‘I Just Want My Clients to Read My Emails’ – A Tale of an Advisor on a Mission
I worked with an advisor years ago who helped me see through the marketing BS to understand the heart of what makes communication work.
When I started working with this advisor’s firm, I was all over the place (as marketers often are), eager to prove my value by accomplishing a myriad of tasks. The founder of the firm graciously waited while I wore myself out, all the while repeating her primary reason for hiring me:
"I just want my clients to read my emails."
That's all? I thought. Honestly, it seemed kinda boring. Kind of like asking Eddie Van Halen to just play a G chord over and over. Have you seen all this other cool stuff I can do?
Besides, they already sent a monthly newsletter with upcoming events and a blog wrap-up. In my mind, email was taken care of.
I promptly got to work building ICPs (Ideal Client Profiles, a.k.a., personas). The client trusted me and came along for the ride, and we did some great work.
But at the end, there was the founder on a call: "I just want my clients to read my emails."
Come on. Give me a challenge. Give me a chance to shine.
I did keyword research based on our new ICPs, built a content strategy based on a pillar-cluster model, wrote a bunch of blogs, and brought a ton of new traffic to their site. They were happy and grateful.
But again she repeated: "I just want my clients to read my emails."
Seriously, still?
I added subscription boxes to their website to capitalize on all this new traffic. Their list quickly doubled in size. Then tripled. They were excited.
Still: "I just want my clients to read my emails."
Fine fine fine. Let's try it her way.
But where to begin? The task almost seemed too simple to tackle head-on, but that's what we did. I sent a survey to their clients to better understand what kind of content they would read. The responses rolled in and we got to work.
We started sending a weekly client-only email where we addressed specific client concerns we'd uncovered during our research. Each week, we sent a personal email from the Lead Advisor tackling one client question in 400 words or less. We included links where they could learn more and encouraged clients to reply.
And they did. Just a few at first, writing to say they loved the new style of emails. Before long, the client's "dead" list had been brought back to life. Open rates, click rates, replies – every metric went up.
All because we focused on getting clients to read emails.
After a few months of testing, we started sending a similar version of those emails to prospects. A year later, we found that 30% of this company's new clients were subscribers from their list.
Sure, they were within the ICP. Sure, they had found this firm through one of the blog posts I had written. And sure, they had subscribed through the pop-up I added to their site.
But the only reason they stuck around long enough to become a client was because the advisor sent engaging emails.
And the only reason we sent engaging emails was because we chose to listen to clients.
The knowledge I gained through that one experience is a foundational piece of what we do at Clay Pigeon. It's what I think of every time I repeat my marketing mantra: "Build your list, engage your list."
How is engagement with your email list? If you want things to improve, I recommend starting with your clients.
And if you need a little help, drop me a line.
