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e-Mail: Is it Worth the Effort?

by Johanna

There is a wide spectrum of e-mail activity pursued by firms today, including the following two approaches:

• "Fire Hose Blast" -- Firms send e-mail with untailored content (I like to call this the "potpourri" e-mail newsletter) to a large, unsegmented group of advisors, often assuming that the benefit of targeting lists and tailoring content to specific groups is likely not worth the trouble.
• "Better Safe than Sorry" -- Firms choose to shy away from, or at least not focus on, e-mail, for fear of having advisors perceive it as spam. These firms typically have relatively few e-mail addresses in their CRM systems, and tend to send relatively few e-mails to advisors.

Both types of firms have one thing in common: they are wholly unsure of the real benefits of e-mail. Does it impact sales? Does it support other e-business initiatives like the advisor Web site?

We set out to answer a key question many firms have today: Is e-mail worth the effort? Should firms be spending any time at all thinking about e-mail?

We found evidence that firms are reaping the benefits of e-mail, including the following two data points:

• OppenheimerFunds found that, among advisors who are actively selling their funds, those receiving the "OppBrief" e-mail newsletter had 44% higher sales in the past year than those who did not.
• Web traffic to the Thornburg Investment advisor Web site jumps 80%, on average, the day after they send an e-mail to advisors.

While these figures suggest e-mail has significant value, that doesn't mean every firm should drop everything and focus on e-mail. kasina's latest report delves into the key elements that firms should have in place prior to developing an e-mail strategy. Among these key factors are: a robust Web site, the ability to target e-mail lists, and healthy home office relationships. Once these are in place, a firm can then begin to implement a strategy to truly make e-mail worth the effort.