eMarketing for Insurance Agency continues to be a viable and efficient way to increase leads and build a pipeline. Although eMarketing has existed for a while, well over ten years, the tools and infrastructure have improved since Cloud Computing’s advent.
- Make a plan Who are your target markets? What is the size of your target market? What are your target titles? What value proposition does your agency want to communicate?
- Determine Topics Of Interest: Which topics are most relevant to your target contacts? What content is most appropriate and engaging? What speaker credentials are necessary to convey your message in a concise and professional manner, whether you’re using video, webinars, or vlogs?
- Create an engaging eMail: An engaging eMail starts with a compelling subject line. It includes brief but compelling content, a call to action and a clear call for action. The eMail ends with a professional salutation. This simple sentence is the biggest challenge for most agencies. Although the basics of eMarketing for insurance agencies are simple, Step 3 requires a lot more knowledge and expertise. For a successful eMarketing strategy for insurance agencies, you must avoid Bayesian poisoning and follow the CAN-SPAM Act. You also need to scrub emails, honor opt-outs and keep your emails educational.
- Sending frequency: The frequency at which eMails are sent, also known as eMail blasts or eMail blasts for short, varies depending on the content and type of eMail selected by an agent. A monthly newsletter would be one send per month. This ensures that the newsletter subscribers are not included in the same segment as the monthly sends. Insurance Agency Webinar invites may require two separate sends, while industry alerts can only be sent once per week. Insurance agency eMarketers should not send weekly emails unless they feel confident that their subscribers value the content and frequency. Subscribers can adjust their frequency automatically with tools.
- eMail Testing and Formatting: Browser Testing, HTML versus Text Email Testing (multipart mime), formatting and shouting are all essential elements of eMarketing for insurance agencies. To ensure that your emails render correctly, send emails to multiple clients, including Outlook, Gmail and Yahoo. To improve delivery, reduce HTML and graphics. To optimize delivery, encourage subscribers to whitelist their sending address. A spam filter test should be included in your email solution to determine if the email contains any inappropriate words such as “Buy Now” or “Free”. Spam filter issues can also be present. Make sure you have a well-written email that isn’t too boldfaced, colorful or italicized.
- Tracking To track and not to track? That is the question. Tracking can be used to determine open rates and multiple click rates. Tracking can reduce delivery optimization and improve spam filter issues. To determine if tracking is effective, agencies can test different emails without tracking to see if they have a significant difference in bounces and delivery. Split test methods can make tracking very effective if the agency has experienced eMarketers on staff or outsources this function to an insurance marketing agency.
Cloud Computing Agency eMarketing solutions can be found in a variety of places and are very affordable. It is the skill of using the tools that matters, and not the cost of the tolls. While most tools can handle the basics, many integrate with an agency management system, platform or sales force automation solution. No matter what tool is used, best practices for insurance agency web marketing will evolve if brokers and agencies invest in the eMarketing skills required to use these tools correctly, consistently, professionally, and with consistency. An insurance agency that invests in this type eMarketing initiative, especially if they run webinars for insurance agencies, will be able to build a solid web marketing foundation that will result in increased leads and a better long-term agency pipeline.
