There’s one thing every lawyer needs to know about email marketing: You should be doing it.
But that’s not all you need to know.
Like everything, there’s a right and wrong way to do email marketing for your law firm. And if you go about it the wrong way, you could do more harm than good.
So before you start writing emails, there are a few things you should know.
Here are some tips to help your email marketing campaign become a success.
Build an authentic list
When you’re just starting out, you might be tempted to expand your email list by any means possible. But this can be dangerous. As you go into this, understand that one high-quality lead is much more valuable than 1,000 random email addresses.
And if you start emailing people who haven’t consciously subscribed, it’ll inevitably come back to bite you. In a worst case scenario, your domain could get marked as spam, and even important business emails will be delivered to people’s junk mail folders.
You can build an authentic list by asking clients if they want to subscribe and offering valuable information to entice website visitors to subscribe.
Find your voice
When you write emails, imagine you’re talking to a client or someone who just walked into your firm off the street. Let your personality shine through and keep the tone conversational.
Whether you actually write every email or not, most emails should contain your signature. As the lawyer behind the firm, you are the face of the business. When people get emails from you, they’ll feel like they know you better. And when they know you better, they’re more likely to trust you.
Keep the message relevant and informative
Although you’ll want to inject some personality, you are going to want to keep your messages on point. If you’re a personal injury attorney, for example, you may want to offer general tips about steps to take when someone gets into a car accident or is injured on another person’s property. If your specialty is drunk driving, keep the tips relevant to driving while impaired. People want to know their rights and what to do if they get arrested.
Spend time on your subject lines
Subject lines are extremely important in email marketing, and this is an area where many lawyers fall flat. The subject is the biggest deciding factor in whether someone will click on your message or click delete.
It should be concise, compelling, and offer a preview of what the reader can expect to read when they open it.
If applicable, leave a bit of mystery to the subject. When you can spark curiosity, people are much more likely to open the email. Just know that you can take this too far. Avoid anything that feels gimmicky or click bait-ish.
Don’t forget to proofread
Proofreading is an important part of any email marketing campaign, but it’s especially crucial when you’re in a professional field like law. You wouldn’t want to hire a lawyer who couldn’t spell properly or tell the difference between your and you’re. So don’t be that lawyer.
Everyone makes mistakes, but mistakes like these can put people off from working with you.
Perfect your signature
You don’t always have to sign off with the same closing message (though you can), but there are a few things about your signature to keep consistent. Always include your name and designations, law firm name, phone number, and website. No exceptions.
With these tips, you should be able to craft some awesome emails to a highly-targeted audience that are sure to convert to clients. Well, at least some of them.
Now I want to hear from you. Do you have experience with email marketing, or is this a new venture for your law firm?
