It is probable that your email marketing list has taken a hit during the current situation. To what extent might not be obvious. For instance, if your open rate is lower than normal, there might be any number of causes, although one might be that you subscribers are furloughed, so why should the bother with a B2B marketing email? They could be working from home and the needs of the family mean the laptop is closed as soon as practicable. Or it could be worse for them.
If your products are not in high demand, you are probably wondering whether you should downsize or merely limit operations. There is an alternative though; go back to basics. In other words, concentrate on expanding your email marketing list.
If you can expand your customer base, you might well maintain your level of sales, and maybe even increase them. We are told that many companies have taken a hit and are unlikely to come back any 
time soon. What will happen to their subscribers? A number will be looking for a new email marketing list to subscribe to.
Some of the old methods of gaining subscribers will not be available to you, such as the old stalwart of trade fairs. Encouraging staff to engage with counter customers is not the way to go, and sign-up forms around a store are unlikely to be picked up. Face-to-face is a superb way of encouraging signups, but that’s no longer possible.
There are ways around this. Counter customers will be queuing with lots of distance between individuals, meaning conversations are at an end and there are few distractions. Posters will be read. With a shortened online URL, they might well feel encouraged to follow the link on their phone, especially if you suggested there was a price reduction at the end of it.
Ensure a similar message is included in counter packaging. It’s easy to forget a URL so remind them as they open their product, and mention that it was offered slightly cheaper, with no need to queue with strangers, in a marketing email last week.
Get people onto your website, so they see the calls to action. If your product lends itself to Q&A sessions, then that can get people logging on. While they wait for your replies, they will see the benefits of signing up for your email marketing list, perhaps even a special offer for those who ‘join today’. If the answer is complicated, then suggesting you will reply in person later that day gives the benefit of you liaising with them on a one-to-one basis.
If some of your competitors have ceased trading, or have just downsized, consider what their subscribers might look for, and give it to them. If you’ve been trading since the age of the dinosaurs, then let them know.
It's accepted that marketing will become less busy for a while. Some firms will go under. To make sure you don’t, go after the subscribers who have lost their normal supplier.
