If you’ve been looking to grow your firm’s client base, and — at a basic level — develop a lead generation funnel and expand awareness around your law firm’s services, then you may want to consider a form of digital marketing known as email marketing for lawyers.

That being said, like most digital marketing efforts, email marketing involves a level of commitment, knowhow, and resources that can be difficult for many solo and small law firms. Email marketing solutions can streamline campaign efforts, automate processes, and provide a significant competitive advantage for law firms by facilitating better client engagement and lead management.

Implementing a successful email marketing strategy can serve as a powerful tool in your marketing efforts, highlighting the advantages over competitors who may not be leveraging it in a similar manner. That’s why many firms prefer to work with companies like ours that already have digital marketing reach and expansive legal networks for lead generation — your firm can simply pay for access to actionable, qualified leads without having to worry about building an email marketing funnel on your own.

Contact our team here at Walker Advertising to speak to one of our experts about how we can help you grow your firm’s business without having to go through the trouble of engaging in email marketing for lawyers.

Of course, if you’d like to learn more about email marketing, and digital marketing efforts more generally, keep reading! We’ll cover some of the basics so that you have more clarity about how it all works.

What is email marketing, exactly?

Email marketing is a form of digital marketing that involves the use of email messaging to promote your services (or products) — this may center around a preexisting mailing list that the email marketer has either built-up on their own or a mailing list that the email marketer has purchased access to from a third-party.

Regular email newsletters continue to be a part of many digital marketing strategies, particularly for keeping prospective clients engaged. That being said, law firms often engage in email marketing campaigns on the cusp of a broader marketing push — in recent years, there has been an increasing focus on “spike” or seasonal marketing pushes using an email marketing platform to drive lead generation and brand awareness. Developing an effective email marketing strategy for law firms is crucial to ensure successful campaigns and enhance a law firm’s marketing strategy.

This is a reasonable strategy, given the unique dynamics of email marketing. After all, email marketing campaigns tend to enjoy higher clickthrough rates and conversion rates than other comparable digital marketing campaigns.

Because social media and other digital marketing options have gained increasing relevance in the fast-changing digital landscape, many lawyers have ignored the benefits of building a strong mailing list and engaging in an email marketing campaign. For the purposes of generating qualified leads, doing email marketing may be just as — if not more — valuable than more “trendy” digital marketing strategies. Certainly, email marketing shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, according to the data, email marketing revenue is projected to grow 227% by 2028.

Why Email Marketing is Important for Lawyers

Email marketing is a crucial component of a law firm’s marketing strategy. It allows lawyers to connect with current clients and referral partners, build trust, and establish their expertise in their practice area. By sending regular, informative emails, law firms can keep their audience updated on legal developments, share success stories, and offer valuable insights. This not only helps in promoting their legal services but also in providing personalized solutions to clients, thereby increasing brand awareness. Leveraging email marketing enables lawyers to stay top of mind with their audience, nurture leads, and ultimately drive more business to their firm.

What are the advantages of email marketing campaigns?

There are many advantages to engaging in email marketing for lawyers.  Consider the following non-exhaustive list:

• It helps to build a more connected relationship with the audience.
• It can potentially drive traffic to your law firm website, social media profiles, or anywhere else that you would benefit from pointing the audience to.
• Segmented emails are possible, enabling more natural messaging in your marketing efforts.
• Targeting users by their demographic is possible, which can ensure that only the right audience will see your email marketing efforts.
• Certain email marketing software allows you to run effective A/B tests of your subject line and call to action language, to ensure that you are maximizing your email marketing campaign’s effectiveness.
• Most email marketing services provide essential analytics and reporting capabilities for tracking performance metrics and optimizing campaigns over time.
• Choosing the right email service providers is crucial for optimizing email marketing campaigns, as they offer various features and segmentation tools that can enhance campaign effectiveness and help achieve specific goals.

What are the disadvantages of email marketing campaigns?

But there are some disadvantages to engaging in email marketing for lawyers, too.  Consider the following non-exhaustive list:

• There is a great deal of competition in today’s email marketing landscape, making it increasingly difficult to capture the attention of your audience, even after you’ve managed to secure an email list signup.
• Spam filters continue to be a major issue in the email marketing context.  If your email marketing campaigns get caught in the audience’s spam filters, then all your efforts will have gone to waste.

Choosing the Right Email Marketing Software

With so many email marketing software options available, choosing the right one for your law firm can be overwhelming. When selecting an email marketing platform, consider the following factors:

• Ease of Use: Look for a platform with a user-friendly interface that doesn’t require extensive technical knowledge. This ensures that you can focus on crafting compelling emails rather than getting bogged down by complex software.
• Features: Consider the types of features you need, such as automation, segmentation, and analytics. These features can help streamline your email marketing efforts and provide valuable insights into your campaign’s performance.
• Integration: Ensure the platform integrates with your existing legal practice management and CRM systems. This can help in maintaining a seamless workflow and better client management.
• Deliverability: Choose a platform with a strong reputation for deliverability to ensure your emails reach your audience. High deliverability rates mean your emails are less likely to end up in spam folders.
• Cost: Consider the cost of the platform and whether it fits within your budget. While some platforms offer extensive features, it’s important to choose one that provides good value for money.

Some popular email marketing software options for law firms include Mailchimp, Constant Contact, Campaign Monitor, ActiveCampaign, and HubSpot. Each of these platforms offers a range of features that can be tailored to meet the specific needs of your law firm.

What tips should I be considering when building a successful mailing list with email marketing software?

The first step in creating an effective email marketing funnel is to actually build a mailing list so that you can begin to send the marketing emails to your intended audience. This can be a bit tricky, since you’ll have to generate a customer conversion decision first (e.g. a mailing list signup) before you even begin the email marketing process in earnest. Here are some email marketing tips and strategies to enhance the effectiveness of your campaigns:

• Use lead magnets to encourage users to opt-in to your mailing list. You might offer a discount via a mailing list signup, or priority access to a consultation. You might even enter the user into a small prize lottery for mailing list signup.
• Potentially pay for access to another organization’s email marketing audience. For example, you can pay for a promo in a popular email newsletter, so that your own mailing list is blasted out to an audience of those who already enjoy receiving content in their inboxes.
• Soften the mailing list conversion process so that the audience doesn’t feel as though you are going to assault them with an endless series of heavy-handed promos. Sell them on the idea that you’ll be providing useful information for free, first — that way, they won’t feel as though the entire funnel is intended to hard-sell them on your legal services.
• Look for signups through social media. Sharing the signup form on various social media channels can be an effective and less-pushy way of expanding your mailing list audience substantially.
• Make your emails easy to share — bear in mind that many mailing lists are expanded through “forwards.” Making entertaining, clear, and compelling email content can ensure that your audience forwards the emails to their network and thereby naturally expands your reach (and potential signups).
• Use email marketing to maintain relationships with existing clients. Regular newsletters and surveys can help gather feedback and keep communication open, ensuring clients remember your firm for future needs or referrals.

Creating Effective Email Marketing Campaigns

To create effective email marketing campaigns, follow these best practices:

• Define Your Goal: Determine what you want to achieve with your email campaign, whether it’s to promote a new service, nurture leads, or build brand awareness. Having a clear goal will guide your content and strategy.
• Segment Your List: Divide your email list into targeted segments based on demographics, interests, or behaviors. This allows for more personalized and relevant messaging, which can increase engagement.
• Use Compelling Subject Lines: Craft subject lines that grab attention and encourage opens. A well-written subject line can significantly impact your open rates.
• Keep It Concise: Keep your email content concise and focused on one call-to-action. Overloading your email with too much information can overwhelm the reader and dilute your message.
• Optimize for Mobile: Ensure your emails are optimized for mobile devices, as more and more people are checking their emails on their smartphones. Mobile-friendly emails can improve user experience and engagement.
• Track and Measure: Monitor your email campaign’s performance using analytics and adjust your strategy accordingly. Tracking metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversions can provide insights into what’s working and what needs improvement.

Common Mistakes to Avoid in Email Marketing

When it comes to email marketing, there are several common mistakes to avoid:

• Sending One-Size-Fits-All Emails: Avoid sending generic emails to your entire list. Instead, segment your list and tailor your content to specific groups. Personalized emails are more likely to resonate with your audience and drive engagement.
• Not Optimizing for Mobile: Failing to optimize your emails for mobile devices can result in poor user experience and low engagement. Ensure your emails are mobile-friendly to reach a broader audience effectively.
• Not Tracking and Measuring: Failing to track and measure your email campaign’s performance can make it difficult to determine what’s working and what’s not. Use analytics to gain insights and refine your strategy.
• Not Providing Value: Failing to provide value to your audience can result in low engagement and high unsubscribe rates. Focus on delivering useful, relevant content that addresses your audience’s needs and interests.
• Not Complying with Anti-Spam Laws: Failing to comply with anti-spam laws, such as GDPR and CAN-SPAM, can result in fines and damage to your reputation. Ensure your email marketing practices adhere to legal requirements to maintain trust and credibility.

By avoiding these common mistakes, you can create effective email marketing campaigns that drive results for your law firm.

How has law firm email marketing changed over the years?

The death or decline of email marketing has been a common topic of conversation in the digital marketing space for some time now — and reasonably so.  As many new digital marketing channels have come up, the importance of email marketing has faded somewhat.  Social media marketing is the new industry darling, of course, but despite that, email marketing has not simply gone away — in truth, email marketing has been exceptionally resilient, even in the face of challenging new spam filtering mechanisms and other issues.

Integrating email marketing into a law firm’s marketing strategy is crucial to adapt to changing consumer behaviors.

Perhaps the biggest challenges that email marketing efforts have faced in recent years are 1) the broadening of spam filtering for inboxes, and 2) the change in consumer behavior away from individual websites (and landing pages) and towards content aggregators and social media platforms.

With regard to spam filtering, it has become increasingly important to avoid cookie-cutter, generic marketing emails that focus too heavily on promo.  These will get caught by your audience’s spam filters.  Instead, try to provide genuine information and assistance on various issues in the law.  You can then soft-sell the audience so that they will contact your firm, thus earning the conversion without setting off the spam filter with a more heavy-handed subject line CTA.

With regard to changes in consumer behavior, it used to be much more effective to have a landing page with a mailing list signup.  Today, however, millennials and gen Z audiences are less likely to use a Google search to find out the information they need, and thus less likely to actually make it over to your law firm website.  Instead, they’ll look for answers on thriving content aggregators like Reddit, or on TikTok/Instagram/YouTube.  So lean into those consumer changes and try to share your content on places like Reddit or on social media, so as to drive mailing list signups that way.

Contact Walker Advertising for Help Growing Your Firm’s Client Base

Whether you’re a solo lawyer, or are part of a larger firm with plans for expansion, it’s important to grow you client base in order to hit your revenue goals.  Here at Walker Advertising, we can help.  We operate a number of popular attorney networks — including our Los Defensores and 1-800-THE-LAW2 brands — through which firms are able to access leads for various legal claims.

The leads we acquire through our various online marketing efforts — from social media marketing to targeted web ads — have been pre-qualified by our team so that you aren’t hassled by a flood of leads that are simply not relevant or actionable for your purposes.  By accessing these quality leads, you’ll be well-equipped to select the best ones to grow your firm business.

Contact Walker Advertising today to connect to a member of our team who can explain how our legal networks can help your firm business thrive in this ever-changing digital marketing landscape.

We look forward to assisting you.