Expertise in E-Blasts & Email Marketing for Law Firms and Beyond
For all the value that other digital advertising efforts can bring, there is probably no greater platform for connecting with potential clients than their inboxes.
Email marketing is extremely effective, but there is a lot of confusion about how to use it, when to use, and to whom you should send it.
Making matters more complicated, state and federal government have enacted widespread regulation on the use of email marketing. ISPs, email clients, and even state bar boards have handed down rules and policies too. Spam filters pose barriers — even to legitimate emails — and there is a persistent fear that emails with a commercial bent might annoy clients.
But those challenges aren’t insurmountable, and they’re certainly worth surmounting. Emails foster top-of-mind awareness, which is among law firms’ most powerful marketing assets. After all, you can’t always be there at the scene of an accident or injury, but you can help to ensure that when mishaps arise, your firm is the first that springs to mind.
Imagine, for example, that someone in your community is rear-ended in a high-speed Interstate accident on Thursday. On Tuesday of that same week, they had gotten a friendly email from you with tips for highway safety. Now, two days later, they need a lawyer. Thanks to that email, you’re much more likely to be the one they call.
Email marketing isn’t easy to manage, though. Overcoming those aforementioned obstacles — and doing so in a cost-effective way that yields worthwhile ROI — demands experience and expertise.
Statistics on Law Firm Email Marketing
Why bother with email when there are so many hurdles to overcome? Simply put: phenomenal ROI. Consider the following statistics:
- According to the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), email marketing yields a 4,300% ROI.
- DMA also reports that, across all industries, email marketing returns $44 for every dollar spent.
- Emails cost 33% less on average than other lead-generating tactics and, according to HubSpot, generate 50% more in sales.
- In a Constant Contact survey, small-business owners valued email marketing at $273 an hour, based on their successes.
- McKinsey & Company reports that email marketing delivers a 17% higher ROI than social media marketing.
- 91% of web users check their emails at least once per day.
- SmartInsights.com reports that emails pertaining to legal services have one of the highest open rates (22.73%) and one of the lowest unsubscribe rates (0.22%).
People Don’t Mind Getting Emails
There is a pervasive myth out there that people hate getting emails. It simply isn’t true. Study after study shows that people actually enjoy opening and reading emails, as long as the email is worth reading. In fact, over time, emails can build a strong sense of loyalty between senders and recipients.
What people do not want is:
- An excessive quantity of emails
- Overly “sales-y” copy
- Boring or poorly written content
- Communications that violate state or federal email law
- Unsolicited emails from organizations they have no interest in
- Misleading subject lines or “spammy” email tactics
In other words, people don’t want noise, but they do want useful, interesting, and ethical email. After all, everyone likes to stay informed. The studies bear that out. In fact, one recent survey from Marketing Cloud Research found that 95% of people who sign up for a website’s content consider the emails from that website to be useful.
Content Is King (and Inboxes Are Part of Its Jurisdiction)
You’ve heard that content is king, and as clichéd as that might be, it’s certainly true of your clients’ inboxes.
No one wants to open an email that isn’t worth reading.
Like most other digital marketing efforts, email marketing for law firms should be customized and strategic. But there are a few general rules of thumb: keep it polite, keep it pithy, and keep it personable. Emails aren’t for treatises.
We use different kinds of emails for different events and different firms. If you have news to announce (whether it’s a new hire, an update on the law, or a comment on a recent controversy in your community), we might create “e-blasts,” which are similar in nature to press releases, but designed with the inbox and the average web user in mind.
More often, though, we’re focused on targeted, top-of-mind content. These are friendly emails with everyday applicability — and they aren’t even necessarily about “the law.”
For example, we might create a personal injury email campaign that sends out engaging content related to different holidays and seasons throughout the year — winter driving tips, summertime pool hazards, trick-or-treating safety advice, etc. These are easy, fun-to-read emails that aren’t necessarily “pushing a sale.” But they build a valuable relationship and promote top-of-mind awareness. Even better, your readers might forward those emails to friends and family.
These aren’t generic, throwaway messages. They offer real insight, packaged in an email that is delightful to consume, written with a tone that is true your firm’s specific personality.
Clients often hear that their email campaigns were responsible for a new client calling their office (or for previous clients returning with a new case). As long as the content is strong, the value is real.
Full-Service Email Marketing for Law Firms
Network Affiliates offers beginning-to-end email marketing management for lawyers. Whether your firm is big or small, we can customize a campaign that makes sense for your business and stays within your budget.
We work with leading content writers to brainstorm creative email topics, write wholly original and regulation-compliant content, and lawfully distribute those emails on a regular basis.
As with all our efforts, our focus is on increasing your ROI. That means aggressively monitoring open rates, click-through rates, conversions, and more. If something isn’t working as well as it should be, we make intuitive changes.
In the right hands, your emails absolutely can be effective.
Our agency has been at the forefront of legal marketing since Day One. Our team of experts offers industry-leading insight into the art and science of email marketing for law firms. We’re here to get you new clients and better cases — all while staying within your budget.
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