It wasn’t all that long ago that email was the hottest new thing in marketing. But with times and technology changing so fast, is email marketing still an effective way to grow disability insurance sales?
Yes … IF you use it correctly!
Email marketing is still one of the most cost-effective ways to reach new customers and develop a stronger relationship with current ones. Best of all, you don’t have to pay for printing or postage!
Follow these guidelines to make your emails a productive marketing tool for your insurance business:
1. Build relationships. Think of email as a lead generation tool and as a long-term relationship-building tool. Create different email campaigns for prospects and customers and focus on establishing trust, providing helpful information, and building lasting relationships.
2. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Email alone isn’t a magic bullet. It needs to be integrated into your overall insurance marketing mix that includes your insurance website, direct mail, social media, content creation, and agency software capabilities.
3. Inform and educate. Email is a highly effective way to answer customer inquiries and provide specific information. And a weekly email newsletter is the perfect vehicle to give your readers helpful tips, build rapport, establish yourself as an expert, and bolster your credibility. But keep your emails short and relevant, and don’t sell.
4. Capture email addresses on your website. Your email newsletter won’t mean much if you don’t have any subscribers, so place an email opt-in box on your insurance website.
5. Offer a download. Email response rates are much higher if you offer a report download or a webinar registration. Most people are interested, but not quite ready to call you – so giving them something of value helps move their buying decision forward.
6. Make it easy. Make sure your emails are well organized, well-written, well-designed, and quickly and easily digested. Use a standard signature block at the end of your emails and follow can-spam guidelines for opt-outs.
7. Use a mobile-responsive design. A large of majority of emails are now viewed via mobile devices so structure your email accordingly. View your email on a mobile device before sending it to ensure that it’s user-friendly. Also, include a link to allow users to view the email online.
8. Include social sharing and/or follow buttons. This is yet another opportunity to integrate social media into your overall marketing mix.
The bottom line: Email marketing is still a viable disability insurance marketing tool. Used properly, it can help you build that valuable bridge of trust between you and your prospects and customers, and establish a solid, unshakeable relationship that can lead to repeated sales over the years.
Wondering how to get started? Here at Disability Insurance Services, we offer a free Broker Computer Assisted Marketing (BCAM) program, featuring industry-specific email blasts that link to an online disability quote engine. If you haven’t tried it yet, you’re missing out! Download our free BCAM Guide to learn more.
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