iCreating an Email Marketing Program for Your Law Firm
If you don’t already have a regular email marketing campaign in place – like a monthly e-newsletter – here are 10 tips to keep in mind as you embark on your email marketing efforts:
1. Build a good list at every opportunity – when you get a new client, from your website or blog, or via social media. Give away a free report on a topic of interest to your ideal client to collect email addresses.
2. Only send emails to people who have agreed to receive them. Include an opt-out option in every email you send.
3. Be sure your content is always relevant to your audience and always include one clear call-to-action.
4. Send your email on a consistent basis – a monthly e-newsletter is a perfect example.
5. Email marketing studies show that the best times for sending B2B emails is Tuesday through Thursday between 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
6. The best times for sending B2C emails is Tuesday through Thursday between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. or on the weekend.
7. Keep the “from” name consistent – use your name or the name of your firm.
8. Use clear, concise subject lines that make it clear what your email is about. Don’t get too creative – studies show that open rates are much better for straightforward subject lines.
9. Be sure to include both a text and an HTML version of your e-newsletter to ensure all your recipients can see it.
10. Do not use ALL CAPS or exclamation marks in your emails as these trigger spam filters.
Everyone’s attention span is getting shorter as multiple mediums for messaging continue to grow. A significant percentage of us now read emails on our smartphones or tablets, so be sure you use an email delivery service like Constant Contact or iContact (two of many) that will help ensure your messages are delivered appropriately.
Creating a Lead-Generating Law Firm Newsletter
There are some e-newsletters I look forward to receiving and some that make me look immediately for the “Unsubscribe” link. So why do some email newsletters fail while others succeed?
Here are some hallmarks of effective e-newsletters:
Proper list segmentation. The newsletters I like know who I am and they feed me the information I want and need. If you have more than one practice area in your law firm, you simply must segment your list. Don’t send out the same information to every email address you have on file.
Brevity. Face it, these days, everyone is busy. Respect your reader’s time by keeping your content brief and provide links to more lengthy content on your website (improving your SEO!) if they want to take the time to read more. Don’t clutter your e-newsletter with off-topic information or too many different subjects. And present your information in a way that doesn’t sound too self-promotional. Give information that is valuable to the reader and tell them why what you are writing about matters to them.
Good design. A properly designed e-newsletter draws the reader in. It should be clean, concise, have interesting graphics and images and you should keep the same template from month to month so it is recognizable to your subscribers. Using a service like Constant Contact or iContact provides you with plenty of choice when it comes to newsletter templates.
Strong subject lines. You need strong subject lines that immediately grab your readers’ attention. Do not just toss in “March E-Newsletter from ABC Law Firm”! How boring. Even if you spent the time you should in creating compelling content, a weak subject line will get you bounced to the Junk folder.
Single call-to-action. Don’t ask your subscribers to choose among a list of actions you want them to take – choose one strong call-to-action that is a logical extension of your e-newsletter content.
