engagement was often up, social media engagement or ad rates could be down, indicating a shift in overall digital consumption patterns.
Technical article
Documentation from Mailchimp's COVID-19 report shows that users tracking engagement began to see a steady increase in click and open rates around March 2020, accompanied by a decrease in unsubscribe rates, reflecting a shift in consumer behavior during the pandemic.
Technical article
Campaign Monitor's research indicates that email was more important than ever during the pandemic, with email send rates increasing by 19% between February and March of 2020, demonstrating a heightened reliance on this communication channel.
Related resources
13 resources
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