Email Marketing for Lawyers 101: Tips & Best Practices

The legal sector is no stranger to email marketing campaigns: 72% of law firms use them to promote their services. Emails help huge agencies, local firms, and even individual lawyers to keep in touch with existing customers, reach out to prospective clients, and share valuable information.

Ready to leverage email marketing solutions for your law firm? Read our article to learn what is required for a successful email marketing strategy, how to create your finest templates, and how Blocks can assist your endeavors.

How Email Marketing Campaigns Can Benefit Law Firms & Attorneys

With the multitude of marketing channels available, email marketing stands out as a powerful tool that offers major benefits for the legal sector. Here are 5 reasons why email campaigns can become a cornerstone of your law firm’s marketing strategy.

Reason #1: Cost-Effectiveness

Email marketing is among the most cost-effective tools for a variety of businesses, including the legal industry. Its efficiency is reflected in numbers: marketing emails boast an impressive $36 average ROI for every $1 spent.

Additionally, email campaigns are a practical choice that enables law firms to instantly reach out to thousands of people at a reasonable cost. Of course, the price tag varies between different email marketing services. Yet on average, sending a campaign to 10,000 contacts costs only about $100, which is significantly cheaper than most other forms of marketing.

Extra tip. Remember to constantly analyze the performance of your emails and refine your approach. This helps to enhance the effectiveness of your communications and to maximize ROI as a result.

Reason #2: Personalized Messages

71% of clients expect companies to send personalized content that speaks directly to their needs and interests. Email marketing strategies allow you to make the communications feel more direct and meaningful for every segment of your audience by including the following: 

• the client’s name
• targeted tips (for example, recent legal updates for specific businesses)
• content based on past interactions (like advice on insurance for car owners you’ve worked with before)
• and more!

Extra tip. Go beyond basic personalization by integrating CRM data into your email marketing. This enables you to include specific case details or even offer highly personalized legal advice directly within the message.

Reason #3: Building and Maintaining Customer Relationships

Email marketing is excellent for both attracting future clients and maintaining long-term relationships with your current customer base. Regular newsletters and updates keep your existing clients informed and reinforce the expertise and reliability of your law firm.

Extra tip. Take full advantage of marketing emails by including success stories, testimonials, and customer feedback. A law firm that openly shares its achievements and provides evidence of its professionalism looks a lot more trustworthy. This can lead to referrals and attract more clients as a result.

Reason #4: Positioning as a Thought Leader

Content is king, especially when it comes to positioning your law firm as an important player in the market. And this is exactly where email campaigns can provide their help!

Offer valuable, high-quality educational content that establishes you as a thought leader and attracts clients looking for a knowledgeable partner in legal matters:

• insights on recent legal developments
• how-to guides for legal procedures
• specific case studies and expertise

Extra tip. Create a series of educational email courses that address common legal issues faced by your target audience. These can lead potential clients through the decision-making process, increasing the likelihood of them choosing your law firm when they need legal services.

Reason #5: Data-Driven Insights 

At last, we have one of the most valuable aspects of email marketing: the wealth of data it generates. From open and click-through rates to client’s personal details, it can provide deep insights into the preferences and behavior of your customers. This data allows you to fine-tune your email marketing strategy, amping up its efficiency.

Extra tip. Don’t just focus on individual campaign metrics. Track long-term trends in engagement, conversion, and customer behavior to gain deeper insights into your audience’s evolving needs and preferences.

8 Steps to Create Marketing Emails for Law Firms

The next stage of an effective email marketing strategy is to prepare messages that resonate with the recipients. These 8 steps will show you how to do it properly.

Audience Segmentation

Before you get to crafting the email template, it’s essential to divide your contact list into smaller, more targeted groups based on specific criteria. This is a very important step since proper segmentation lays the groundwork for successful campaigns that speak directly to the needs of your clients.

As an example, you may segment your user base by the following attributes:

• client types (like old and new clients or individuals and companies)
• legal interests (individuals might seek help with family law while companies may require corporate legal services)
• geographical location (for instance, to address region-specific legal issues)
• engagement level (highly engaged clients, moderately engaged clients, and those who rarely interact with your content will all require different approaches)
• any other criteria you may find important

Clear Subject Lines 

The subject lines must be compelling, clear, and eye-catching to make the recipients want to open the message. Follow these 4 pieces of advice to craft an actionable subject line, regardless of the goals of your email:

1. Keep it limited to 30-60 characters for correct display across various screen sizes. Mobile-friendliness is crucial for both your communications and website since 63% of law firm website traffic comes from mobile devices.

2. Clearly convey the goals and purpose of your email. This way, you will set the right expectations for the content that awaits inside.

3. Use concise and convincing language. Powerful, action-oriented subject lines that hint at valuable information will help you address the audience in an engaging way and encourage recipients to open your email.

For example, take the subject line “New Regulations Affecting Your Business Contracts”. It’s informative but far from being catchy. Now let’s add some action: “Stay Ahead: Key Contract Changes You Must Know Today”. This subject line still provides useful information, but does that in a much more engaging way.

4. Avoid spammy words or phrases. Be careful with words like “free”, “urgent”, or “guarantee” since these might raise red flags with spam filters.

Need a helping hand with subject lines for your emails? Blocks features an AI assistant that instantly generates subject lines and preheaders based on the content of your email. Give it a try!

High-quality Template Design 

The design of your email should reflect your brand identity and maintain a professional appearance. For example, craft your email campaigns to fall in line with the landing page of your law firm’s website and other marketing messages for instant brand recognition and consistency.

Keep it appealing and easy-to-digest, with pleasant fonts and a color scheme that enhances readability. And of course, remember to adapt your emails for smartphones: the mobile version is a must in the modern world.

When crafting your templates with Blocks, you won’t have to worry about the responsiveness. Our drag-and-drop builder automatically adapts your templates for mobile devices: check how it looks right in the tool environment and edit every element with ease.

Valuable Content 

The content of your email may vary significantly depending on its goals: from sharing the latest news and updates to service promotions and client notifications. Yet in all cases, remember about these best practices:

• Relevance and value. Whether you share an important article or notify the recipient about the required actions, always ensure that the content underlines the purpose of your email and offers real value. Don’t just send the message out of the blue: it must have a goal and be useful for the readers.
• Brevity and directness. Let’s face it: most people aren’t interested in reading a lengthy email. Get straight to the core of your message from the very beginning. And when you share crucial information, it must attract attention immediately.
• Readability and appeal. Make the email copy digestible through the use of bullet points, subheadings, and short paragraphs. In combination with effective layout design, this will help navigate the readers and make the message more pleasing to the eye.

This example by Rocket Lawyer shows how to keep both the email content and layout effective.

Appealing & Useful Visuals

Visuals are irreplaceable if you want to make an impression at first glance and enhance the message. Relevant images and infographics will illustrate your email copy and make it even more compelling. 

Ensure that all visuals are optimized for fast loading times, and include alt text for each image. This will make your emails accessible to clients who use screen readers.

The process of finding effective visuals for your template is much easier with Blocks. Simply head to the Image Center, enter the prompt, and pick a suitable photo or picture from our vast free-to-use image library.

Alternatively, you can use the AI capabilities of Blocks to generate excellent visuals. Describe the picture you want to get, and our AI generator will create it in a matter of seconds.

Persuasive CTAs (Calls-to-Action)

Highly noticeable and easy-to-click CTAs are a must-have for marketing emails. They will guide your readers to a target action, may boost your website traffic, and help to reach a variety of other marketing goals.

You may provide CTAs for a number of different purposes:

• booking a consultation online or at your office
• contacting the lawyer to ask a question
• reading the latest blog post
• visiting the specific section of your website

A welcome email by Avvo provides an excellent example here, with numerous CTAs, each of which serves a distinct purpose.

Professional Footer or Signature

Add a finishing touch to your email with a professional footer or an email signature that contains all the important contact details, such as a phone number or alternative email addresses. These elements serve 3 specific functions: 

1. They provide closure to the whole email and are responsible for the final impression it leaves.
2. They act like a business card and help the recipients to easily reach out to you in case of questions.
3. They contain information that’s needed for legal compliance, specifically the links to opt out of receiving future emails (as required by the CAN-SPAM Act and GDPR).

Spelling, Data Relevance & Performance Checks

Finally, make sure that all elements of your template look and perform correctly before launching the campaign. In addition to spell check and data relevance assurance, verify that all images and links work properly. Broken images will hinder your email’s visual presentation, while broken links not only lose their purpose but may also trigger spam filters.

To make it easier and save time, use the Optimize function in Blocks. It will automatically validate links, images, and source code of your template, letting you know if there is an error that requires your attention.

4 Ways to Boost the Performance of Your Email Marketing Campaign

Thanks to the steps above, you’re now ready to create your excellent templates. But your email marketing efforts don’t end there! Time to give your campaign performance a lift with the help of these 4 email marketing tips:

1. Analyze key performance indicators. Use the email marketing software and analytics tools to select, set, and track the KPIs of your campaign and gain insights on its performance. These indicators provide a clear view of what’s working and what requires attention.

For example, a high click-through rate suggests that your content is resonating with your audience. On the other hand, a high unsubscribe rate may indicate that your emails are not targeted enough or fail to provide value. Analyze the indicators and tweak your email marketing campaign to keep the audience engaged.

2. Conduct A/B testing. This is a powerful way to optimize your email marketing strategy. Test different elements like subject lines, email copy, and CTAs, and compare the results to determine what resonates best with your recipients. The acquired data provides valuable insights that can guide your future campaigns.

3. Determine optimal send times. Did you know that the timing of your emails can make or break their effectiveness? It’s not a rarity when the success of an email campaign depends on when the message lands in your audience’s inbox.

This is where the power of analytics comes to the rescue. Analyze your target audience’s behavior and test various options to determine the best send time. With this, you can strategically schedule your emails to reach your recipients when they’re most attentive and ready to engage.

4. Collect feedback. Want to know what your clients find valuable in your emails? Ask them directly! Conduct surveys and let the recipients share their opinions about the preferred frequency, content, and overall usefulness of your newsletters. This can help you refine your strategy to better meet the needs of your audience.

Conclusion

From cost-effectiveness and outreach to deep audience analysis, email marketing is beneficial for law firms and attorneys in multiple ways. A unique blend of personalization, efficiency, and insights makes it an indispensable tool for modern legal practice.

Leverage the power of emails, and continuously refine your approach based on performance metrics and client feedback. With this, you’ll ensure that your email marketing efforts remain a driving force behind your firm’s growth and success.