Email remains a highly effective channel that can help insurance sales agents connect with prospects. Typically, a successful email marketing strategy includes sophisticated workflows that include a series of triggers for a variety of email types, depending on the contact’s behavior. For example, a contact may receive different follow-up messages depending on whether or not they open previous messages, or if the contact opened messages but did not respond or click any links. While timing and content are important, email frequency is also important.
According to data from Hubspot, in 2020 marketers saw an increase in email engagement of 78% YOY. Because email is cost-effective, easy to deploy and widely accessible, it remains an attractive marketing channel. When it comes to B2C emails, “80% of business professionals believe that email marketing increases customer retention,” according to HubSpot’s Ultimate List Of Email Best Practices. Before crafting a successful email marketing messaging strategy, it’s important to first understand how consumers engage with promotional messages.
Here are a few additional useful email marketing statistics from CRM, Copper.com.
- 40% of emails are first opened via a mobile device
- 63% of B2C emails are read within the first hour after they were sent
- Adding personalization can boost sales email engagement and reply rates by approximately double
- Follow-up sales email messages typically earn higher open rates than the first or second message
Read part one of our blog post here to find our first four sales email creation tips and then read below for additional strategies for creating cold emails.
Keep Sales Emails Short
According to statistics from CRM cooper.com, email response and conversion rates are best for emails containing between 50 and 125 words. Shorter emails help consumers better identify CTAs and take action.
Consider Your Message Content
Remember to be polite and use kind words. Even if you are writing to a contact who has not yet shown interest in your emails, do not change your tone. You can use humor, but avoid sounding offended or using language that could be perceived as insulting. Consider adding pre-written responses to give your recipient the option to choose the response that fits them best. A predetermined response could not only get your contact’s attention but also prompt them to quickly send a reply. Here is an example:
Hi ,
I see you’re too busy to reply at the moment. Could you please just hit me back with a number 1-2-3 that best describes your response?
- Too busy, email me again in a month, please.
- I’ll write you back in a week.
- It's not you, it’s me. Leave me alone.
Wait To Include Savings Offers Or Other Incentives Until Halfway Through Your Workflow Schedule
While it might seem like a strategic move to entice action by promoting savings incentives, wait until the second half of your follow-up campaign to deploy this messaging. Holding savings offers may help you convert a maybe into a yes or a no into a maybe. Also, remember that the first emails sent in a follow-up campaign typically have the lowest open rates. Hold on to these offers for messages further down the workflow for best results.
Remember To Test & Analyze
There is no single best day, best time, best subject line or best CTA for follow-up sales emails. The way consumers engage with email relies heavily on their brand awareness, intent level and communication preferences. Since each of the factors can change over time, it is important to constantly test and analyze email performance. Track and measure your KPIs. Knowing your metrics can help you determine if you should test new send times or dates to improve open rates or if you need to add, remove or update creative or content to help boost click-through rates.
Testing new email techniques is an important part of an insurance agent’s sales strategy. Having a fresh supply of leads to email and call on is just as important. As a leading provider of online leads, ZipQuote has a powerful reputation for providing it’s clients with high-quality leads, stellar customer service and an agent-oriented approach. ZipQuote’s industry expertise helps its clients maximize advertising efforts and connect with prospective customers. Click here to learn more about how ZipQuote can help you grow your business.