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I've Sent And Tested 2 Million Financial Advisor Emails. Here's What Converts...
If you’re a financial advisor who is interested in getting more results with email marketing, make sure you read this article in its entirety because it contains valuable information designed to make your emails better.
For some context, I’m James Pollard. I’m the founder of The Advisor Coach LLC, a company that helps financial advisors get more clients.
I’m also the host of the “Financial Advisor Marketing” podcast.
But I’m perhaps best known for my emails.
I send daily emails and have been doing so for years. I also help financial advisors improve their email marketing.
(You can even sign up for my email list here if you want...)
In fact, I’ve sent and tested more than two million emails in the past few years (honestly, it’s probably closer to three million now, but who’s counting?) and I’ve noticed a few trends that make my emails way more effective than industry averages. Here they are…
1. Avoid stock market commentary emails like the plague.
These are perhaps the worst emails financial advisors can send. Clients hire financial advisors so they DON’T have to think about this stuff.
Also, by sending these commentary emails, financial advisors are training their clients to believe that weekly or monthly stock market changes are important. Yet, they typically tout the benefits of having a long-term perspective when investing. You can see where clients get confused.
2. Entertain in your emails.
People crave entertainment. If you’ve ever been on my email list, you know that I tell stories, crack jokes, and otherwise combine information with entertainment. I’ve applied that same philosophy to financial advisor emails with great success.
Sometimes financial advisors will tell me “that won’t work for MY clients”, yet I’ve never seen a case where sprinkling in some entertainment hasn’t increased response. Honestly, the more “professional” the reader, the more he or she is desperately looking for entertainment. When you step in and tell a fun story, you’ll instantly stand apart from the crowd.
This is contrary to the “experts” who tell people to load their marketing with tons of facts, figures, and statistics.
Most financial advisors are surprised to discover my most profitable emails have very few facts, figures, and statistics. Most of the time there’s none whatsoever.
In fact, I’ve been “selling” with stories, humor, and drama for years.
Even Harvard professor Geral Zaltman agrees with me. He found that 95% of consumer decisions are subconscious. Neuroscientists have even found that people with damage in the emotion-generating area of their brains are incapable of making decisions.
Read the above sentence one more time.
Because it means that without emotion, it is literally impossible for your prospects to decide to work with you. Most people don’t know this and it’s one of the reasons they fail to set appointments with their prospects through email.
3. Niche down.
Whenever I help financial advisors with their email marketing, I strongly encourage them to pick a specific niche market.
Why?
Because it makes the entire process much easier. Imagine you’re a financial advisor who works exclusively with dentists.
You can create content for dentists. Once dentists see your content, they see your opt-in, where you’re offering a lead magnet specifically for dentists. Then, when you follow up via an email sequence, you’ll be able to revolve your topics around - you guessed it - dentists.
Stop overcomplicating this stuff.
Can you segment your list even further? Sure. You can get as fancy as you want. But if you’re a financial advisor who wants maximum results in minimum time, niching down is the way to go. When people see that you’re genuinely involved in their world, they’re more likely to set an appointment.
4. Keep it simple.
The emails I send are uncomplicated plain text emails.
No images. No fancy scripts. Nothing complicated.
All I do is type something out and hit “send”.
Most advisors assume you need to be a tech-savvy computer whiz to master email. It’s not true. I’ve seen that the more complicated people make their emails, the lower the conversion rate.
Now, if you’d like to watch a free webinar where I reveal some more of my email marketing “secrets”, go here.
Related: 3 Ways Financial Advisors Can Use Webinars To Get More Clients