4 Tips To Make The Most Of Your Email Marketing

If I gave you a box and told you that for every dollar you put in the box, 32 more will appear in its place, I bet you’d have your wallet out before I could blink. But what if I told you that box was only a click (or tap for you mobile folks) away. Gmail, outlook, whatever service you use, email can be one of the most effective sources of leads for your insurance agency. Whether you’re new to writing marketing emails (perhaps you just read 3 Reasons Why Email Marketing Matters) or simply looking to hone your email marketing skills, we’re here to help you start seeing more leads from your marketing email.

Your subject line is everything

The first step in seeing more insurance leads out of your marketing emails is convincing prospects to take the time to open and read your email. On average, people delete half the emails they receive within 5 minutes of those emails entering their inbox. That means you realistically have one shot to convince someone that your email is worth their time, and that shot comes in the form of your subject line. There are 3 cardinal rules when it comes to email subject lines.

1. Personalize your subject
   
   Adding something as simple as your prospect's name will increase the likelihood your email will be opened by over 25%. This might seem time consuming when you have dozens or even hundreds of marketing emails to send out, but tools such as AgencyZoom will let you automate this process in seconds.
2. Use as few words as possible
   
   The golden zone for email subject lines is 3 to 4 words. Any longer or shorter, and you'll start to see your open rate sink. That's not to say there's no situation where a 6 word subject line is better, but in general you should try to limit yourself to that golden zone.
   
   
3. Avoid over capitalization
   
   BELIEVE IT OR NOT CAPITALIZING EVERY LETTER OF YOUR SUBJECT LINE IS NOT VERY EFFECTIVE. See how obnoxious that was? Don't spam capitalization to try and grab your prospects attention. It will decrease the chances of them opening your email by over 30%! A good alternative is emojis. A well placed emoji in a subject line can significantly increase the chances of your email being opened.
   
   

In addition to these 3 rules, here is a list of the most successful and least successful words to include in your subject line.

Less is more

Just like with your subject line, when it comes to your email, less is more. Remember, someone is taking time out of their day to read your message. Keep it simple. Keep it short. Messages under 2500 words are three times more likely to receive a reply than longer emails. However, there is such a thing as too short. Between 50 and 125 words is the perfect middle ground.

Know your audience

As we mentioned when discussing subject lines, personalizing your emails will see your response rates soar. Going even further to segment markets will see an enormous boost to your success in email marketing. This could mean targeting younger audiences with emails they can better relate to than older prospects. Always try to tailor your marketing to a specific audience.

You may be surprised to hear that most prospects open their emails between 5 AM and 6 AM. Now I'm not suggesting getting up at the break of dawn and hammering out a hundred emails. Instead, you can use tools such as AgencyZoom to schedule emails ahead of time and hit those peak hours.

It's also important to think about the language you use in your emails. Shorter simpler words are better. In fact, marketing emails written at a third-grade level are nearly 40% more likely to get replies.

Give your audience a reason to respond.

If you were at a get together with friends, you wouldn't talk about yourself the entire time, right? So why do it in emails? Give your prospects a reason to respond. Try to close your email with one to three questions and you'll be over 50% more likely to receive a response.

If these tips helped you up your email marketing game, be sure to subscribe for more weekly insurance guides. Remember, if done right email should see every $1 you sink in spit out $32 in return. Use killer subject lines to lure prospects in then win them over with simple and personal messages, using questions to capture lead information, giving your team everything they need to close a sale.

Start acing your email marketing with these free email templates