The value of the data that you obtain from your email marketing campaigns, and that of your subscribers’ reaction to newsletters and browsing, is that it allows you to predict to a very high level of probability. This means you can segment your email marketing lists into groups which will act similarly. It is the one thing that allows you to dominate in a market where unpredictability means lower returns.

As with so much in business life, it’s not that straightforward. We are all aware that behaviours have changed considerably during lockdown and that many suggest this will continue in the short/medium term, which will render a lot of your data inaccurate. That’s not to suggest it will be useless. You need to work out what still applies and where you need to change.

It would appear that as the number of people working from home has increased, most suggest substantially, so has online behaviour. WhatsApp keeps telling me that both my two daughters are online at the moment, which is quite unusual given their normal reticence in replying immediately. Does it apply to your subscribers?

Those on your email marketing lists might be more susceptible to adverts on social media. Some websites are showing a substantial increase in visitors and online completions while others have shown just the opposite; which applies in your case?

You may well see factors which attract your subscribers to a greater extent than before. This will be shown in your returns of course, but this change will be hidden to an extent by the overwhelming returns of the pre-lockdown email marketing campaigns. It needs to be acted upon now rather than waiting until the evidence becomes overwhelming.

Separate the pre-lockdown results and data with that which is currently coming in. Data, as always, shows the way but it must be interpreted rather than just accepted at face value. In essence, nothing has changed for us in any way as we monitor behaviour of our subscribers but we need to take into account any change by monitoring and interpreting the evidence.

Anything else would not be email marketing.