Are you ambitious about growing your accountancy firm but don’t have the resources for a dedicated marketing team?
Finding the right email marketing tool can be the crucial first step to levelling up your brand communication.
It almost seems too simple. Can automating your emails really make that much difference to your marketing strategy? In fact, there are many benefits to a system like this: time-saving is just one aspect.
In a previous article, I examined the benefits of adopting email marketing for your accountancy practice and how to do it well.
By implementing one of these email marketing tools below, you will be doing yourself, and your clients, a huge favour.
Integrate with your website
The biggest advantage of software like this is integration; many platforms will link to your website, social media, and any other applications you might use.
This gives you new options for capturing potential clients’ data. Something as simple as a pop-up inviting new visitors to your website to sign up to emails can be an extremely effective way to generate and convert leads.
If you have a Horizon website with PracticeWeb, it’s easy to put an email opt-in system in place.
We use a plugin called Bloom, which allows us to create an automatic pop-up that can be triggered by timed delays, or when a user reaches the bottom of the page. The captured email address can then be sent to one of 17 supported email marketing or customer relationship management (CRM) tools.
This allows you to collect client information, through surveys and polls for example, then store it directly in your CRM. Any existing data can then be used to group clients based on different criteria.
This means they will receive automated email updates, but personalised to their individual journey with your firm. All you have to do is set it up and let the software do its thing.
Keep clients in the know
Without an email marketing tool, you’re relying on somebody remembering to send a manual email, and setting aside time to do it.
With automated emails linked to your website and social media, you can plan ahead of time and respond quickly to any changes.
And from a client’s point of view, instead of receiving sporadic emails with potentially irrelevant information, they will gain more regular updates targeted to them and their needs.
Choose the best option for you
It can be tricky to find time to research and implement this kind of tool, especially as a smaller firm. This is why we have done the preliminary work for you and given you a breakdown of our favourite options on the market.
Constant Contact
Constant Contact allows you to group clients into segments based on their interests, or how regularly they use your services. It also offers simple visual analytics, so you can monitor how well your campaigns are working.
Like many of these software options, it offers straightforward drag and drop editing (no coding knowledge required). Constant Contact also prides itself on good online support – handy if you are only just venturing into email marketing and have a lot of questions.
They offer a one month free trial, then two tiers of features:
- Email: £15/month
- Email Plus: £30/month (This has extra features including pop ups, surveys and coupons.)
Campaign Monitor
Campaign Monitor boasts a user-friendly ‘visual journey designer’, allowing you to implement attractive and varied email templates with ease.
Another useful feature lets the email designer lock completed sections so others can only adjust their part – perfect if you are working with a team. Campaign Monitor also offers good insights and analytics to allow you some visibility without it being overwhelming.
This is a good option if you are just dipping your toe into email marketing. If you are looking for more specific branding and layouts, it may not be flexible enough for you.
It’s free to create an account and send a campaign to five subscribers, then they have three price tiers:
- Basic: £9/month
- Unlimited £29/month
- Premier £139/month
Mailchimp
Mailchimp offers simple yet flexible templates, along with clear client reporting that allows you to ‘personalise your client journeys’. Mailchimp is also able to integrate with hundreds of sites and applications, which is invaluable when you want to streamline your processes.
Most of their tools are accessible on a free account, and you can send up to 10,000 emails a month to 2,000 subscribers. This also includes in-built CRM and has no time limit. As your subscriber list and requirements grow, they have a tiered price system:
- Essentials: starting at £7.38/month
- Standard: starting at £11.08/month
- Premium: starting at £220.96/month
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign looks to simplify the process of creating email automation sequences. While their automation is more advanced than other software, it is still easy to use. This allows you to create more detailed direct messages to customers while still saving time with automation.
By emphasising multi-channel marketing, utilising not only email but also SMS, social media and website landing pages, ActiveCampaign aims to offer a better all-round customer experience.
If you are just looking to send a few emails to start with, ActiveCampaign might seem over-complicated. However, if you are able to invest a bit of time and explore all the features, it could be worth it.
- Lite: £6/month
- Plus: £36/month
- Professional: £94/month
- Enterprise: £167/month
HubSpot
HubSpot is the most comprehensive service of the software mentioned here. It offers more in-depth features, divided into ‘Hubs’ of Sales, Marketing and Service tools.
The wealth of options could seem overwhelming to a beginner, but if you have really ambitious plans for improving your marketing strategy and you want more than just an email marketing tool, this could be for you.
Free access offers you a range of basic marketing, CRM and sales tools, and you only need to start paying if you choose to upgrade.
There are three price grades: Starter, Professional and Enterprise. They offer ‘suites’ at each level with different services included, so prices can vary a lot, with the basic Starter level beginning at £38/month.
See the benefits
Identifying where you are as a business and what you hope to achieve in terms of growth is the best place to start. Once you know this, you can decide which email marketing software best fits your requirements.
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Email marketing advice
If you are still unsure, beginning with a free version can help you appreciate the impact this software can have. And with the help of platforms like this, you should start to see results very quickly.
If you would like to discuss in more detail how email marketing could work for your accountancy practice, or any aspect of marketing for accountants, then get in touch to talk to our experts.
*Prices as of Q2 2021
