Tracking Responses with Email Marketing in Your Law Firm
Like those in so many other fields, attorneys are beginning to really understand the benefits of email marketing. While there is so much that can be said about the importance of keeping in touch with former clients and reaching out to new ones, there are some less obvious benefits to the email marketing programs available. One of the most useful is the ability to track nearly everything that happens with your email newsletter from the time it leaves your inbox to the time it’s read…and beyond.
The features available to you will depend on the email marketing program you use, but some of those to consider include being able to see–in real time–who is opening your emails and when. Not only that, but you are able to track how much time they actually spend reading this communication from you. If you’ve included links (say, back to your blog or another really interesting article), you can also see if the recipient is bothering to follow them.
Don’t underestimate the power of the “forward” button, either. If someone reading your email newsletter feels like it is particularly relevant to a friend, they can easily forward it to that person. And, of course, you will be able to see that this activity took place.
By analyzing the information that you gather, you can improve the quality of your newsletters and better meet client needs. Perhaps you notice that people are spending more time than usual on a recent newsletter. If that’s the case, you can deduce that there’s something about it that is pulling them in and work to cover those topics again.
Many email marketing programs will allow you to split up your mailing list, too. This lets you do a little experimentation. Try sending slightly different versions of the newsletter to different sections of your mailing list to see if it brings about different results. Did people tend to spend more time on reading the version with the light, friendly intro, or were they more engaged with the straight-to-business approach?
Does a link get more clicks when the article appears earlier in the newsletter or later?
Rewrite your headline to see if that simple change brings about different results
Format your links differently to see if one style is more appealing than another
Write the same information from different perspectives to see if people respond differently
Use the content exactly as written, but place the articles in a different order
Email marketing is a really effective tool, and being able to track results makes it that much more powerful. By analyzing those results, you can create a newsletter that people actually look forward to receiving and want to share with others. When someone hits that “forward” button, they are endorsing you and letting others know that you are an expert that they trust.
The payoff, of course, is that your current clients keep you on their radar while also introducing you to new prospects.
Would you like to talk about how we can help you save time on your marketing and help you turn ideas into action? Simply schedule a time on my calendar for a no-strings virtual cup of coffee.