I’ve recently become a fan of Tom Matte, of The Matte Pad. I’ve been listening to him online for some time and we met at this year’s LMA conference. He’s a nice chap and everyone would agree that his lunch time presentation was very entertaining!
Last week, Tom tweeted his blog post from January titled ‘Legal Marketing: Email marketing and trends in open rates’. He references research by an agency that claim to be experts in legal marketing and email.
The agency’s research states that law firm email marketing open rates have dropped in the last two years.
Between July 1 2008 and June 30 2010 their 25 most active law firm open rates averaged just 21%. As Tom states this is down from 28% two years ago and email overload is apparently to blame.
Personally, I think poor email practices have always been to blame for poor open rates.
Agencies fail to advise their law firm clients that high value relationships deserve high value communications, especially when a channel like email is concerned. The inbox is a cluttered environment but its recipients’ instant, emotional reaction that plays the largest part on whether your email gets read. Content, design and the relationship of course are critical!
While we’re on the subject of open rates I have to say that some of us never experienced a drop. I’m pleased to share Concep’s client stats between June 2009 and December 2010; our average client generated a unique view rate (open rate) of 28%. I’m pleased to say this trend has continued so far throughout the first half of 2011.
Appropriate targeting and segmentation are to thank for the impressive open rates, as well as engaging subject lines, design and timing. More importantly however, these firms actually review campaign metrics and then act on the results and levels of engagement they see.
Firms need to steer clear of washing their hands of an email campaign once it’s been sent and then wait around till the next update, newsletter or event invitation – look at your reporting and if you’re not sure what to do ask your agency or another so-called expert.
I wish people would stop referring to email marketing campaigns as “Email Blasts”, it sounds terrible. Your clients wouldn’t appreciate hearing you refer to the “high value, relevant content” you send them as blasting. When I hear the term “Blast” I see a scatter gun approach to marketing you’d expect from old fashioned, low value BtoC marketing communications.
Your clients are worth millions of dollars, so spend some time and money on high value email communications!
Follow me on twitter at twitter.com/jamesnewcombe
Comments
Thanks for commenting Tom!
What to do after engagement (or lack of) is something many firms struggle with.
The biggest hurdle is the simplest to solve, which is to actually study campaign reporting and engagement metrics.
But how are marketing execs supposed to interpret several link clicks by one recipient or no engagement from another?
These marketers are under pressure from practice groups and partners to get more bums on seats at events or produce new leads. But what are the tactical steps that an email marketer can take to re-engage or generate greater engagement with the next send?
This is where email best practice comes in and includes design, layout, subject lines, inbox environments and more.
Content is king of course. Many sadly don’t make the connection between levels of past engagement and future content, frequency and any other appropriate follow ups.
Consultancy is often the solution as great email technology can only take you so far. We’re dealing with the difficult combination of human interaction while navigating technical environments.
I look forward to grabbing a beer or two when you’re next in New York! Cheers!
Great post James. All your comments are dead on! I think the trouble that some firms have is not knowing what to do after engagement. They may turn it over to a business development person who just sits on it or do nothing at all. From my perspective email is still one of the best ways to reach your target market and contact them in a way that does not offend but in fact informs and educates. It is the firms responsibility to develop content that their clients and potential clients care about. Working with a marketing partner who can help with this content and understands and respects that relationship is vital. Next time I am in New York City we can grab a beer. I would like to find out more about Concep(we had a discussion but I am getting old and forgot much of what you told me-I was born when Kennedy was alive) I think my readers would benefit from knowing more.
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