Digital marketing is a vital part of your business, and email lists are still considered the top marketing tool for small businesses. With the insurance industry being so competitive, email is one of the best ways to increase engagement and drive website traffic.
How Email Marketing for Insurance Agents Drives Traffic
Email can bring more than delivering a message to your clients and prospects. It is a great way to promote your website and drive clients/prospects through links to the pages you want them to visit.
Using email to promote your blog posts, white papers, nurturing messages, and cross-sell opportunities also drives traffic to your website. By having related topics and links on the website page to supporting pages, you can also keep that traffic on your website.
For instance, you write an email promoting a blog post you have written about motorcycle safety. By including a link to your motorcycle insurance page, your about us page, and your auto insurance page within the blog post, you are now giving your subscriber an easy way to get to different pages with related content. More engagement. More traffic. Better search engine results.
In reviewing Google Analytics, we consistently see a spike in visits when emails are sent out. For instance, sending out a referral program email reminder not only promotes your program, but also drives clients to your website.
Our client re-engagement email campaign offers the same results. We often see multiple quote requests when the initial email is sent out. By sending out your emails, you are inviting your clients and prospects to engage with you!
5 Ways to Increase Email Engagement
1. Understand the Anatomy of an Effective Email
The email headline must get attention and provoke curiosity, or your recipient will send it straight to the spam folder. The subject line and the first few words of an email are crucial for attracting readers. Think of the first line of your message as a sub-headline to your email subject line. This part is so important because many email programs include a preview of the message. Design your message so your audience will know what to expect from the preview.
2. Include Links in Your Email
The body of your email should include links to a page that supports your topic. From promoting a blog post to a cross-sell campaign, linking to the supporting page is vital!
The footer is also a great place for important links. If you have a specialty niche, referral program, blog, or offer client services, include links in your email. You can change these out seasonally, too — RV insurance, boat insurance and ATV insurance are great links in the spring and summer, for example.
3. Use Social Proof
Your email recipients’ needs don’t differ from most consumers. They want to fit in with the group, and they often believe the group is better informed than they are. Social proof is a powerful marketing tool that showcases the popularity of your brand, products, and services because it instills confidence.
From product and service reviews to testimonials, knowing that others have made you their top choice is often the catalyst that turns prospects into customers. When you consider that 70 percent of online consumers check product reviews before making a buying decision, it’s easy to see how social proof can outperform even the best sales copy.
4. Celebrate Your Customers’ Special Events
Who doesn’t love to be acknowledged and celebrated? Between birthdays, anniversaries, and milestones, you have plenty of opportunities to celebrate the important dates and events in your customers’ lives. You also have opportunities to engage customers while they are building a professional relationship with your agency.
Whether it’s the first time a prospect becomes a customer, makes an additional purchase, or files a claim, you can use email to thank them for their business. These emails can include brief surveys and special promotions to get feedback and increase customers’ insurance coverage.
5. Use Personalization for Stronger Connections
Personalization has become a digital marketing staple that gets results. An impressive 80% of consumers are more likely to become a customer with a brand that personalizes communications. So, how do you put personalized emails to work for your agency?
Personalization means identifying and reaching out to customers who need additional coverage because of a life change or other event. It means letting your customers know that you understand them and value them as individual customers.
Here are 5 Tips to Get You Started with Engaging Email Campaigns
If you want to know how to increase traffic with email, these helpful tips will get you started. Put these tips into practice and then check out our automated email software, Fuse™, to learn more about email engagement.
- Start or create your email list. Your agency management system should include your clients and prospects email address. Make it easy for your website visitors. Create a form for them to sign up for quote requests, newsletter subscriptions, or blog subscriptions
- Segment your email lists. Depending on your message, you will segment your list accordingly. You will want to send a different message to your personal lines clients than your commercial lines clients and so forth.
- Keep your list informed. Stay in touch with your clients and prospects. Without regular updates sent out to clients, they could mark your emails as spam. Newsletters, nurturing messages, and valuable information for your clients and prospects will keep them engaged. Include a tease of your newest blog post and link to it. It will increase the return visitors and keep your brand top of mind. Google loves new content on websites.
- Create valuable content. Create emails and blog posts that are entertaining and engaging. You can check our blog post “How to Create Blog Topics Your Clients and Prospects Want to Read.” There are great ideas on topics that would also apply to emails.
- Automate your emails. This allows a smaller company to compete with larger agencies. Ensure that you have campaigns set up for all stages of a client’s life cycle. Having a follow-up form, a cross-sell campaign, blog promotion, and newsletters let you keep in contact with your clients and prospects. Don’t forget to include links to your website!
Keep Your Email Content Valuable
Your clients and prospects are bombarded with digital information. Stand out from the crowd by providing valuable and targeted content that your clients and prospects find useful. As your subscribers interact with your website, they are more likely to share your valuable content.
All of this engagement adds value for your site and Google notices. As people engage with your site, spend more time on a page, and access multiple pages, your organic traffic grows.