Communicating with Your Customers During COVID-19

COVID-19 has put many organizations in positions they’ve never been in before. From social distancing to shelter-in-place orders, it seems that every organization’s “normal” has changed drastically. With these changes comes a lot of unusual work for your team. Closing facilities, working with staff, vendors and volunteers to find new dates for postponed events, restricting park access, facilitating refunds… One major aspect of unusual work is the increased number of seemingly disappointing communications that need to go out to your participants. When everything seems urgent, the messaging in your communications can seem like a daunting task—especially since now more than ever it matters what you say to your customers.

To simplify your communication strategy, ACTIVE put together a handful of email templates for you to use. Before you check those out below, we wanted to take a moment to walk you through the creation of the templates and the power messaging can have during emergency situations.

The Power of Messaging During COVID-19

Excellent messaging during emergency situations can set you apart from other organizations. Messaging gives you the opportunity to show you genuinely care for your participants and community. To do this, you must recognize the role your programs play in their lives. Your programming and events provide pivotal experiences. Depending on your organization, you may be providing someone their first opportunity to finish a race, create lifelong friendships at camp or develop skills for their future career.

At the same time, these achievements do not supersede the overall public health of your region. Therefore, it is essential to relate to your customers with empathy while highlighting the larger scope of why you are canceling, postponing or going virtual. Great messaging can reassure participants that you care for them even when you are forced to deliver bad news.

Tone & Voice

The tone of the message can convey how your organization truly feels. Tone goes beyond what is said and covers how it is said. ACTIVE knows organizations feel just as saddened by cancellations or postponements as their participants do. The decisions you’ve had to make these past few weeks and may have to make in the future are for the well-being of customers, participants and your wider community. The tone and voice in your messaging should emulate the mutual disappointment you have, but it can also provide hope for the future. From virtual programming to the potential of summer programs, hope is a powerful tool.

The Email Templates

The email templates, found below, convey this empathetic and hopeful tone to your customers. We hope these act a key point of messaging for your organization and inspire any future communications you may have. Check out the specific set of email templates for your corresponding organization type and connect with your account manager if you have any questions.