[author: Vondrae McCoy]
If your law firm wants to stay connected with clients and prospects, you can’t afford to ignore the power of email. According to Hubspot, email marketing generates an average ROI of $42 for every $1 spent, significantly higher than many other digital marketing channels.
Yet even the most seasoned legal marketers aren’t immune to mistakes when it comes to creating emails. Broken links, formatting issues, and other often overlooked issues won’t just damage your firm’s professional image, they could cost you valuable opportunities to nurture client relationships, generate leads, and drive awareness of your firm.
So how can you ensure your next email marketing campaign goes smoothly? We’ve compiled a list of 13 essential details that every lawyer and legal marketer needs to double-check before hitting send.
1. Check for Broken Links
Broken links in an email are frustrating for recipients and potentially harmful to your firm’s reputation. Before sending any email, make sure every link—whether it’s a call-to-action button, social media icon, or even a simple hyperlink—works correctly. This simple step takes just a minute and can help you avoid losing a potential client.
2. Look Out for Forgotten Links
It’s all too easy to forget to include a link in the “Contact Us” button or other clickable elements. But such an oversight can prove costly, especially if you’re trying to encourage engagement. Before sending your email, double-check that every clickable element will lead readers to the appropriate page. Sending a test email is an easy way to catch any mistakes and ensure all needed elements are in place.
Social media sharing buttons can help extend the reach of your email, as they allow recipients to easily share your valuable content with their networks, potentially driving new leads to your firm. However, you need to ensure that these buttons are working properly. When you conduct a test send, click through these links to verify they’re functioning. A broken share button is a lost opportunity to amplify your firm’s message.
4. Proofread for Spelling and Grammar Errors
Credibility is everything for a law firm, and an email plagued with spelling errors or grammatical mistakes will certainly raise questions about your professionalism. Take the time to carefully proofread emails and check for typos or awkward phrasing. Having a colleague, ideally someone familiar with legal terms, review the content can help catch any errors you might have overlooked. This added step ensures your emails demonstrate the level of precision clients expect from a law firm.
5. Review Image Quality and Alt Text
Images can increase an email’s appeal, provided they are of good quality. Ensure any images you include in your email load correctly and appear crisp, especially on mobile devices. Always include alt text for accessibility and to provide readers with valuable context should an image fail to load.
A properly formatted email appears professional, while content that’s disorganized or cluttered will distract from your message and possibly turn off potential clients. Always review the layout to ensure proper spacing, alignment, and readability. Pay special attention to bullet points, as their appearance can vary across different email clients. Make sure everything is clean, well-organized, and consistent on all devices.
7. Ensure Text and Background Color Contrast
Color contrast can go a long way toward making an email more readable. While using dark text on a light background is a good rule of thumb, be sure to test the contrast to ensure readability. Take into account that some email clients may not display background colors correctly, so ensure text remains legible, regardless of how the email is viewed.
8. Verify the Sender Name and Subject Line
The sender name and subject line are the first things a recipient sees, so they need to be right. We recommend law firms use the name of an attorney or specific practice group, rather than a generic “info@” address. Keep subject lines clear and concise, ideally under 50 characters, to ensure they display correctly on mobile devices. A compelling subject line not only boosts open rates, but also sets a professional tone for your email.
Personalization enhances the effectiveness of email marketing, but dynamic tags must be tested to ensure they’re working properly. Double check to ensure tags like the recipient’s name or firm-specific details pull through correctly. An email list with outdated or incomplete data could lead to embarrassing mistakes. Testing dynamic tags ensures a more personalized experience for each recipient, which is key to fostering strong client relationships.
10. Fulfill CAN-SPAM Compliance
Compliance with CAN-SPAM regulations is non-negotiable for a law firm. Ensure every email contains your firm’s physical address and includes a visible unsubscribe link. While both are critical for compliance, an unsubscribe link also demonstrates that you respect a recipient’s preferences and privacy. Avoid misleading subject lines or content to ensure the purpose of your email is clear and that it aligns with both legal standards and ethical principles.
12. Optimize the Plain Text Version
While HTML emails remain the standard, many recipients prefer plain text emails, especially in certain industries like law. It’s important that the plain-text version of an email looks just as polished as the HTML version, so be sure to trim long URLs and break up large blocks of text. A well-formatted plain text email makes the recipient’s experience seamless, no matter which format they choose.
13. Test Accessibility Across Devices, Browsers, and Email Clients
Your email will be read on a variety of devices—desktops, tablets, and smartphones. To ensure it looks great everywhere, test it across multiple platforms and browsers. Don’t forget to check how it renders in different email clients, such as Gmail and Outlook. Once you find a layout that works, save it as a template to maintain consistency across future campaigns.
Takeaway
Email marketing is an essential tool for law firms, but simple mistakes can easily derail your efforts. By consistently checking these 13 essential details, you can ensure every email you send is polished, professional, and primed to engage.
