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.

The Importance of Relevant Content in your Email Marketing: Content is King

Getting readers interested in joining your email campaigns is the most important piece of the email marketing puzzle. A question that many email marketers ask themselves daily is, “how do I engage my readers while gaining (and retaining) subscribers?”

Studies show that as humans our number 1 interest is ourselves. Putting this piece of information into play while composing your monthly newsletter can help you grab your reader’s attention. Granted, you can’t write hundreds of personal newsletters that speak specifically to your clients day to day lives (namely because that would be creepy and take far too long) but you can use code snippets to personalize newsletters with client’s names and you should tailor your newsletters to relevant activities in your community as well as a compliment to your insurance information.

 

If your community’s high school just won a championship game, talk about it; or if a new restaurant opened up near your office, go there for lunch and write a (positive) review about it in your newsletter. Being a part of your community can go a long way to gaining clients through referrals. Using community news is also a great way to gain subscribers who are interested in how your agency is protecting your community’s financial future.  

Some agencies write business nationally, so incorporating content that suits everyone on your contact list, in one email, may not be feasible. Instead, put together regional newsletters and use distribution lists so the content is still relevant to your readers.  You can be a part of your client’s community by writing about topics specific to their area. Write about a festival or activity many people are interested in specific to their region. Including recipes, sports, and other regional common-interest topics can go a long way to appearing as if you’re in many places at the same time. Pre-written content can save you a ton of time when having to write several email newsletters a month. There are hundreds of professionally written articles included with your AgencyBuzz email marketing account. They are separated by line of business, and new articles are added every month.  Be careful when using your pre-written content though as sending a newsletter about winterizing your home to a client who lives in Florida may reveal that you’re unfamiliar with your client’s area.

Use these community/regional events as a spring board into a relevant insurance topic that is complimentary to your other content.  This is an insurance newsletter after all. You can use these complimentary articles as another way to show yourself as the insurance expert your readers NEED to have a relationship with in order to protect their financial future. Not only are you educated on the latest insurance news that can save them time, money, and keep them from being left high-and-dry after an insurable event but you’re also saying that you’re just like them. You eat at the same places, you shop at the same stores, and your family values the community just like they do.

Engaging, gaining, and retaining subscribers is the name of the game when it comes to email marketing. And to win the game you’ll need to remember one thing, content is king.

Setting Up Your Email Marketing Strategy

So, you've decided to integrate email marketing into you agency’s marketing strategy, but where do you begin? It’s easy to get wrapped up in the excitement of starting something new and the potential sales you can gain by implementing email marketing; so much so that you can lose focus. By losing focus, your campaigns come across as a jumbled mess of too much information and no clear picture of what your readers are to take away from your message.

Setting Up Your First Campaign:

• First, you want to set a quantitative goal for your campaign. This does not have to include numbers, but just a clear picture of what you want to accomplish with your drip campaign. (i.e. generate new leads, gain policy sales, drive traffic to your site, or begin a referral program, etc. ) By setting your ultimate goal in the beginning, it will keep your campaign focused.

• The next thing to remember is to include a call to action in all emails. This is a way for contacts to interact with you once they’ve received your email. Ask them to visit your site, download a free information report from your website, give you a call, or even join your Facebook page. Anything to engage them once you’ve given them the information is a call to action.

• I recommend either creating or purchasing a custom email template that is branded after your website. Include a button for subscribers to easily click through to your site and get a quote. You should also include your logo, phone number, and social media icons so contacts can easily join your social networking sites. Creating a consistent online brand will help leads and clients alike recognize mailings from your agency, therefore increasing your open rate.

• Once you’ve created or purchased your custom email template, you should create and automate a welcome email that is sent to all contacts added to your database. Automating this process ensures all leads are communicated with instantly. You should also create birthday and holiday cards that will automatically send to your contacts every year. This will create a concierge touch to your agency’s communications.

•  Finally, you should set up interoffice reminders for a contacts primary agent to call them as the final step to all drip marketing campaigns. Calling your contacts and having a one on one conversation with them could be the missing piece that closes the sale. 

Now you're ready to start selling insurance all over your state, just using your email address. 

For more information on setting up successful email marketing campaigns, give us a call at 1-800-383-3482 and ask to speak with someone about AgencyBuzz. You can also visit our website at www.agencybuzz.com