Better Email Results? Get Personal!

Written By : Clifford Blodgett

Email marketing can be a powerful tool. But like most tools, it’s only as effective as the person wielding it. Just as a hammer can be used to build a wall or smash a hole in it, your email marketing campaign can either strengthen relationships or harm them.

It’s important to remember that the people on your email contacts list most likely receive emails from a number of financial advisors, corporations, and other business contacts. In order for your email marketing strategy to be effective, your messages must be opened, read, and not immediately disregarded. To accomplish these goals, your emails must stand out from the dozens of other messages your contacts receive each day.

In order to improve your open and click-through rates, make your emails personal by following these tips:

Address your readers by name. Emails that look like automated advertisements are often ignored. Addressing your contacts by name in the subject line makes your emails much more personal, and increases your open rates.

Identify yourself. No one really wants to receive emails from a corporation. People like receiving emails from other human beings. Rather than sending your emails from your company, put a face on your communications. Include a picture of yourself (or the person at your company who handles client communication), and sign your emails with a name.

Understand your audience. You wouldn’t approach a potential client at a party and attack them with information that doesn’t interest them. Remember to keep your audience in mind when crafting content for your emails. What are their interests? What concerns them? What questions do they have, that you can answer? The body of your emails should address your audience’s needs.

Avoid sales language. Using annoying sales language is one of the fastest ways to get your emails deleted. Depending upon your contacts’ email services, deleted emails may automatically prompt your inclusion on a spam list, so that future emails aren’t even seen. Remember to keep your tone conversational, and offer something of interest to your audience. Now is not the time to sell yourself.

Consider your stage of communication with each contact. How well do you know each contact? Is this a longtime client, a new client, someone you recently met at a convention, or a social media follower? It may be helpful to segment your contacts lists to reflect different stages of your relationships, and to create content that reflects the level of relationship you currently have with your contacts.

Use a real email address. You want to engage your audience. But how engaged could you possibly be, if your contacts can’t even respond to you? If your clients spot an email address such as “[email protected]”, or if they attempt to ask a question and their email bounces back, this can send up red flags that scream, “cheap advertising!”. Use a real email address instead.

Make your messages mobile-friendly. More and more consumers – even aging baby boomers – are using smart phones instead of computers to read their email. Make sure your emails are formatted appropriately for mobile viewing, or they might be deleted and ignored.

13974 – 2015/1/12

Filed under: Financial Advisor Marketing