Four Keys that may lead to a Successful Email Campaign

Written By : Clifford Blodgett

We know that staying in front of clients is important to the growth of your business.  Likewise, we know that email is one of the easiest, fastest, and cheapest ways of staying in touch with clients and prospects regularly.  But how can you really make it work for you?  After all, there’s no shortage of spammers and isn’t everyone’s inbox already flooded with unwanted correspondence ranging from solicitors to hackers?  How can you avoid getting lumped in with the junk mail and actually get your recipients to open (and read) your deliveries?  Follow these tips to make your open and click-through rates soar!

 

Tip One:  Avoid Newsletters

About 6-7 years ago it was really “cool” for your company to have a regular email newsletter.  In fact, it was so “cool” that it didn’t take long for everyone to start sending one.  Heck, just in the last 2 days I have received such newsletters from a plumber, a car insurance broker, a weight loss specialist, a dentist, two network marketing companies, a restaurant, two major hotel chains, a large national department store, and an airline carrier. (and chances are there were a few more that I didn’t even see).  The bottom line here is that very few people take the time to open or read your newsletter and even worse is the fact that you may never really know if it was opened, read, or deleted as very few newsletter services offer you this type of data.

 

Tip Two:  Get Personal

If you want your emails to be opened and read, then keep them short and personal.  When it arrives at the inbox, if your client thinks he is getting a personal email from you he may be more likely to open it.  If he thinks it’s nothing more than a solicitation, he most likely will delete.  Graphics, pictures, and templates scream “solicitation” and your reader’s brain will inherently think “I have no time for this” and “I’m not special, he sent this to everyone”.  In today’s world, informal and personal beat high tech and fancy.  There are plenty of email software programs such as GetResponse or MailChimp that allow you to send a personal email to a large group.

 

Tip Three:  Be Brief

A good rule of thumb is don’t make your readers scroll.  If your email is packed with paragraphs of information, you may overwhelm the recipient and they most likely will delete without reading.  Want proof of this?  Can you actually remember how long it’s been since you took the time to read a long email newsletter that you received from a company or salesperson?  If you have extensive information to relay to your audience, then the best rule of thumb is to put the information on your website or blog and send out a brief email with a link back to the appropriate web page.

 

Tip Four:  Remember to Think Mobile

Don’t forget that surveys and polls tell us approximately 65% of all emails are opened on a phone or mobile device.  If your email can not be easily read on a phone or if it takes too long to download because it is graphics heavy, it may get deleted quickly.  Very few readers wait more than just a few seconds for your email to download and this, once again, is a big reason to avoid the eNewsletters.

The New Year is a great time for reflection and self evaluation so make the effort to asset your current email marketing practice and implement a strategy that can improve your results in 2014.

FOR INSURANCE PROFESSIONAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR USE WITH THE GENERAL PUBLIC 14198 – 2015/3/5

Filed under: Financial Advisor Marketing