What is outreach email marketing
Nowadays, our inboxes are full to the brim – it seems like everybody wants our attention, from HMRC to the local gym. Many of us have a lot of ‘noise’ in our inboxes, and you may feel you are adding to the problem by sending your customers emails. And since the GDPR regulations came into force, you may be wondering if it’s OK to use email databases to contact potential clients.
Here, we take a look at whether outreach emails and email marketing for accounting firms are still acceptable ways to contact clients and potential customers, and what the best practices are. First, let’s clarify the difference between outreach emails and email marketing.
Outreach vs marketing: what’s the difference?
The simple difference between outreach emails and email marketing is that the former go to prospective clients, while the latter go to those who have already used your services. Email outreach requires you to find appropriate people to target. This can be done by finding the email addresses for a relevant director or employee at the company on their social channels, such as LinkedIn, or by working with a data service to obtain emails for key decision makers at target organisations.
On the other hand, marketing emails go to people whose email addresses you already have, either because they’ve signed up to a mailing list or opted into marketing emails at some stage during their journey. Marketing emails are used to highlight services, offers or advice that your target may find useful, showcasing the breadth of your services and how you can help them.
Can I send outreach emails under GDPR?
Although GDPR introduced strict regulations on sending cold emails, it is still possible to contact people at companies without first gaining their express consent. Your email, however, must meet certain requirements.
Firstly, you can’t send an email to just anyone, without consideration for whether your services may legitimately be of use to them. Only target prospects for whom you are confident you can be of assistance. As an accounting firm, you can be reasonably sure your offering will be logically connected with any business, but do ensure the content of your email is limited to business accounting.
Secondly, you will need to fulfil your information duty as described by GDPR. This means informing your recipients, in each email, of what data is being processed and for what purpose. You will also need to give them the opportunity in each email to opt out.
Lastly, you must only keep the email addresses of your targets for a short period of time. To abide by the storage limitation principle outlined in GDPR, you must remove prospects from your list once you have established that there is no interest in your service. For example, if there is no response to your first two outreach emails within 30 days of sending, you should remove the address from your list.
Email marketing for accountants
Sending emails to customers who are already on your database because they have used your services previously or signed up to a mailing list, is fine under GDPR, again as long as they have actively consented to marketing mailings. This normally involves an opt in or opt out checkbox. To comply with GDPR, all your marketing emails should also have an unsubscribe link, enabling clients to opt out of receiving such emails whenever they choose.
What are email marketing best practices?
Email newsletters for accountants will prove most effective if you follow best practice guidelines. Here are some things to consider when you’re creating a campaign.
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Add compelling preview text
Preview text is what the recipient sees in their inbox before they open the email. This is often the subject line followed by the first few words of the email’s body copy. By optimising both the subject line and the preheader on your template, you can capture your audience’s attention and encourage them to open. You might, for example, put “Don’t make these mistakes on your tax return” – which can encourage people who fill in Self Assessments to click through and find out more.
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Add a call to action above the fold
The fold is the point in the email at which the reader has to begin scrolling down to see more. By including a call to action for your main subject above the fold, you can optimise the opportunity for conversions. Why? Because research by Neilsen Norman Group showed that consumers spend 57% of their viewing time on content above the fold; this decreases to 17% on the second screenful.
Bear in mind that many consumers access emails on their mobile devices now. So your window to hook people in is even smaller. Ensure those first few sentences really count.
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Personalise the content
This doesn’t mean creating bespoke content for every single recipient. Rather, you can personalise content by adding the recipients name into the greeting (“Dear Jonathan” as opposed to “Dear Customer”). This can be automated. In addition, you can segment your email audiences, enabling you to lead with the content that would be most important to them. For example, you wouldn’t send private clients an email that leads with copy about management accounting for SMEs.
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Include your company logo
It might seem obvious, but including your company logo can positively impact engagement and brand recall. In a study by Red Sift and Entrust, including a logo was not only found to make brands more memorable, it also increased purchases by 34%. Many email templates have the space for you to add your logo at the top, ensuring it’s one of the first things clients see alongside the header text and image.
Outreach emails for accounting firms
If you’re looking to contact prospective clients using email outreach, we at Whitefish Marketing can help. We partner with a GDPR-compliant data based warehouse, and can supply you with data sources for email marketing outreach campaigns in a fully legitimate way. We can also assist with choosing your target audience. For example, you may want to approach CIS contractors based in your county, or businesses with a turnover of £2 million that are within 20 miles of your postcode. The opportunities and selection filters are vast, so get in touch with us today to learn more about growing your business with email outreach.
