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Despite all the other news lately, the pandemic is still happening—and in many places, it’s getting worse. Your customers doubtless have a lot on their minds. So how do you communicate effectively with them in these challenging times?

First, consider what do your customers need right now—and what issues are keeping them up at night.

Maybe many of those in your customer base have recently lost their jobs—and need tips on how to save money on their insurance. Or maybe they’re worried about getting health insurance they can afford, or insuring a business in the time of COVID.

Before you write an email, blog post, or newsletter, consider what customer need you’re trying to meet—and make sure it meets that need by providing helpful information about the issues your audience is dealing with.

Of course, giving your customers what they need involves knowing what they need. And it’s better to know than to assume.

That’s why it’s so important, especially during the pandemic, to listen to your customers. There are a number of ways you can encourage feedback and find out what they want most out of your content. Some ideas include:

• Send out an email poll asking them what topics they’d like to see you cover.
• Call a few of your best customers and have a conversation with them.
• Monitor conversations on social media.

Ideally, if you have the time, you should try to do more than one of these.

It’s also important to stay active and plugged in to your community. This may not be the best time for big in-person events, but you can still stay involved and visible. This is a great way to show that you care.

Consider COVID-safe volunteering activities you can participate in or causes you can support that help your community—including food delivery drives for housebound and vulnerable people, sponsoring a local virtual event, and charity drives for those who’ve lost their jobs during the pandemic.

Finally, consider how the pandemic has affected your customers’ insurance situation—and invite your customers to call you for a free consultation.

You may already make yourself available to customers all the time, but in this instance, you’re focusing the invitation on a specific problem they may be having.

For instance, if you’re knowledgeable about the health insurance market, you can invite customers who are recently unemployed to call for a free consultation about finding new coverage.

This will be more compelling than a general “call us anytime!” message, because it’s specific to an urgent problem they’re having. It also gives a strong impression that you know what they’re going through, and that you want to help.

Reaching out to customers in the time of COVID doesn’t have to be difficult. It involves a shift in strategy, and a focus on what the customer needs and is concerned about rather than self-promotion.

But if you can nail an empathetic tone and demonstrate that you understand your customers’ needs and concerns, your new strategy should see plenty of success.