Imagine you’re walking down a quaint, city street and you hear music from buskers around the corner. Maybe you heard one musician playing a tune or melody, or a few in harmony as a band, working together in concert to delight their wandering listeners. But what if you heard five musicians all playing their own song with their own artistic intent? I’d call that a cacophony to be ignored at best.
Declutter Your Calls to Action
All too often independent financial advisors stuff their weekly newsletters to the brim with numerous, disparate calls to action. This practice is a misunderstanding of how marketing works, rooted in the urge to show their prospects all their marketing options in hopes that one will catch the attention of the viewer and generate a click. In theory, that may make sense to you—but in practice, it makes the email far too noisy. The call-to-action gets lost by other conflicting calls-to-action that, together, cloy for the user’s attention. When the user gets a flood of minor options, they get confused … and the confused mind says no.
Meet Your Email Recipient Where They’re at
Remember, after reading your subject line about Social Security, they didn’t open your email to find your “Contact Us” page, they opened your email to read about Social Security. So, why would a banner with your “Contact Us” form, your staff page, your mission statement, and your generic blog page be useful to a viewer who was interested in your Social Security offerings? There’s no reason to think this user is interested in anything but Social Security-related content. Instead, your banner should convey your brand simply, quickly, and professionally which allows the user to move quickly onto the headline they came to read.
Your Email is NOT Your Website!
In addition, financial advisors try to replicate their website’s top navigation on their emails. However, the top navigation of your website serves a different function than the top section of your newsletter. Websites and emails are different mediums of communication. A user on a website has far more intent to locate information about a brand compared to someone on an email. More than 70% of all emails are first opened on mobile, which indicates those using an email are seeking a less complicated, mobile-friendly experience; they are in search of quick information or entertainment.
One Purpose, One Goal
Here’s the purpose of a newsletter as it pertains to the top banner: Emails have one subject line and thus should have about one core subject or goal within. It is not a replication of your website, nor is it a place where you should cram all your offerings into one location. It is okay to send another email related to another strategy or aspect of your business. You’ll find the most success if you let one email attempt to service the goals of one marketing initiative at a time.
Remember, there’s always another email.
Marcus Roth is Lone Beacon’s Senior Director of Data, Automation, & Content.
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