• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, August 26, 2020

B2B companies that sell via email can stop worrying about whether it is an effective medium.  

Email is even more vital within companies than it was before COVID-19, and 93% of all communicators use it. Moreover, 58% deploy it more than they did prior to the pandemic, according to The State Of Corporate Communications, a study by PoliteMail.  

In contrast, 83% utilize virtual and video meetings, while 42% use the internet and 34% use social media. Only 5% deploy mobile for internal communications and 3% use print. 

Of course, it doesn’t necessarily follow that employees will open or respond to marketing emails. What it does suggest is that communications are hitting their inbox, and that they are looking at what comes in. 

But it’s hard to know for sure, because companies are not all measuring the effectiveness of the communications they send.

Only 42% measure their top one or two channels, and 24% gauge their top three. But 34% of companies measure nothing. 

This issue is coming to the fore because 51% of all employees now work at home, according to 70-100% of the respondents. Add it all up, and 70% say the majority of their staff is working remotely.  

Happily, 80% of the firms surveyed say the majority of their workforce is working and not furloughed or laid off. Among larger companies, the total is 87%. 

But 32% of the communicators surveyed predict remote work will remain in force for one to six months, and 29% say predict it will be six months to one year. 

Given the situation, it’s no surprise that employees want to now the following:

• Return to the workplace-related issues — 80% 
• State of the business, financial and employment updates — 64% 
• Executive/leadership communication — 56% 
• Our organization’s diversity and inclusion efforts — 46%
• HR and employee benefits information — 26%  
• COVID-19 data and analysis — 25% 
• How our organization is helping the local community or industry — 22%
• Employee stories and news related to employees — 22%
• Other — 4%

How can you get a marketing email to stand out in this environment?

First, you have to have a permission-based list and a relationship with the people you are contacting. From there, you need to be sending relevant content.

These folks have corporate emails to read. You better be offering something that will help them do their job.  

For its part, PoliteMail urges firms to create more impressive email, to send right from Outlook and to report and measure results.

PoliteMail surveyed over 150 communicators in July.