Is Anybody Reading Law Firm Client Alerts? Not If the ‘Spray and Pray’ Method Is Used
If you believe the in-house lawyers at a recent marketing partner forum in Arizona, nobody is reading client alerts.
One general counsel said he gets more than 50 client alerts in the e-mail with each legal development, according to Adrian Dayton, a social media consultant writing for the National Law Journal. Another GC said he has no time to read them. Another does read them, but only if he personally knows the author.
Dayton recently shared those complaints with his subscribers, and heard from some marketing directors who said client e-mail alerts are being read—if they are done right. The alerts are also being repurposed for blog posts and articles posted online at JD Supra and other outlets.
It’s best to avoid a “spray and pray” approach, according to Lynn Foley, director of marketing and business development for Bull, Housser & Tupper in Vancouver, B.C. While some lawyers send client alerts to thousands of people, Bull Housser rejects that approach. One of its lists has only 72 people on it, Foley told Dayton.
Dayton offers some additional suggestions in his NLJ article. Among them:
• Use analytics to learn what interests your clients.
• Be brief (“think blog posts”) and keep the writing easy to read.
• Include a personal message with the alert.
