The coronavirus pandemic has affected nearly every aspect of business. Consumer buying habits are no exception as more sales than ever have shifted online.

Omnisend reported that in the first quarter of this year digital shoppers increased their number of unique page views by 15 percent and online orders by 21 percent from the same quarter a year before.

That’s a noteworthy uptick. But it’s nothing compared to April when page views jumped by 96 percent and orders skyrocketed by 88 percent year over year.

A lot of the online buying growth is the result of merchants’ email campaigns, which reveal consumers are more responsive to email marketing these days.

The hospitality industry can take a page from retailers’ email-marketing playbook as hotels and other accommodations brainstorm for creative ways to reach out to a captive audience of travel consumers.

In this episode of Lodging Leaders podcast, we explore how hotels can use email to connect with both loyal and prospective guests as the lodging industry prepares to emerge from its COVID-19 quarantine.

Featured are Mike Medsker, co-founder and president of Focal Revenue Solutions in Denver, Colorado, and Mike Schmitt, owner and CEO of Clairvoyix in Las Vegas, Nevada.