How many emails do you send to clients, prospective clients and introducers? Probably hundreds each month. A quick check of your sent items will give you the figure.

Let’s call these ‘transactional emails’.

They are a missed marketing opportunity for most businesses. Comparing them with pure marketing emails (e-newsletters, alerts, promotions etc) consider the differences:

Open rates. Bulk marketing emails are a cost effective way to promote your services to a volume of prospects and existing clients, but if your open rate (the percentage of emails that are opened) is over 25% then you’re doing better than most. Your transactional emails should be opened by 90%+ of recipients.
Involvement. Your transactional emails will contain important information to that client whether this is a quote, an update on their matter or their invoice. Not only does this increase the open rate, but also the level of attention given to your email.
Relevance. If you are emailing a client currently buying a residential property, would you want to remind them how great your probate service is? Perhaps not, but you would want them to make an appointment to review their Will once the transaction was complete. Marketing via transactional emails should be relevant to the current service and the stage the matter is at.

Make the most out of every email that leaves your practice.

Your email signature. Does it look professional? Are you promoting your social media channels and your personal LinkedIn profile?

Are you promoting your website content? Link to your latest news and legal updates.

Create standard cross selling paragraphs for each area of law that can be pasted in at the end of an email. Conveyancing – Wills, Wills – LPAs etc.

Don’t forget external referrals. Think about where you can build in introductions to surveyors, IFAs, removal companies, stockbrokers….

If you gather feedback at the end of a matter make sure you turn this into a marketing opportunity too. Great feedback? Ask them to refer you to their friends and family. Poor feedback? Respond to it in a timely and appropriate manner and turn the situation around.

For a no obligation discussion on marketing your practice click here.