Financial Services + Marketing Automation = Success

Ever since 2020, businesses of all sizes and industries have seen first-hand the importance of digital transformation. And the financial services industry is no different.

Customers today aren’t looking for just any financial company to trust with their funds. They crave a personalized experience with a provider who truly cares about building and maintaining a relationship.

The marketplace is evolving faster than the speed of light. Does your bank, insurance company, accounting firm, or other financial institution know how to keep up?

Strap on your running shoes and prepare to speed towards the future with a tried and true tool: marketing automation. Keep reading to uncover its benefits and learn how to get started!

 

What is a Marketing Automation Strategy?

Marketing automation is software that manages a variety of digital marketing workflows across multiple channels, such as emails and social media posts.

B2B marketing automation strategies are built to save your financial institution time while driving better results. Banks, investment firms, insurance companies, and other financial organizations can leverage automation to streamline repetitive tasks.

Need to send out payment reminders? Set up an automated workflow. Like to wish a customer a happy birthday? Send them an automated – and personalized – email. Want to get better at social media? Schedule consistent social media posts for months in advance that will automatically post at the time/date of your choice.

With automation, you can save hours of time that you’d normally spend manually sending out individual emails and social media content.

 

 

Email Marketing Automation for Financial Advisors

The most popular process to automate is sending emails. And it’s no secret why. Just think of all the emails you send and receive every day. Here’s a mind-boggling statistic: approximately 333.2 billion emails are sent every single day. That’s over 3.5 million emails sent per second!

Imagine how much time you’d save if you could automate even ¼ of your emails. That’s time you’d get back to complete your other daily tasks, strategize attracting new members, fly to the moon and back… whatever you’d like.

There are so many types of emails you can build automated workflows for, but here are just a few to get your wheels spinning:

• Monthly newsletters
• Payment reminders
• Birthday wishes
• Event promotions
• Policy renewals
• New client welcome/onboarding
• Surveys
• Form submission follow-ups

It’ll take a few hours to set up workflows and build any contact lists you need. Although the initial process can be a bit tedious, you’ll be amazed at the time you’ll save in the long run. Not to mention the impressive results these automated campaigns can drive.

 

Result #1: Improved Lead Generation

Don’t have a financial marketing automation strategy yet? Don’t worry – you’re not alone. According to the Digital Growth Institute, 87% of finance companies don’t have a lead generation strategy powered by automation.

This is a huge missed opportunity. 50% of companies in all industries are using automation, and 80% have reported an increase in leads.

The trick to driving lead generation through email automation is to make your subject lines compelling. You can do this by:

• Incorporating emojis 😀 (if it’s on-brand)
• Using action words (“Get started now”)
• Including the recipient’s first name
• Asking a question (“Ready for savings?”)

Take a moment to look at your own emails. If your inbox looks anything like mine, it’s flooded with promotional emails from a variety of brands.

 

 

Make note of the subject lines that draw your attention, and try incorporating their strategy into your own email campaigns. The more you test and track, the better your emails will be!

 

Result #2: Better Customer Retention

Personalized, consistent emails enhance the customer experience. When the customer experience is amazing at a company, why would anyone switch to a competitor?

A great strategy for boosting retention is sending targeted emails based on engagement. In CRMs like HubSpot, you can build campaigns that re-engage subscribers who may have lost interest.

On the flip side, you can also create email workflows that reward highly engaged contacts. Notice that a handful of your subscribers are opening most of your emails and clicking through your links? Encourage this behavior in the future by offering them a free consultation, discounted rates, or other rewards.

Aside from a great customer experience, automated emails make collecting payments easier. You can create email workflows that automatically remind your customers of incomplete payments.

 

Result #3: Stay Top of Mind

More client touch points = staying top of mind. And clients are more likely to think of you when they have a challenge related to your services if they have an email from you at the top of their inbox.

When you’re top of mind, you get more chances for referrals. Maybe your client will be talking to a friend who’s complaining about their bank’s poor customer service. If your client’s inbox recently chimed with a new email from your company, they may feel more inclined to recommend you as an alternative.

Aside from referrals, staying top of mind can help you cross-sell. For example, if you work at an insurance company, you likely offer multiple lines of coverage (home, auto, life, etc.). If your clients already like you and receive regular communication from you, it’s easier to get them on board for more than one service.

Result #4: Enhanced Brand Awareness

Need to drive more traffic to your website? Trying to grow your social media channels? Want to promote an upcoming deal or event? Email and social media automation are extremely effective for boosting awareness wherever you need it!

Next time you share a new blog, video, offer, or some other new piece of content, set up automation campaigns. Schedule posts on social media promoting the new content the week it’s published, the month after, and then three months later. This will help raise awareness for your new offer and boost your website traffic.

Don’t forget to create emails for your new content as well. Providing valuable resources for your subscribers to look forward to will help not only engage them, but re-engage them. You’ll start to notice repeat visits, longer times on-site, and increased conversions as a result.

As your website traffic grows, search engine algorithms will identify your domain as a credible source. Over time, you can watch your search engine rankings grow.

 

Result #5: More Aligned Internal Teams

Marketing automation also significantly reduces the time your team spends working in silos. If a team member isn’t sure what promotions are happening now, they can check your email workflows and scheduled social media posts to find out.

Crafting automation campaigns improves collaboration and communication as a whole. Your teams can connect to brainstorm engaging social media captions and email subject lines. And they can meet once campaigns are completed to discuss how marketing had impacted sales.

The best teams are aligned teams working together towards a common goal. Strengthen your teams and boost your finance company’s bottom line by coordinating on your next automation campaign!

 

Best Digital Marketing Automation Software

Convinced that digital marketing automation is the right strategy for your financial services business? Here are just a few of the best marketing automation software out there:

• HubSpot
• MailChimp
• Constant Contact
• Altudo
• Marketo
• Pardot
• Omnisend
• ContentCal
• Hootsuite
• CoSchedule
• Sprout Social

And those are just to name a few. Feeling a bit overwhelmed? Creative MMS is a HubSpot partner with years of experience creating impactful workflows. We’d be happy to walk you through incorporating HubSpot into your financial marketing strategy.

 

Partner with a Financial Services Marketing Agency

Creative MMS is an award-winning financial services marketing agency in Philadelphia. With 15+ years of experience driving success through automation, we’re well-suited to help you reach your goals. Contact us today to discuss your challenges and forge a new strategic partnership!