Getting Social via Email

No matter what you may have heard, email is not dead. In fact, those who use it effectively can create a personal channel to deliver their brand right to their client’s inbox. Your brand includes your social networking pages too, and those can be delivered very easily via the mighty email.

1. Get social on your newsletter sign up page.  Make it easy for subscribers to join you online by adding social media links to your newsletter subscription page. They’re already interested in what you have to say and social media is an easy add-on to giving you their email address.

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How to Use Email Marketing to Boost SEO

Investing money into digital marketing can be a no brainer. You know you need a website for your agency and you know you need to optimize your website to increase visibility. But, if you’re not actively telling people about your website, and solely relying on the search engines to do that for you, then you’re not getting the most out of your digital marketing.  Read More...

Using Images in Email: Are You Doing it Wrong?

Images inside of your email marketing and monthly newsletters definitely have a place. They look sharp, can make your email look professionally designed and can add some much needed pizzazz to insurance information. One simple rule to remember about images “Less is More.” One well placed, relevant, image can make a huge impact. Multiple images can make your message crowded and distract from the point of your email. 

By following the basic steps listed below and remembering that less is more, your emails will make the impact you desire.

The 25% Rule: No more than 25% of your email should be image-based. The majority of your email should be readable without viewing the images. 

Image viewing in email clients is turned off by default. Normally what your readers will see is a blank space that says “right-click to download images”; some of your readers will, most won’t. By leaving most of the text readable and not crowding your message with images (that have now become a blank space) you’re less likely to be deleted and therefore making a better impression on your clients and prospects.

Don’t Trap Important Information in an Image: All important information, such as price, value proposition, expiration dates, or policy information should always be in text form. If a prospect can’t see what you’re selling, why would they buy it?

Use Tables and Colors instead of Images: If 25% is just not enough image real estate for you, you can always implement tables and background colors to add the visual content you’re looking for. You will still need to keep in mind that less is more – in this case that would mean stay away from neon colors or making an entire email bright pink. Use colors that make your text stand out and keep all tables easy for all viewers to read. 

The Double Edged Sword – Embedded Images: Embedding images is tricky. By embedding images, you’re sure that the image will get to your reader – even if it’s just an attachment, they’ve seen the image.  On the other hand, embedding images can land you in a spam folder since spammers are now including inappropriate content in images to avoid it being read as text by spam filters. It’s a double edged sword that hasn’t quite been perfected. 

Whether you embed images or not, keep in mind that mobile users most likely will never see any images you include in email. 20% of mobile emailers use text only apps to read their mail. This is another reason to not use too many images or trap important information in an image.

Images in email present a challenge to most email marketers namely because you have little to no control how your email will look when a recipient views it. By keeping your images small and putting very few in your mailings, you’ll have greater success with using images in your mailings.
Got a question about using images in your emails? Submit it below in the comments area.

The ABCs of Sales: Always Be Closing

The most basic and fundamental principle of any successful sales person is Always Be Closing.

Always be closing are the most cliché 3 words in the sales profession for good reason. At any time in the process from branding your agency to quote follow-ups, a policy may convert to sold.

Some agents have policies that write themselves before they even become prospects. A client comes to them so ready to buy a policy that they’re practically hitting them over the head with their checkbook. I’ve been that customer – haven’t we all. We just want the sales staff to skip their pitch and actually get through the buying part. 

If Always Be Closing is rule number one, then it must extend to email as well if your agency is using email as a sales and marketing tool. 

How do you apply Always Be Closing to email?
The greatest opportunity is to have obvious calls to action in your email so that if someone is ready to buy, you don’t stand in the way.  Mark calls to actions clearly and make sure they are linked properly before sending your email to any prospective client. 

You should also look at your marketing emails as a succession of small closes; closing a sale means getting someone to say yes, plain and simple, right?

• Your readers say yes by choosing to subscribe to your newsletters and mailings in the first place.
• Mail clients say yes by successfully delivering your message because your email is solid information. Your contact list also includes good data and is up to date.
• Recipients say yes by opening your marketing email because they either recognize you as a trusted agent or the subject line intrigues them enough to open it.
• Your prospects say yes by reading your email because the content is worthwhile and the value of continuing to read is obvious.
• Your future client says yes by clicking on the clearly marked quote button placed in the email because they are comfortable with your expertise, convinced to learn more or they may even choose to buy now.
• Your clients say yes by choosing to have you quote additional policies after reading your cross-sell information.

At every one of these steps, there is an opportunity for your prospects to say no. The challenge you face with email marketing is that unlike a phone call or face to face meeting where you may overcome objections in real time, you do not get the same level of interaction through an email. If someone says no at any given step listed above, they may not advance any further, which means diagnosing where the no’s are happening is crucial to successful email campaigns. 

By testing your metrics to determine where people are saying no the most, you can change how you plan out the next campaign. Send a few email campaigns and track each of the metrics - compare open rates, click-through rates, as well as conversions. Look for significant changes upwards or downwards, and you’ll have a much better idea of who is saying yes or no at each stage. Then, you’ll know exactly what to fix.

Remember Always Be Closing at every opportunity possible in your email campaigns. Start your prospecting momentum with your small email successes and you may find your conversion rates growing thanks to your new outlook on closing sales with email. 

Now it’s your turn: tell us your success stories with email.

Timing is Everything -- When Should I Send My Marketing Emails?

I’ve been asked repeatedly when helping an agency start an email marketing campaign, “Is timing really THAT important? Can’t I just send these whenever?” If creating a successful email campaign was as easy as writing a sales pitch, using a few graphics to catch someone’s eye, formulating the perfect subject line, and sending your message there would be no use for this blog. Unfortunately, like most things, it’s never that easy. The day and time you choose to send your email is as important as your subject line, spelling your client’s name correctly or making sure your agency name is mentioned in your email. 

So, yes, timing really is that important. And, no, you can’t send your emails whenever you want if you expect to get a positive result. 

Dilemma of the Day -- I will let you know that a percentage of your readers will open your email no matter what day you send it on or what time. It is, however, not true for the majority of your readership and you should keep in mind the habits of most internet users during the day when calculating the right timing for your message.

Most people will hit social networking sites in the morning as opposed to checking their inbox because Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn require less of a time commitment than checking their email. If your readers do check their inbox in the morning, they are usually working, and are checking their inbox for the first time that day. While on the job and in an attempt to de-clutter their inbox, you readers may delete your message labeling it unimportant at the time. 

Just as some people read their email as soon as they get them, there are a vast majority of your readers who will not see or open your email for several days once it’s been sent. At one time there was a commonly accepted statistic that a newsletter or marketing email had an open tail of three days. In recent years, this metric has changed though and most email marketers will allow up to five days after sending a mailing for stragglers to receive and open their mailings. You should keep this in mind while testing your open rates as well as the day and time you send it on.  This is also important if you’re sending a mailing that relates to a specific event or offer. At a minimum, try to send your email three days before your target event date. If you have the lead time, increase that to five days just to be sure all of your contacts are able to see your mailing prior to an event or offer expiration. 

Below are some guidelines that I’ve created based on my experience in email marketing. These are just a few fast and easy generalized tips to help you choose the best day to send mailings.  By sharing these tips with you, it does not mean you should stop testing your mailings to find out if these rules hold true for your agency. 

• Internet activity in general reduces on weekends. This means Friday, Saturday and Sunday may not be as successful as other days to send your mailings. On Friday, people tend to check out before the end of the work day and will put your email off until next week, which really means, it’s been forgotten as soon as it’s come through their inbox. On Saturday and Sunday, it could be that folks spend more time with their family, have things to do around the yard, or they are burnt out from working on a computer all week. Almost every online metric category goes south on the weekend, and that includes email open rates.
   
•  Now that the weekend is over and we’re all back to work, you may think everyone if refreshed and ready to check out your email. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Never send a marketing email on Monday. The fact is your readers spend most of their inbox time at work. When you come into work on Monday, if you’re like me, you start deleting anything that appears to be junk or non-essential so your inbox isn’t as overwhelming. Unless, through your testing, you’ve noticed that your readers exhibit a different pattern, avoid sends on Monday.
• When you take out Monday, and the weekend, it boils down to sending emails on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday to yield the best results.

Morning, Noon, or Night? -- Early morning email sends have the lowest open rates. This makes sense when we look back at the patterns of most internet users who begin clearing out emails they deem unnecessary or unimportant as soon as they open their inbox. 

While metrics are different for different groups, as a general rule, the best open rates tend to come with emails sent around lunch time (noon or 1:00pm). People tend to relax a bit over lunch and are on the downhill of the day when they return from their break. In turn, emails sent in the afternoon do not have the same overwhelming feeling they may have in the morning.

If you’re going to send your mailings in the evening, when your readers have settled in from work, be sure they are optimized for mobile devices. Studies show that most people check email and social networking on their phone or tablet during commercials as opposed to firing up their laptop while watching TV. 

The only way to know for sure which day and time works for your audience is to run various tests and then select the best day and time based on your readerships response. Following the midweek – midday rule of thumb will yield a good result, but through your testing you may find a time and day that yields a greater response.

The Email Marketing Process

Since the dawn of email marketing, folks have been trying to figure out the science behind it. So far this is what we know; it's a touch of creativity, a dash of pizzazz, a hint of using the right buzz words at the right time, and a whole bunch of trial and error.

Knowing that many insurance agents and agency owners have limited time for trial and error, we've searched for an easy reference for you to check out while formulating your next email marketing campaign.

(Special thanks to Kirsten Thornton of our Insurance Website Builder and SEO team for finding this awesome infographic)

The Consumer Decision Journey

Written by Jim Clark, Agency Marketing Coordinator for ITC - Insurance Technologies Corporation

The simple, most important goal of marketing to your insurance customers is to reach them at the moments that most influence their buying decisions. Insurance customers shop much differently today than they did ten years, five years, even two years ago. In fact the consumer decision journey is an ever-changing process. It has morphed into a multidimensional process where the customer receives information from multiple sources. Are you using the power of email to reach customers and prospects at the times the customer is making a buying decision? The Internet opens up a whole new avenue of communication to you, and the power of email is almost limitless.

The process of buying insurance that the consumer goes through is no longer the “funnel technique”, where many agencies send information and offers of quotes to customers and then let them “funnel” out the agencies they want to work with. The process has evolved into an inbound process where the customer is researching agencies online, reading marketing material sent to them by insurance agents via email, listening to recommendations of friends and family, reading customer reviews on websites, forums, and social media pages, etc. Once the customer has started their research they need to be able to find you, at the exact moment they are shopping. Your agency, now more than ever, needs to have top of mind or top of search engine presence.   

This is not to say that the tried and true traditional marketing techniques no longer work, they do. Now it is also very important to integrate your traditional marketing techniques with Internet and email marketing. These marketing techniques will help you build your online presence. They are what will drive customers to your website to learn about your agency, get an online quote, and fill out forms allowing you to capture their contact information.

It can be difficult to give all the time necessary to develop and implement an effective Internet marketing campaign. Internet marketing is a sales tool that can work for you 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. There is a technique to Internet marketing, from email campaigns to websites and search engine optimization. Learning and mastering this technique will help you grow your business and build ongoing, meaningful relationships with your clients. The happier your clients are the more likely they are to refer other prospects to your agency. These prospects can be turned into customers easily if you market it to them at the right times through email and personal attention. Don’t miss the email and Internet marketing revolution. Start learning the techniques now or contact an expert who will be more than happy to show you the ropes, or perhaps manage it all for you.   

Writing an Effective Email: the difference in formal and informal writing in business.

Discerning whether an email correspondence is formal or informal is an important step in writing an effective e-mail marketing piece. The etiquette is different for each type of email. So, what are the main differences between formal and informal writing?

•    When writing a formal e-mail correspondence you should only use Standard English terms. While informal writing may contain colloquial terms and slang. You should also be aware of common grammatical missteps so you can avoid them. 

•    Be aware that in formal or business writing, the use of contractions such as won’t, can’t, don’t, shouldn’t, haven’t, etc. should be avoided.  These expressions should be written in their complete form in a formal or business communication.  Will not, cannot, do not, should not, have not, etc., can be used as a contraction in an informal email or correspondence.

•    Formal writing often uses shortened, less detailed or obtuse sentences also known as using “the passive voice”. Informal writing makes use of the active voice or a more detailed sentence.
“Your quote request was received yesterday.” – Passive Voice
“Karen received your quote request yesterday at 9:30." – Active Voice

When sending a business letter, a formal tone of voice is most often used because it conveys a professional demeanor; as opposed to e-mail marketing where an informal tone is preferred by marketers. The informal tone of a marketing email tends to be friendlier and is more effective in generating positive response.


Even though a marketing email is informal, this does not mean that you should stop paying attention to grammar and the respectful manner you should use when speaking with a prospective client. This is still a business correspondence after all, and you should be thoughtful about what you say about your agency and how you say it.

The correct salutation: When writing a marketing e-mail, you should address your contacts by their first name. This creates a since of familiarity and begins to build a trusting relationship between you and your client. By using their first name in a correspondence, you’re conveying to them they may address you by your first name as well. If you’re on a first name basis with your clients, they look to you as a confidant of sorts when it comes to their insurance coverage and protecting their family. 

Never use emoticons:  Even if you’re writing an informal email, if it is business related, it’s best not to use emoticons if possible. Emoticons should only be used when writing a personal e-mail to your friends and family.

Double check your grammar and spelling:  It’s easy to overlook sloppy writing when you’re composing an email. Checking for correct spelling and grammar can be the difference between someone trusting you as an insurance professional and someone dismissing your expertise because your misuse of their, there, or they’re made you appear less than educated. Regardless of whether you are writing a formal or informal e-mail, you should take the time to proofread your message before sending it out. If you’ve spent too much time looking at one email before sending it out, have someone else take a look at your work. It’s better to have your assistant catch a mistake before an email goes out than to have 15 clients reply to your email telling you the difference between then and than.

USING ALL CAPS MAKE YOU APPEAR TO BE YELLING AT YOUR CLIENTS: Never, never, use all caps.

If you have questions about how to effectively communicate with your clients, we’re here to help. Call our office at 800-383-3482 and we will be happy to offer you solutions to market yourself as the insurance expert you really are.

Email Marketers: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Just as in most aspects of business, there are three groups of folks that work with email marketing; the good, the bad and the ugly. 

•   The Ugly: Spammers. Unethical, list buying, product misspelling, most likely they are phishing for your identity, spammers. These unprofessional “marketers” send millions of pieces of spam without any regard for the damage they’re causing.
•  The Bad: By this, I mean bad at email marketing, not bad folks mind you. They’re often very good business people, too. Most have been in business or sales for many years, but they’re new to email marketing. Being so green, they make a few blunders and they typically have no idea what kind of mess they’re about to create for their spam rankings. If this is you, we’re glad to see you around The AgencyBuzz blog. Continue educating yourself, and your staff, on email marketing best practices.  You want to create an email marketing strategy that encompasses your brand and ethical business practices, not one that will sink your spam ranking and throw you into the abyss of junk mailboxes everywhere. My goal is to make all of you part of our last group, the Good.
•  The Good: Businesses who practice email marketing following industry etiquette and delivery guidelines. Today, let’s talk about etiquette and delivery guidelines so each of you makes a step toward the good.

Rule #1: The first rule of email marketing is to obtain permission before you email your materials to anyone. This really is a must. Building your own mailing list through outbound calling is one of the best ways to do this. I’m sure you have clients who you’ve not collected their email address, start here by giving them a call.  If you buy lists of email addresses they will be loaded with bad or old addresses, and these are people who didn’t opt-in to receive anything from you. Good email marketers also collect their list of email addresses from visitors to their own sites. This can take some time to build up your list using a newsletter subscription through your site, but you will be sure that everyone on your list actually wants to hear from you. You can also ask your existing contacts to reach out to people they know and share your information with their friends and family. You may already have a referral contest in place, and you could expand on that by adding newsletter referrals as well. This definitely counts as a new lead, and there will be potential to quote them on coverages they need.   Your response rate to emails sent to contacts who’ve opted-in to your list (delivery rate, opens and click-throughs) will be considerably higher than if you’re just sending stuff out to any ol’ email address that comes your way.  

Rule #2:  You should always clean your mailing list. Despite the fact that you will be using an opt-in list from now on (hint, hint), it is always necessary to check emails for validity. Some contacts change their email addresses regularly and forget to update their information with you. You can do this easily by checking your mailing stats after every campaign. By contacting your recipients who have “hard bounced” right away, you can stay on top of changes to their information.  Separate the hard bounces from the soft bounces before you contact any of your bounced emails. A hard bounce means the email address is no longer valid at all, and your message will never be received (these are the folks to call). A soft bounce is a delay in receiving your message and may mean their inbox is full or they are having a technical issue. You don’t need to call the soft bounces right away, but I would recommend monitoring these addresses and if they show up as a soft bounce more than once you can contact them for better information.

You should also check for invalid domains and typos to domains or extensions when you’re initially entering a new contact into your database. Make sure you stop sending to people who’ve unsubscribed from your list immediately.  Having an automated unsubscribe system in place makes this a much simpler process. AgencyBuzz offers an automated unsubscribe feature and once an address is opted out of your account, you cannot change that status in the system to ensure they will no longer be contacted by email.  

Rule #3: Know and understand the laws when it comes to email marketing. Before starting your email marketing campaigns for the first time, you should read and comply with the CAN-SPAM laws to ensure compliance. AgencyBuzz is CAN-SPAM compliant and we monitor abuse reports to stay that way. Being CAN-SPAM compliant will help your send score which helps you spend less time in junk mail oblivion. You can read about being CAN-SPAM compliant here: http://business.ftc.gov/documents/bus61-can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business.

If you’re thinking about skipping this step because you’re strapped for time keep in mind, each separate violation of the CAN-SPAM Act is subject to penalties and fines of up to $16,000 for each email.  Is the 5 or 10 minutes of your time it takes to read over the rules worth more than $16,000?
 

Rule #4: Try not to send too many emails or send emails too often. Unless you’re a news or market source, you should try to keep your emails to one or two a month to regular subscribers. This can include your monthly newsletter or information about a referral contest you’re having, etc. This is not your active leads that you’re pursuing; this is your list of regular email subscribers who look forward to your newsletters and information about your agency. You run the risk of annoying or harassing your contacts by overloading their inbox with articles, blogs, and advertisements over and over. Try to include as much as you can in your monthly newsletter. Put yourself in their shoes is what this rule amounts too.

Rule #5: Make sure all aspects of your email work properly and it looks the way you intend BEFORE you send your mailings to your contact list. Send yourself a test mailing and click through all the links, check your spelling and spacing as well. Also, make sure your placement of information is where you meant for it to be. By testing your mailings you will alleviate embarrassing mistakes that could create an unprofessional appearance for your agency.

Rule #6: If you’re not using a dedicated email marketing system or software product, do not show your mailing list to all of your recipients. Many times someone new to email marketing makes the mistake of entering their entire email list into the CC field of an email.  This is a problem for MANY reasons but the main two are: You’ve given all of your clients email addresses out to everyone on your list and "Reply to All". 

By following email marketing etiquette, you’re taking steps to increase your open rate and the overall success of your email marketing campaigns. You should strive to be as good of an email marketer as you are an insurance agent.

Writing an effective Subject Line

When you're writing an email subject line, there are a few tricks you can try to have your email commanding your reader’s attention.

Identify yourself

Recipients are more likely to open an email from a sender they recognize. Including your name in your subject line (or an abbreviated version) is one way to be seen in a crowded inbox. Display your agency name at the beginning of the subject line: ITC Agency: Your Online Quote for the most impact.

Be brief and to the point

Most email clients will cut subject lines off at 50 characters ("characters" include spaces). Compose a few engaging words and keep it under 50 characters so people see the full subject line. There are some schools of thought that suggest you can get the best results by reducing your email subject lines down to 35 characters.

Steer clear of spammer techniques

Your customers will keep an eye out for spam in their inbox to prevent identity theft and threats to their computer. Mimicking common techniques that spammers load their subject lines with is the fastest way to be deleted or end up in your recipient’s junk box. Being flagged as spam could also have your emails blocked by a recipient's email client.

Spammer favorites to steer clear of:

• Using ALL CAPS or RaNdOm CaPs.
• Hard selling in the subject line will raise suspicions instead of creating interest.
• !!! -- Exclamation points are easy to abuse and it's important to stay away from them in your subject lines.
• Using words like "free", "save", "win", "call now" and "toll-free". Leave them out of your subject lines if at all possible.

Practice makes perfect

You won't come up with the right formula on the first try. Analyze your email marketing campaign open rates to see which subject lines earned the most opens. Timing is also essential when it comes to how an email subject line is received. Sending an email with the subject of "Merry Christmas" on January 4th won't get much traffic.

By keeping a close eye on open rates and having relevant content, you should hit the right combination that puts you ahead of the competition.