Email marketing is a cost-effective way to maintain connections with previous clients and leverage referrals to generate new revenue. If your firm invests time in email marketing, here are 10 tips you may be able to use in your upcoming campaigns:

1. Base Your List on Subscriptions

In an ideal world, your email marketing list would be built from happy claimants who’ve opted-in to receiving messages from your firm. It shouldn’t just be a list of claimants you’ve worked with in the past, and it really shouldn’t be a list of emails you bought online. The CAN-SPAM act protects consumers from promotional materials from unsolicited sources.

2. Watch Your Subject Line

Your subject line is arguably the most important component of your email. If you use a subject line that’s misleading or confusing, claimants simply won’t open your email. Length is something else to consider—email subject lines should be less than 50 characters so they won’t be truncated on mobile devices.

3. Don’t Make an Email 100% Image-Based

If you have a snappy image you’d like to send out to prior claimants about referring their friends and family, make sure you include a good amount of text with it. Image-based emails may not render on all devices at best, or could be sent to users’ junk folders at worst. Don’t forget to test a new email to many devices or mail providers. One email on Gmail may look wildly different for a user on AOL.

4. Add Alt-Text

If you are using some images (you should!), be sure to include alt-text. Alt-text stands for alternative text. It’s an HTML attribute that tells users what an image contains. Alt-text is necessary for people with vision loss who need electronic readers on their computers, or simply knowing what an image was supposed to be if it didn’t load.

5. Include a CTA

A call to action, or CTA, is what prompts a user to act. You’ll need some kind of CTA in your legal marketing emails, otherwise you won’t generate any revenue from your email campaigns! CTAs could include asking claimants to simply reply to learn more information, or check in with friends and family members about their need for legal aid.

6. Make Alternative Contact Possible

Some claimants will not want to reply to your email, especially if they’re Social Security disability applicants with physical difficulty typing or visual impairment. Always include a phone number in your email marketing campaigns for those who’d rather pick up the phone.

7. Use “You”

Nobody wants to sound like a robot pumping out 10,000 emails per week. Using “you” in the body of your legal emails to claimants sounds personal and less automated. If possible, try to personalize your email marketing campaigns as well—including a claimant’s home state or case type in an email will go a long way in making your marketing campaign look like a hand typed note.

8. A/B Test

A/B testing is where you send two different versions of one very similar email to determine which one performs better. Most third-party email marketing platforms allow A/B testing. Some variations you can consider are different subject lines, copy for the body of your email, or specific phrases for your CTA.

9. Track Your Success

Why bother sending mass emails if you don’t pay attention to what types of emails or subject lines perform best? Tracking key metrics like open rate, response rate, click-through rate, and more will really help fine-tune your future campaigns. You can use something as simple as Excel to track success.

10. Subscribe to Industry-Leading Content Producers

What better inspiration than industry-leading email marketers? Consider subscribing to some sales, marketing, and legal blogs. You’ll get updates in your inbox on tips for success, and you’ll also get a first-hand look at some new ideas you could use in your next campaign.