Get prospects to click on you

Many financial advisors are interested in ways to use email marketing to increase leads, but there are many small details to email marketing that can make or break your open and click-through rates. Here are some strategies you can start using today.

1. Use your prospect’s first name. Most e-marketing platforms have a personalization feature which allows you to address people by their first names. Studies show that if a person sees his first name in the subject line of an email, he’s more likely to open it. Furthermore, if a person sees his name in the body of the email, he is less likely to unsubscribe.
2. Be important/urgent. Subject lines and content that is time sensitive (i.e., “webinar starts in one hour”) and important to the reader are more likely to get opened and read. Give your emails the appearance of urgency from time to time to improve results.
3. Make it mysterious. Create a sense of curiosity by using questions and incomplete sentences in the subject line and body of an email. For example, instead of saying “Twitter is the #1 social platform for advisors,” ask “What is the #1 social platform for advisors?”
4. Deliver exclusivity. Give your readers and subscribers preferential treatment. For example, if you’re getting ready to publish a new book or host an event, make sure your readers are the first to know. And let them know that they are the first to know. (This is a great tactic to entice outsiders to subscribe and so that they, too, can be in the know.)
5. Be consistent. Send your emails at the same times on the same days. This trains your audience to expect your message. It may take some testing to determine which day and time is best, but once you find that sweet spot, stick with it.
6. Split testing. Not sure what quite piques the interest of your audience? Perform A/B-split testing to learn what language and content your readers respond to best. In most cases, different audiences respond to different phrases, terms and messages. Different audiences also engage with email at different times. Get to know what works best for your target demographic.
7. Less (copy) is more. Don’t write a novel in your emails. Aim to keep them short, sweet and punchy. Also consider using bullet points, bolded points, underlines and italics to make the email easy to skim. The likelihood of someone reading an email longer than 200 to 250 words is very low.
8. Include a P.S. This may seem simplistic, but people are interested in the information you put in a P.S. The P.S could be a call to action, a quote, a statistic or anything you think would grab the attention of your audience.
9. Use a strong call to action. The point of e-marketing is not simply to engage readers for a few moments but to drive traffic to your website and generate leads. So, include a strong CTA in your emails, preferably near the top or “above the fold.” When promoting events or offers in an email, it’s advisable to mention the offer at least twice.
10. Put a picture next to the signature. People crave real human connection. And they’re more likely to read emails that look like they came from actual people as opposed to robots. To make an email seem more personal, add a picture next to your signature.

E-marketing is an economical and effective way to keep yourself in front of clients and prospects, drive traffic to your website and increase your company’s credibility and visibility.