When done correctly, email marketing can be extremely effective in the insurance industry. With very little effort, you can easily keep in touch with your agency’s current clients or prospects through email. According to the Direct Marketing Association’s 2012 Response Rate Report, the average Return on Investment (ROI) for email marketing is $28.50 in Sales for every $1.00 spent, which is much higher than direct mail at only $7.00 in Sales for $1.00 spent.

Before you can get started on an email marketing program, the first thing you’ll need is a targeted contact list. You want to make sure that you are sending out emails which are relevant to, as well as interesting and informative for, your recipients. You do not want to spam everyone whose email address you can find.

Next, you’ll want to make sure you format your email so that it will be opened, read, and even clicked. To do so:

• Make sure you have an interesting and accurate subject line.
• Personalize your emails as much as possible, so your contacts think you are writing directly to them.
• Use bullet points or small paragraphs so that your content is easily legible.
• Don’t use too many images, or your email might find its way into a spam filter.
• Include links to your website or social media sites whenever you can.

Once you’ve sent your email, don’t sit around waiting for a response. Use tracking tools to evaluate how effective your campaign has been. If someone has opened your email and clicked the links, they are probably interested in the content. Try giving them a call! Ask if they’ve seen your email and whether they would like additional information, or maybe even a quote. If you have a very high open rate and click-through rate, maybe you should try a drip campaign, or posting about similar topics on your blog and social media sites.

Zywave clients can find step-by-step directions on how to create, edit, send, and track emails using the VPC, by taking the “Certification: VPC Email Training” course in the Zywave University.