7 Easy Drip Marketing Steps That Can Increase Your Conversion Rates Up to 1.9% Each Month
If 1.9% doesn't sound like much, consider this fact: if your office currently handles 50 leads each month, a 1.9% annual increase will add $5000 a year in extra commissions!
Top producers understand and embrace the importance of drip marketing - because they know that not all leads are ready to close right away. Most leads need to be cultivated and nurtured.
That's exactly what drip marketing does. It's really an effectively simple way to nurture leads. Drip marketing can even be used to revive dormant and even some dead leads.
In the past, the biggest hurdle for agents who wanted to continue marketing to their "long term leads has been the time and cost involved. In addition to printing and mailing hundreds of marketing pieces, you had to keep track of them and then follow up with phone calls.
Then came the Internet. Email, in particular, has made drip marketing much easier and affordable for both large and small agencies:
- Lower Cost
You don't have to worry about the rising cost of printing or postage with emails.
- Faster & More Flexible
Emails are faster and let you pack more information than regular mail.
- Interactive
One click on an email and your prospect can get more information, run multiple quotes and even submit a completed application on your website.
- Better Tracking
Drip marketing emails can let you track who received your message, who opened your message and who clicked the embedded links in your email.
One-agent offices can even maintain an effective drip marketing campaign while taking no more than 20 minutes out of their already-busy weekly schedules.
You probably already use email everyday to do some marketing. But effective drip marketing lets you do it on a mass scale. And launching your email-based drip marketing program is as easy as these 5 steps:
- Develop Your Lists
If you've been in the industry for at least a year, you probably have a database of hundreds if not thousands of unclosed leads. These are your prime prospects for your initial mailing lists, but you'll need to focus on the ones with emails.
But you should also segment your lists, especially if your database contains over 500 leads. For example, you may want to separate the Medicare-eligible and the uninsurables into separate list segments. You may also want to separate based on when you first contacted that lead, such as under 6 months or more than a year.
If you have a lot of contacts without email addresses, you may want to call each of them about "updating your address book" and collect their email address along with their other information. But make sure to ask them if you can send them some informational material.
What about if you don't have very many contacts with email addresses? Some top producers actually specialize in seasoned or "aged" leads-and use their automated drip marketing program to uncover and resurrect them.
How does that work? Let's say you have 1,000 aged leads that haven't closed yet. Even if your drip marketing program only converts 1/2 of 1 percent, or 5 leads, out of the bunch that should result in almost $2,000 in commissions!
- Create a Schedule
An effective drip marketing campaign will contact each lead at least once a month. But you should avoid contacting them more than once a week, as they'll quickly get annoyed with you and "unsubscribe" from your mailing list.
The only exception to that weekly limit is perhaps during the first weeks after you contact that lead. Agents and brokers have found success sending emails to their new prospects immediately after first speaking with them - then following it up with a reminder email two days and again five days after that initial contact.
If they aren't ready to close after that initial flurry, you'll need to slide that prospect into your monthly schedule.
- Provide Value-Added Content
So what should those drip marketing emails contain? Here are five important tips to consider as you plan out your drip marketing calendar:
- Educate Them
Give them news blurbs or links to informative articles and guides that can help their buying decision.
- Don't Hide the Price
Consumers place more on trust on businesses that aren't afraid to advertise their price. One tool that can help you in this regard is a quote engine that can embed updated, customized quotes in each email. Each prospect can then use that quote engine to compare the pricing on all the carriers in your arsenal.
- Testimonials
To-the-point endorsements from satisfied customers are powerful tools for building trust and motivating prospects. But make sure your customers have given you written permission to use their testimonials.
- Avoid Fluff
Stay away from meaningless fluff, like "we're the best agency" or "you won't find anyone better" - unless you back it up with facts like "we were rated the #1 in customer service by the Chamber of Commerce, etc."
- Call to Action
Remember your sales ABCs? Always Be Closing. Each drip marketing email should contain at least one call to action, such as inviting them to view and compare their current pricing.
A strong drip marketing message accomplishes two goals: it gives prospects the information they're looking for, while it guides them closer to a purchase.
- Segment Your Database
We mention in step 1 that you should segment large databases when you first set up your drip marketing campaign. But segmenting doesn't stop there.
You'll occasionally need to segment leads as they move from one group to another. For example, prospects who have or are about to turn 65 should be moved to your Medicare-eligible segment. Similarly, prospects who have submitted applications and are now clients, need to be moved out of the prospect list.
Most importantly, you need to immediately remove any contact who has requested that you stop sending them emails.
- Know the Law
The federal government has cracked down on spammers of all sizes with the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. This law doesn't just cover mass spammers peddling low-cost drugs from Canada or discounted software that fell off the back of a truck.
It also covers insurance agents who send out marketing emails. For starters, the CAN-SPAM Act requires you to include a legitimate physical business address in your email and accurate "from" lines. You also need to provide a simple mechanism for "opt-outs" so prospects can unsubscribe easily - and you must stop sending them emails within 10 days.
So before you send your first email, make sure you visit the Federal Trade Commission's website (http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/canspam.shtm) to understand all of your CAN-SPAM Act requirements.
- Automate
There's no question that drip marketing works. But even with email, it can take a lot of time if you're doing it by hand. That's why top producers use an automated drip marketing system to handle the bulk of their drip marketing activities.
The LeadMiner email autoresponder, for example, can warm up a prospect to receive your call by sending a "welcome" email as soon as that new lead hits your inbox. It can then automatically send reminder emails every few days during that all-important first week, as well as monthly messages if they need more time.
LeadMiner also embeds each marketing message with a personalized pricing quote. One click can take a prospect to your quote engine, where they can get updated pricing as well as compare multi-carrier plans side by side.
But regardless of which system you use, it's automation that lets you drip market to hundreds of prospects - without taking your eyes away from the "hot" leads who need the bulk of your attention.
- Don't stop with the closing
Finally, don't make the mistake of abandoning your client just because they're already signed up. Remember that it costs less to retain your existing clients than it does to find new ones. Referrals from satisfied clients are also the best source for new prospects.
As mentioned earlier, after you've converted a prospect into a client, you should move them into a separate segment - but continue to market to them. Sending them monthly or quarterly emails is an inexpensive but effective way to stay in touch.
In fact, experienced producers routinely schedule a reminder email or call a couple of months before a client's policy anniversary. That's when your current client may be thinking of shopping around for a better rate-especially if they've just gotten a notice that their premium is going up.
Drip marketing ensures that whether or not they want to shop around, your clients will have your contact information at their fingertips when they need to renew - or make a referral.
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