Email Marketing for Lawyers​: Best Steps for Law Firms

As a solo in private practice or a small law firm, you know how important it is to continue communication with your clients. Competition is stiff, and simply getting your name out there is half the battle. That’s where Email Marketing for Lawyers​ plays a role.

It’s not enough to send random messages; you need a strategy and meaningful, strategic communications that turn leads into clients and keep your existing clients coming back.

In this post, I’m going to break down why Email Marketing for Lawyers​ works so well and how you can use it to grow your practice.

Whether you’ve been practicing law for years or are just starting out, without a doubt email marketing is something you need to take advantage of.

Why Email Marketing for Lawyers​?

THE OBVIOUS. It is probably not a surprise to you that Email Marketing for Lawyers​ remains an effective way to keep in touch with your clients and prospects.

Why? Since nearly everyone reads email daily. There are 4 billion email users worldwide, and that number is only going to increase. This is essentially millions of potential people seeing your messages – and the best bit? They’re sitting right in their inboxes waiting for you.

Social media can be a nightmare on this front, always fighting for attention in between posts and ads, while their inbox is a place where nobody else has to fight for space.

Why Email Marketing for Lawyers​ is Good for Law Firms?

Client Retention: Frequent emails will foster trust with your clients and keep you top of mind when they require legal assistance.

Lead Nurturing: By the same token, emails enable you to nurture potential clients who may not be ready to work with you now and “stay in their ear” until they are.

Economical: In comparison with other traditional marketing media like TV or radio ads – email marketing is low-cost, yet high-ROI.

Automation: You can automate your email campaigns, leaving you with more time and ensuring consistent messaging enabled by the use of proper tools.

Measurable and Easy to Optimize: You can measure the effectiveness of your email campaigns as they are running, making changes on-the-fly for added optimization.

Trust and Authority: through regular communicated, write well emails you will be able to position yourself as a trustworthy authority in your market niche which can cultivate long lasting relationships with customers.

And now that we’ve explained why you must definitely get down to business when it comes to Email Marketing for Lawyers​, here’s the 411 on how you can optimize its use in your law firm.

Email Marketing for Lawyers​: Optimizing It’s Use in Law Firm

Step 1: Define Your Audience

Using Email Marketing for Your Law Firm To use email marketing effectively as a law firm, you obviously need to start with defining your audience.

Whom do you want to reach with your emails? Are you working on potential clients that would require your legal service, or are you looking for ways to keep in touch with current clients as well as maintain rapport with them?

Lawyers can be a diverse audience, after all. It could include:

• Prospective clients with legal problems

• Clients with whom you already work, and might require future representation

• Refugees, such as other attorneys or business owners

• General Newsletter Subscribers in Need of Legal Information

• Former clients who might need you in a later case

Knowing your audience assist you in crafting your message. For example, new clients will want to consume educational content that showcases your expertise whereas existing clients may appreciate updates on their case or notification services you provide. Segment your email list so that you can send the right message to each one that speaks to their concerns and needs.

Say you are a family lawyer. Your strategy with email marketing will be very different when targeting customers who are looking to get divorced as compared to someone who is seeking help drawing up a will.

By writing personalized messages, you can expect an increased open rate and conversion time.

Step 2: Build an Email List

If you have no one to send email messages to, you can’t send any emails. Which is why building an email list is so important. But how are you collecting those emails?

Here are some that do:

• Website sign-ups: Include an email signup form on your website, give visitors the opportunity to subscribe and serving them ongoing updates, newsletters or legal tips.

• Social media: Promote it on your social accounts post-launch, via our Facebook group as well. As an example, consider inviting people to join a list in return for free legal guides, advice from an expert or high-quality content that will improve their lives.

• Client intake forms: When you sign on a new client, request their email address so that you can continue correspondence with them regarding their case or other services.

• Entice visitors in: Develop a lead magnet, eBook, white paper or checklist that individuals can access by exchanging their email address. For instance, a complimentary “What to Expect From your First Consultation” might be an irresistible offer for a potential client.

• Webinars and Online Workshops: Offering a free webinar or online workshop is an easy way to gather emails. Your offer is valuable enough that people who attend will be willing to give you their email address in exchange for it. Webinars can also be a good way to show off your expertise in a subject area.

Once you have opted-in email addresses, verify that your list is segmented and organized correctly. You should have lists for potential clients, existing clients and sources of referral.

This means you can deliver more personalized, targeted emails that will convert better. Consider it as tailoring that strategy for the person — what works for one client won’t always be successful with the next.

Also, you need to keep your list “clean”. Clean up bad emails and reduce the risk of your email bounce rates to ensure that your deliverability remains high, which will help increase overall engagement time.

Maintaining a high-quality list can also boost your sender reputation, which will enhance the odds that your messages land in inboxes rather than spam folders.

Step 3: Select an Email Marketing Service Next, decide on one of the below email marketing service.

When you run a legal practice, time is of the essence. Which is why an email marketing platform can really make your life easier.

Tools such as Mailchimp, Constant Contact and ActiveCampaign have strong features so you can reduce the time to:

• Professional-look email designs, all without technical know-how

• Profile your audience for more tailored campaigns

• Work your workflows Automate things like welcome emails, follow-ups, and reminders.

• Track your results to know how well you doing and take actionspertaining that

• Comply with international legal regulations such as GDPR, CAN-SPAM and others

These resources will save you time and ensure that your emails are received correctly and go where they’re supposed to go.

For an attorney, utilizing an email marketing tool as a platform is the equivalent of having your own personal assistant in your management and tracking of your law firm´s email addresses.

The best part about these platforms is that they come with automation. You can build email workflows that send specific emails based on user behavior—like visiting a certain page on your website.

This type of marketing automation is a huge time-saver, particularly when dealing with many cases at the same time.

Step 4: Draft Engaging Email Content

What makes a great Email Marketing for Lawyers​? It’s not about the visuals but the content that matters most. Your lawyer emails need to be helpful and interesting to your subscribers.

Here are several of the types of emails you might send:

Legal Tips and Advice: Offers expert advice on the legal challenges your clients could encounter. This makes you the expert and it builds trust.

For instance, you could send tips about “Protecting Your Rights After a Car Accident” or “What to Do if You are Facing a Divorce.”

Case Studies and Success Stories: Showcase Your Past Success Through Case Studies. Not only does this show your expertise, but it also serves to demonstrate how you might be able to help prospective clients.

“Case studies can be particularly powerful when they are presented as a narrative showing how you helped a client deal with a legal challenge,” he noted.

Newsletters: Distribute a monthly or quarterly newsletter to advise clients of legal developments, firm news and upcoming events. You may also add blog posts or articles for your clients. For example, if new laws affect the nature of legal services you render, it’s probably a good idea to keep your clients updated.

Follow-Up Emails: Follow up emails should be sent after a consultation thanking potential clients for their time. It also helps you stay top of mind and demonstrates professionalism.

A brief thank-you note and/or a reminder of what to expect in the next stage of the legal event can help you maintain a good working relationship with your client.

Client Testimonials: Social proof is the best. Add the testimonials of satisfied customers so that you look much more credible and trustworthy. Testimonials are a powerful way to demonstrate that your firm gets results.

Personalized Emails: By leveraging the segmentation capabilities of your email platform, send personalized messages that differ depending on where a client is in their customer journey.

For example, if a prospective client downloaded a free guide on estate planning, you could send them an email series related to the topic, such as creating a will or establishing a trust.

So make your emails easy to read and easy to understand. Lawyers have a reputation for babbling on in their language, but when it comes to email marketing you want to be as clear and concise as possible.

Share in short paragraphs, bullet points and clear language. Always have a strong CTA that spells out to your reader exactly what you want them to do.

Step 5: Use Your Email Campaigns On Automation

You’re busy. I get it. Use automation to your advantage with email marketing.

Here’s what you need to know to save time:

• Welcome Emails: When someone joins your list, an automatic welcome message is dispatched to say thank you for the interest. You can also offer something that is valuable, like a free booklet or checklist.

• Drip Campaigns: Develop a process of emails that slowly educate customers and lead them through your sales funnel. For instance, send a series of emails that educates the recipient about your firm, is filled with great legal information and eventually makes an offer for your prospect to schedule their free consultation.

• Appointment Reminders: If you have booked consultations, automate reminders for it helps minimize no shows. This is how you keep them engaged and not forget their appointments.

• Follow-Ups: After meeting with a potential client and they haven’t signed on, follow up with an email to check in and make sure they have no more questions or need any other help.

Automating these tasks allows you to concentrate on other areas of your practice. And, you can easily double check and not worry about forgetting to email someone something important.

Step 6: Measure Your Results

It’s only half the battle to send out emails. You have to track how your emails are doing so you know what’s working and what isn’t. Use the analytics in your email platform to see where you are clicking:

Open rates: Who’s actually opening your e-mails? When the open rate is low, it might be time to improve your subject lines.

• Click-through rates: How many of your email recipients are clicking links in the emails? This will tell you if your content is engaging enough to give way to action.

• Conversion: How many of the people you emailed did the thing you wanted them to do, like book a consultation or sign up for a service?

• Unsubscribes: If you are losing subscribers, think about your content and also how often you send it out. Sending too many emails can turn people away, so consider your email cadence.

• Bounce rates: Are your emails getting to the gate or not? If you have a high bounce rate, you need to delete contacts from your email list.

By looking at these numbers, you will be able to optimize your campaigns and achieve better results over time.

Step 7: Follow Legal and Ethical Practices

No shades of gray when you’re a lawyer; it’s all black and white. Be sure you also follow these rules to sidestep legal headaches:

• Obtain consent: Obtain explicit consents before emailing individuals. Never buy email lists.

• Opt-out feature: Each email must contain an opt-out or unsubscribe link. Not only is this the law but also good etiquette to honor the preferences of your audience.

• Confidentiality: Unless encrypted and secure, please do not communicate with clients via email. Always prioritize your client’s privacy.

Not adhering to these guidelines can result in costly fines or loss of reputation. Dont do this – You always need to use ethical methods of email marketing.

Email Marketing for Lawyers​: Final Thoughts

When it comes to your law practice, getting into email marketing shouldn’t be just a phase—it’s an effective approach that allows you to develop stronger connections with clients and attract new leads and business. Whether you want to warm-up leads, keep in touch with current clients or position yourself as an expert in your niche, email marketing can give you great results.

With the right audience targeting and email content, you can kick your law practice up a notch! So, begin with email marketing now and enjoy the perks of this mighty tool.

Click here to read my content on Automotive Email Marketing.

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