How law firms can use email marketing to stay connected with clients
Email is one of the most consistent, simple and cost-effective ways to stay in touch with your customers.
Using email as a way to market your law firm can be incredibly impactful—if you get it right. In this post, we’re going to help you nail your email marketing strategy. Here’s what we’ll cover in this article:
What is email marketing?
What advantages does email marketing bring to your firm?
Tips for creating email campaigns for your law firm
What is email marketing?
In the simplest terms, email marketing is the act of sending emails to clients or potential customers.
The aim of using email as a business development tool is to build relationships, promote services, boost customer engagement, and drive sales.
The kinds of emails you might send as part of an email marketing strategy include newsletters, promotional offers, announcements, and transactional emails.
Email marketing can be hugely effective when done properly, in no small part because of its ability to communicate directly with a wide audience, and the relatively low overheads involved.
Generating results from email marketing requires careful planning and the development of individual campaigns that focus on specific customers, products, or goals. While sending an email out to your entire digital address book saying you’ve won an award, for example, is technically email marketing, it’s unlikely to create much engagement or push customers further down the funnel. It might build trust and help your firm stay top-of-mind, but you’re probably not going to generate many leads from it.
What advantages does email marketing bring to your law firm?
Thanks to its flexibility, simplicity, and significant ROI potential, email marketing is a great tool for businesses of all shapes and sizes. So, what kind of benefits can email marketing offer your law firm?
Better client engagement and retention: Regular communications like newsletters can keep clients informed about legal updates, firm news, and new services. Your clients should always get something out of reading your marketing emails, whether that’s an update, an offer, or just some really useful new information.
A chance to show off your expertise: Sharing informative articles, case studies, and legal tips will help position your firm as an expert in its field and boost its credibility among clients.
Use your emails to provide details about new laws or regulations that might affect your clients. Impart advice about utilising legal services effectively. Explain some common but often misunderstood legal concepts. If you’re a family law firm, for example, you could send out updates on changes in custody laws, keeping clients in the loop and up-to-date.
Personalised communications: One of the great things about emails is that they’re near-endlessly customisable, and can be tailored to specific client needs to give your marketing that personal touch.
If you specialise in estate planning, for instance, you can send targeted emails to older clients about the importance of updating their wills and trusts. Focusing on a particular set of clients in this way is far more likely to generate engagement and potential leads.
Cost-effective marketing opportunities: Email marketing is pretty low-cost compared to many other marketing channels. Even the smallest of law firms can reach countless clients with a well-crafted email campaign without racking up the expenses that come with paid or traditional advertising.
You can even take advantage of free email marketing tools, like these from HubSpot, to make your emails look extra professional.
Lead generation: Email campaigns can help nurture leads by providing customers with valuable information so they can make informed choices and nudging them to take action.
An email campaign is a great way to offer free consultations to a particular customer segment, as an example, encouraging them to seek legal advice and increasing the likelihood of onboarding new clients.
Tracking and analytics: The best way to get results from your email marketing strategy is to constantly measure, analyse, and improve it.
Any good email marketing platform will provide you with data around metrics like open rates, click-through rates, and conversions, allowing you to gauge the effectiveness of your campaigns and adjust your approach accordingly next time around. If a newsletter about new labour laws has a high open rate among corporate clients, for instance, you can create more content on similar topics.
4 tips for creating effective email marketing campaigns
Any business can fire out emails, but investing a little time and effort to make sure your campaigns are top-notch will drive far better results. Here are a few tips for creating effective email marketing campaigns that boost your law firm’s online presence:
Segment your audience
Divide your email database into segments based on criteria like client needs, case types, or demographics. For example, creating separate segments for clients involved in family law, criminal defence, and corporate law means you can send targeted content that’s more relevant and engaging.
Create compelling subject lines
Use concise, clear, and engaging subject lines to encourage people to open your communications. No need to go overboard with the clickbait; you’re a law firm after all, not a gossip rag. But subject lines that pique the reader’s interest and give them an idea of what they’ll get out of opening the email will help get them seen by more people. Try subject lines like “New divorce law changes: What you need to know" or "Protect your business with these 10 legal tips."
Incorporate Calls-to-Action (CTAs)
Including clear and compelling calls-to-action will point recipients towards the next step and persuade them to take an action, like booking a consultation or downloading a guide. Adding CTAs encourages direct interaction and engagement with the firm's services and helps generate leads.
And the golden rule of email marketing...
If there’s one thing to keep in mind when you’re doing email marketing, it’s this: add value. Most of your clients don’t need or want to know about every little thing that happens at your practice. What they do want is information and advice that’s valuable to them. If they’re not getting that from your emails, they’ll be hitting that unsubscribe link fast.
If you’re a personal injury law firm, you could send emails with tips on what to do immediately after an accident. An estate planning firm can share articles on the benefits of setting up a trust.
You should aim to provide actionable insights that establish your firm as a valuable resource. Before you hit send on any email to your clients, ask yourself: “So what?” What does this offer my clients? How does this email benefit them?
If adding value is your guiding light, you’ll create engaging email marketing campaigns that grow your credibility with customers and make sure that you’re their go-to choice when they’re looking for legal services.
Ready to get started with email marketing?
Faben can help. We work with your firm to supercharge your revenue growth through content-led, data-driven marketing strategies.
Our offering at Faben is a comprehensive, multi-channel marketing solution that functions as an in-house team. And we do that at a fraction of the cost of a full-time employee.
Don’t miss the opportunity to transform your online presence. Contact us today for customised digital marketing strategies that drive results.