As social media became popular (and now ubiquitous), many financial firms focused almost all their marketing on it. However, as paid social media promotion has reached saturation and many people are choosing to reduce their use of Facebook, X, and other platforms, asset managers and other financial service companies are turning to email marketing to pick up the slack.

Here are some reasons why email marketing is gaining popularity.

• People don’t only use email to connect with family and friends. Six of ten consumers prefer to be contacted by brands through email.
• Almost 90 percent of email users check their inboxes multiple times a day, according to a 2023 survey of email users. That breaks down to:
  • 39 percent check their email 3 to 5 times a day
  • 27 percent check 10 to 20 times per day
  • 22 percent check email more than 20 times a day
  • Approximately 9 percent check it once daily
  • Roughly 3 percent don’t check every day.
• The average email open rate for the financial services industry is a remarkably high 27 percent. Behavior-based personalization increases it to 42 percent.

These statistics indicate that people actively engage with emails, especially those from financial firms.

This article explains six areas firms in the finance sector should focus on to optimize the effectiveness of their email marketing.

1. Data and List Quality

If you haven’t reviewed the quality of your email list in the last few months, it could be time.

Check your email dashboard to find out how many people on your list do not actively engage with your emails regularly. If the percentage is high (say an open rate consistently less than your industry average), it could be smart to segment unengaged people in a separate list and market them through a reengagement campaign. Acknowledging that they have not been checking out your emails and offering them something different – perhaps content on a fresh topic – could be what it takes to get them to reengage. If people on your list don’t get active after several attempts, it’s probably time to switch them off.

Also, check your unsubscribe rate. If it is high, it could be a sign you’re sending out the wrong kind of content. Many financial firms focus on emails filled with performance information when those on their list would likely prefer educational, market, or economic content.

Another thing to look at when reviewing your email lists is segmentation. Segmentation is the practice of assigning categories to the people on your list. Categories could include things like life stage, investable asset level, or investing interests. Segmentation allows you to personalize your email content to address the interests of different segments. For instance, you could send dependable income and retirement distribution information to older people and more aggressive investing tips to younger ones.

Key takeaway: Scrub your email list! Your email campaigns will be ineffective if you aren’t reaching an engaged audience with the right content.

2. Deliverability

Ensuring that your emails are delivered is the foundation of a successful email campaign. That’s why you must constantly monitor email engagement metrics and spam reports. Low engagement signals your email content does not resonate with the people you’re sending it to. This makes it more likely that your emails will be delivered to junk rather than primary email folders. Receiving too many spam reports will result in the same issue.

Improve your subject lines and content so more people engage with your emails. It’s also a good idea to set up a non-open protocol. For instance, resend your emails with a new subject line two to three days after the first attempt to anyone who doesn’t open the first email. This will significantly increase the open rates of each send, transmitting positive signals that will get more emails into primary inboxes.

Some other things you can do to improve email deliverability include:

• Remove non-responders from your list after 12 to 18 months
• Monitor bounce rates and retire hard bounces
• Remove bad data from your list
• Watch deliverability stats on your email dashboard.

Better list quality will ensure email providers view you as a responsible sender.

Key takeaway: Implement a non-open protocol to improve open rates which will result in increased deliverability.

3. Subject Lines

Subject lines are the first thing recipients encounter in their inboxes. They play a critical role in determining whether someone decides to open emails.

Here are proven strategies to optimize your email subject lines:

• Keep them short, typically four to seven words, so they don’t get cut off on smartphones, which could cause them to lose meaning.
• Personalize them so email recipients are more likely to connect to them.
• Subject lines should be tantalizing and intriguing and compel people to open emails and learn more.
• Make sure they reflect the financial services topic covered in the email.
• Subjects that announce new things (for example, investment options) can also be effective.

Also, take advantage of preview text. If a subject line is your email title, the preview text can act as your subtitle. The subject line is what an email recipient sees first. The preview text provides an extra nudge to encourage someone to open your email. This extra bit of communication space could get people who are on the fence to click to open.

Key takeaway: Your subject lines shouldn’t be afterthoughts. Put as much time and care into developing them as the rest of your email content.

4. Personalization

Everyone likes to be greeted by name when interacting in person, so why should an email greeting be any different? Even in a business context, personalization will help email recipients connect with your content.

It’s also a smart idea to have the sender of an email be an individual and not a generic business address. People are more likely to engage with emails that seem to come from a person than an organization.

Here are some examples of how you can personalize email content:

• Based on job seniority. Because of the extraordinary interest in our financial conference, we created an exclusive panel of senior executives like you to discuss current investment trends and we’d like you to become a panelist.
• Based on past activity. Thank you for attending last year’s event. We want to make sure you have priority in registering this year.
• Based on competitors. Many of your competitors will be attending our event. You won’t want to miss out!

Key takeaway: Personalization isn’t just about simply plugging someone’s name into your emails. Take it a step further and leverage personalization to customize messaging to deepen engagement and connect with your audience.

5. Content and Messaging

Of course you need to ensure your email content is high quality and appropriate for your audience.

Go beyond this by prioritizing and ordering the content in your emails. Put your best material at the top and include a call to action (CTA). It’s a best practice because many readers don’t go beyond the first email screen. Ensure your opening content quickly answers the single most important question for your recipient: What’s in it for me?

Here are some additional email content optimization tips:

• Keep paragraphs short. Stick to one idea per paragraph. Messaging should be clear, concise, and to the point.
• Use bullet points and lists. Information broken down in bullet points and lists is easier to scan than sentences in a block of text.
• Include headers. For longer emails, use subheads to break up your copy and explain the value of reading different sections.
• Insert graphics. Add relevant images to your emails to break up text, move the reader’s eye down the email, and help explain complex concepts.
• Highlight important information. If your email includes messages that are more critical than others, put them in bold, box them, or make them a standout color.
• Insert white space. Scanning email content is more difficult without white space to guide the eye. Use it thoughtfully to make your emails flow.

Key takeaway: Good email content and messaging is about more than solid writing. It’s also about information architecture and how you present your material. Include visual cues that help guide readers’ eyes to make copy easy to scan and quickly understand.

6. Calls to Action

Of course you send out emails to get clients and prospects to take action, like read something, check out an investing opportunity, or schedule an appointment. You get them to do these things through calls to action (CTAs).

Many businesses make the common mistake of placing CTAs at the end of emails, where they may never be seen, or buried in copy, where they can get lost. It’s important that you include a primary CTA in your opening screen and others through the rest of your mail. Leverage buttons in contrasting colors to make your CTAs obvious. Use action words like read, book, and connect to encourage activity and make it clear what you expect people to do.

Key takeaway: Give your calls to action the time and attention they deserve. It doesn’t make sense to craft a compelling email if you leave readers unsure what to do when they finish reading them.

Email Marketing for Financial Firms: The Final Word

In a crowded social media environment, more and more financial service businesses are turning to email marketing to bring in new clients and improve relationships with current ones. Constantly review the six areas covered in this article to ensure your email marketing program is as effective as possible.