We’re often surprised at how many law firms neglect email as a fundamental tool in their law firm marketing strategies.
Despite the whizz and bang of the latest social media tricks, smart email campaign management remains one of the most potent lead generation and client acquisition tools. Yet, so many firms either don’t do it, or are still utilising their in-house mail service to generate each campaign. Big mistake!
Firms acquire massive numbers of email data from past clients, most of which is redundant in their marketing strategy. We see firms who either don’t capture data well, or if they do capture it, have difficulty importing the necessary data into a format, preferably a CSV file for integration into a third party email provider. (Mailchimp is an example)
For firms that have crossed this hurdle, even the integration of their data into a third party platform, they all too often never consider the analytics of such email campaigns (open and click-through rates) to effectively harness the capabilities of this marketing arsenal. Alternatively, they’re miffed by the low open rates and just give up.
According to a recent study of 8 million marketing emails sent by 25 law firms over a two-year period, the average “open rate” for a marketing email is 20%. So, anything above this, your firm should be reasonably comfortable with. The research also found that the average conversion rate (the percentage of subscribers who clicked the links in the emails to read more) is approximately 15.6%. Not surprisingly, recipients won’t click a link to “read more” unless they’re seriously interested the topic discussed.
Email campaigns, like any other marketing touch-point has to be agile. So, you must continually be testing different email layouts, ascertaining what subject headings are getting the most traction in open and click through rates and of course, the time that you’re sending out the campaign.
Incidentally, the eLawMarketing email report can be accessed
Smashing Magazine also did a little expose right here
