Email is a great approach to interact with and engage with potential customers because there will be 4 billion email users worldwide by 2023 especially now that social distance restrictions prevent people from participating in networking events like trade shows and others. Email can help accounting businesses grow by allowing communication with new leads. For instance, you could set up a referral programme to encourage your current clients to refer their connections to you for accounting services.
If you provide informative content to your prospective and existing clients, your accounting firm will establish itself as the go-to source for information on tax guidance, financial concerns, and money management strategies. Last but not least, one of the main benefits of using email marketing for accountants is that it is easy to analyse and evaluate the results and performance of this strategy. Analytics and KPIs can be used to test and adjust your plan based on the success or failure of your email marketing campaigns.
Here are some useful tips that will make your email marketing efforts successful.
1. Build and Maintain Your Email List
Your email marketing campaigns will succeed if you have a list of leads that is clean, relevant, and verified. This means that you need to regularly remove prospects who have hard bounced, unsubscribed, or have not responded to your emails from your email database. Otherwise, you run the risk of having your email service provider designate you as a spammer for routinely sending emails to inactive or expired email addresses. Additionally, if you are blacklisted, all of your emails will be automatically forwarded to the spam folders of your recipients.
Generate leads and sales as your first step in developing your email list. Creating good content that is pertinent to your potential customers and encouraging them to subscribe so they may receive frequent updates from you are the main components of this strategy. There are various technical details that you need have in place in addition to creating excellent content that will answer the demands and pain areas of your target audience:
An individual call-to-action button for every blog article or landing page
By doing so, you’ll convey your message more clearly and increase its impact on potential customers. Since tax returns are the subject of your blog post, your copy should say something like, “Subscribe to get more tax tips.”
A time-limited pop-up online form
If you request consent from website visitors after they have been on a page for more than 10 seconds, it is more likely that they will choose to sign up for your newsletter and indicate their want to begin getting emails from you. There’s a good chance that they’ve already started reading your content and appreciate its value.
More landing pages
Every visitor to your website has a different need, so if you make a unique, personalised landing page for each offer or service you offer, you’ll appeal to more people. These easy strategies will aid in increasing opt-ins and creating a high-quality email list.
2. Craft Attention-Grabbing Subject Lines
Your prospective customers receive a lot of emails every day. More specifically, statistics show that 121 business emails are sent and received every day. Your subject line has the opportunity to make a fantastic first impression, spark recipients’ curiosity, and persuade them to open your email because it is the first thing they will see when they open your message in their inboxes. When writing each subject line for your emails, you must be extremely attentive because these few words have the power to make or ruin your email campaign.
In order to avoid having your subject lines cut down to fit on small mobile phone screens, make sure they are between 30 and 50 characters long. It’s better for your subject lines to reflect some of your potential customers’ troubles and problems rather than talking about your services because they don’t need to be familiar with accounting terms.
3. Share Educational Content
Many business owners lack knowledge of accounting and financial issues, as we’ve already said. Because of this, it is your responsibility as an accountant to inform and assist them in creating long-term strategies, setting financial objectives, and growing their firm. You can develop loyalty with your clients and establish yourself as a business partner they could use by explaining all of this in your email campaigns and providing helpful content they can use to handle their everyday issues. Your emails should therefore be filled with resources and relevant information. Sending periodic reminders and reminding your clients of approaching deadlines could be another way to provide value to them.
4. Automate Your Email Marketing
Only a streamlined, automated approach to email marketing for accountants will be effective. Using an automated tool, you should plan and design your marketing campaigns beforehand. In this manner, you’ll be able to grow your email marketing approach, tailor the consumer experience, and increase your retention rates.
Accountants can utilise email marketing automation in a variety of ways, some of which are included below:
- Welcome emails sent to new subscribers
- Drip email programmes used to nurture website visitors who periodically visit your site but haven’t converted into paying clients
- Providing unique discounts and promotions.
The engagement rates of accountants who automate their email marketing campaigns will increase. Use this targeted, triggered strategy to reach out to your prospects instead of sending them generic, mass emails since it generates 119% more clicks.
5. Streamline Your Email Copy
Avoid wasting the time of accountants by making the email copy longer than it needs to be. If you want your emails to get read, keep them brief and to the point. Additionally, when creating your email campaigns, keep your desired outcome in mind. This means that you should limit yourself to one offer every email and base the rest of your story entirely around it.
Your clients will be distracted and confused if you offer two or three things in a single email. To encourage your prospects to read a new blog article, set up a meeting with you, or enrol in your referral programme, decide what you want to accomplish with each email and stay focused on that goal.
6. Asking for Referrals Through Email
Referrals have a huge impact on attracting customers. By including your referral opportunity directly in your email signature, you can put it on autopilot and ensure that clients who regularly receive your emails are aware of it. Send an email requesting a reference alone. You might not get it until you ask, and we frequently forget to do it or completely ignore it. A specific email shouldn’t be sent too frequently, but you should design a template and incorporate it into your email workflow, perhaps after a new customer signs up, in your quarterly newsletter, or in a follow-up email.
The client can see your referral opportunity frequently without it being in their face if you include it to your email signature. Think of providing a referral bonus like a gift card or a free month of bookkeeping. The terms and conditions of this offer must be established and discussed with the referrer.
7. Include a Call to Action
A strong call to action is a crucial component of successful email copy. Its purpose is to grab your audience’s attention and get them to do what you want. Let your customers know what you want them to do after reading your email by using this powerful statement.
A powerful CTA uses one of the so-called power words, such as download, subscribe, schedule, or read, and is action-oriented. Additionally, it needs to be noticeable and distinct from the rest of the email copy. Finally, to reinforce your offer and make sure that a customer notices your CTA even if they are only skimming the material, use the same call-to-action button numerous times in a single email.
Final notes:
For accounting firms, email marketing is a crucial tactic. It’s affordable, gives you a simple way to connect with potential customers, keeps current ones interested, and keeps you in front of your target market. These straightforward suggestions can assist you in developing an efficient email plan that will demonstrate to your clients that you are a reliable authority they can rely on when it comes to the stability, profitability, and value of their company.