5 of the Most Common Elements Missing From Law Firm Email Marketing Campaigns

Email is an essential part of a successful legal marketing strategy. Even if your email program is running well right now, you probably want to improve open and conversion rates. Here are 5 elements that should be present in an effective law firm email marketing campaign. 

Law Firm Email Marketing Mistakes

Segmentation and Personalization 

Splitting up your larger database into smaller lists is called segmentation. Segmenting your list so that you can tailor communications to key target areas will improve both your open and click-through rates. Furthermore, customizing emails with personal information like names or areas of interest is more likely to result in engagement. Emails with a name in the subject line have a 26% higher open rate than those without personalization. You can segment based on geographic location, job title, legal area of expertise, attorney relationships, and more. Your goal is to make sure the messages you’re sending are relevant to your audience, and that they can see immediately how you’ve tailored emails to them as individuals. 

Tracking Your Law Firm Email Marketing Campaign’s KPIs

You may have heard the expression “You can’t improve what you don’t measure”. A big part of law firm email marketing is testing, trying new things, and optimizing. You can make a bigger impact in these areas if you start tracking metrics as early as possible. Having metrics to analyze will be invaluable as you improve your campaigns over time. In particular, you want to look at email deliverability, email open rates, click-through rate, and unsubscribe rate. Most email marketing solutions have analytics built-in. We suggest putting together a spreadsheet-style document where you can track each campaign along with the metrics you pull following email sends. 

An Email Schedule

As with any marketing strategy component, you’ll see more positive outcomes if you have a thoughtful and consistent plan. The timing of email sends can make a big difference in results. Research shows that Thursdays are the best days to send emails, normally between the hours of 8 am and 5 pm. Weekends and Mondays will likely yield lower metrics. You can also test different days and times to see what works best for your firm and audience, and then incorporate those findings into your next law firm email marketing campaign. 

A Welcome Email Sequence

Your audience is more likely to remember you if you stay in front of them from the beginning of your relationship. It’s important to be top of mind, and sending an email to new connections right away can be really helpful. Make a practice of sending a welcome email (or a series) while you are fresh on a recipient’s mind. When you send an initial email, let recipients know what they can expect from your firm and future communications. Give your reader different ways to engage with you. In this email make sure to include a welcome message and a thank you note, introduce your firm, begin a conversation, and then include some next steps for interacting with your firm. 

A Focused Strategy

Law firm email marketing campaigns should not just occur when you have extra time or when you have something that you’re trying to promote. It’s critical to be purposeful in your email efforts. Consider your client’s journey from awareness to loyalty and the different messages that would be helpful to people in each stage. Craft compelling messages across each stage, and focus on a segmentation program so that you can better tailor your messaging. Document the different email campaigns you want to do, their timing, and the related metrics after the send. Your digital marketing team should have one central place to go to view email campaigns and understand how each email program aligns with overall marketing efforts and larger firm objectives. 

Takeaway:

Just by reading this post and considering new ways to improve your email efforts, you’re taking important steps. The key is to be thoughtful and make sure you have a real strategy in the first place and not just sporadic email efforts. Make sure to include each of these components in your law firm email marketing strategy planning to get the best results. If you need more resources, sign up for our email list and have tips and tactics delivered to your own inbox. 

If you’d like even more assistance developing, implementing, and measuring effective email campaigns, reach out to our digital marketing experts. We’d be happy to help.