Email marketing has become an essential tool for law firms to directly reach out to clients and prospects.
However, its effectiveness often comes into question due to common mistakes that can make it seem like a waste of time and resources.
In this blog post, we’ll explore the top three email marketing mistakes that law firms often make – mistakes that could be costing you thousands in potential business.
By identifying and avoiding these pitfalls, you can refine your email marketing strategy, strengthen your relationships with your audience, and ultimately grow your law firm.
But before we dive into these three mistakes, let’s first highlight why email marketing is so crucial for law firms:
- Targeted Messaging – By breaking your list into categories like current clients and prospective clients you can deliver tailored messages to each, ensuring a tailored message is received.
- Brand Awareness – The likelihood of a person needing an attorney the moment you send your email out might be small, but the likelihood that they will need an attorney in the future is high. By creating frequent conversations, people will be likely to remember your firm first when the time comes to call.
- Brand Advocacy – Expanding on brand awareness, if a person is familiar with and trusts your firm, they are likely to recommend you to friends and family in need as well.
- Audience Size – Everyone has an email account. The opportunity to continuously grow your list is endless.
- Relationship Building – If someone subscribes to your newsletter, that means they WANT to hear from you! Educational content, legal updates, and thought leadership pieces are all effective tools that can be delivered via email. This consistent communication builds trust and reinforces a law firm’s expertise with an engaged audience.
- Cost Effective – Email marketing offers a budget-friendly way to connect with your audience directly. It’s cheaper than many other digital marketing methods. With automation tools, you can reach more people without spending more.
- Advertising – Email lists can be utilized in paid advertising not only to remarket and serve your email list ads, but also to create lookalike audiences. A lookalike audience is a group of people who share similar characteristics, behaviors, or interests to your existing audience or customer base.
Building a consistent email newsletter that reaches your clients and prospective clients will strengthen their confidence in your law firm. Legal matters are often sensitive, and potential clients naturally seek law firms they can trust.
To establish this trust, it’s imperative to consistently deliver helpful content that highlights your firm’s expertise while directly addressing specific legal concerns and challenges faced by prospective clients.
Elevate Your Law Firm’s Email Strategy: Overcoming 3 Major Mistakes
Below find the 3 most common mistakes law firms make when it comes to email marketing!
Email Marketing Mistakes – 1
Using Non-Permissioned Lists
Many law firms have hundreds of email addresses that they have collected over time. These might be past clients, potential leads, or contacts from events.
However, a crucial element is often missing: permission.
In most cases, the law firm never obtained explicit consent to email the contacts. Sending emails to people who have not opted-in is a double-edged sword. It is ineffective at best and potentially illegal depending on anti-spam regulations. And the worst offense of all – it annoys recipients.
Law firms that want to kickstart their email marketing should focus on building a permission-based list. This means people need to actively sign up to receive emails. This will ensure that recipients are receiving content they want to see and increase the likelihood of the potential benefits listed above.
Email Marketing Mistakes – 2
Too promotional
Let’s face it…sometimes legal topics aren’t always the most engaging or exciting. Yet, many law firms send emails solely focused on their services and sales pitches.
While promoting the law firm’s services is the goal, it shouldn’t be the only focus of your email marketing campaign. Instead, mix things up with helpful content that builds trust and positions your firm as an expert resource.
This could include:
- Updates on recent law changes relevant to your practice areas
- Insights into legal issues your clients might face
- News about your firm’s activities and involvement in the local community
By providing valuable information, you nurture relationships and establish your firm’s credibility, leading to better engagement and more qualified leads.
Email Marketing Mistakes – Number 3
Inconsistent cadence
Consistency is key!
Imagine a friend who texts you sporadically and then disappears for months. That’s what inconsistent email marketing feels like. If a law firm can’t maintain a regular email schedule, whether weekly or monthly, it’s best to re-think email marketing altogether.
Sporadic emails with long stretches of silence lead to disengaged subscribers who might unsubscribe.
Law firms should develop a realistic email schedule that they can maintain and stick to.
Consultwebs Knows Email Marketing – Let Us Help!
Email marketing is easy to implement, but difficult to perfect. And to get results, perfection is required. Consultwebs can help build email marketing lists, set up your campaign, and refine and perfect it over time.
Avoid these email marketing mistakes and more by partnering with the experts at Consultwebs. Book a one-on-one consultation with us today to discuss a custom email marketing strategy for your law firm.
