Avoiding Subscriber Fatigue During Overwhelming Circumstances

Man working on a laptop

How to stand out in crowded inboxes by creating community and offering value to your subscribers.

During the past few weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, your subscribers’ inboxes have been flooded with emails. It’s easy for any reader to feel overwhelmed when yet another email arrives. In the world of email marketing, we refer to this as subscriber fatigue.

When your audience is experiencing subscriber fatigue, your emails can get lost in the crowd and are more easily ignored. However! There are still ways to email, engage, and serve your audience by offering value during this time, without contributing to the fatigue.

Three ways to offer your audience value and avoid subscriber fatigue:

  1. Offer digital products.

    Digital products include things such as PDFs, checklists, archived webinars, masterclasses, and things of this nature.

    Now is an excellent time to comb through your previous offers, opt-ins, and collaborations. Look for any that could provide value, entertainment, or a sense of respite to your audience.

    Skip the upload to your site and attach easily attach files directly to your email when creating a Single Mailing or Funnel email in FeedBlitz!

    If you’re unsure what may or may not be valuable to your audience during this time, consider the frame of mind of your audience. Are they more stressed than usual or working with shifted routines? (Most likely, those answers are yes and yes.) These considerations are just a starting point when deciding which of your digital products may benefit your audience.

    Important Note on Digital Products: Now is not the time to pressure yourself to create all those digital products that you have always meant to make.

    If inspiration or the time strikes, go for it but don’t fall prey to pressures of productivity floating around online. It’s a pandemic. It’s OK to see your productivity levels drop a bit. That’s why if you already have something which could benefit your audience during this time, now is a great time to remind them.



  2. Repurpose older content from your site.

    This is exactly as it sounds: sort through older posts and see what could benefit your audience today. Add a few content tweaks to update if necessary, or add a note to your email about how it applies to today’s times, and resend it out to your audience. Don’t forget, not all of your subscribers have seen this content, they may have joined your list after it was published.

    You’re still encouraging engagement and interaction with your audience, and keeping your list healthy and active while providing value for your readers. Repurposing older content is especially handy if you’re short on time (and attention span!) while trying to navigate multiple new roles with everyone at home. You don’t have to invest a lot of effort to provide value.

    Quick Tip: If you come across a handful of similar posts, consider turning them into an email series or package the posts together into one resource. (Oh, hey – a digital product!)


  3. Share connection and community.

    With many of us abiding by shelter-in-place and stay-at-home orders, a sense of community and connection is more important now than ever. As a list owner, you have a unique opportunity to foster a sense of connection and community with your audience.

    You can offer:
    – Words of encouragement.
    – Credible resources that have helped you during this time
    – Shared triumphs, struggles, and stories.

    Simple message goes a very long way in reminding your audience that even though we’re all spread out and communicating digitally, we’re in this together.

Regular email sends are essential to maintain your audience’s engagement. If you send emails with your subscribers’ needs in mind, you won’t be adding to their subscriber fatigue.

Beat subscriber fatigue and be the hero of your email marketing? Learn more about our free trial and reach out to us on our Support Page to contact us via email, chat, or even over the phone. Live support is available Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM Eastern.