Despite the rise of newer channels in our digital-first world, email remains the backbone of client communication. Financial advisors face unique regulatory challenges with email communication, but a number of service providers have functionality that helps cover SEC and FINRA requirements while still allowing advisors to deliver the necessary personalized service.
Research from Kitces.com reveals that advisors spend about 26% of their time on client communication outside of planned meetings. While email is just one part of that communication, the right tools can turn it into a streamlined process that strengthens client relationships and safeguards your practice.
In this post, we’ll take a closer look at some of the top email service providers and what to look for when choosing one for your firm.
Before we get into comparisons, let’s review some of the email requirements for financial advisors. As with anything related to regulatory standards, please use this section as an overview but consult your internal legal counsel for specifics before moving forward with any solution.
The following is summarized from FINRA Rule 2210 and the SEC Rule 206(4)-1:
The main section applicable to the email tools themselves is recordkeeping. Service providers vary in how long data is housed within their platform. You may be able to pay to extend this record-keeping or you might need to set up another process for data retention.
For compliance reasons and general ease of management, it’s a good idea to work with an email service option that allows you to save templates. All major platforms should have this. From a regulatory perspective, this functionality is useful because you can set up a template with all necessary disclosures and other legal language and you won’t need to check for it each time.
Moving on from financial advisor requirements, these are some features that are useful for any email marketer.
Your email marketing platform will depend on factors like the size of your firm, expected growth, compliance needs, integrations, and the level of customization desired.
In this section we’ll cover a few different options. All of these have the basics of email marketing (like segmentation and CRM integration abilities), but their features lend themselves to slightly different use cases and may require some initial work to set up. The order in which they appear does not imply rank.
Key Features and Benefits:
Compliance Capabilities
Pricing Structure: At the time of writing, Salesforce has three pricing tiers. Professional begins at $1,250/month. Bespoke solutions (Enterprise tier) require contacting a sales representative.
Ideal Firm Size: Enterprise. Given the pricing structure and the level of customization available, large or enterprise organizations are best suited for Salesforce.
Key Features and Benefits:
Compliance Capabilities:
Pricing Structure: Has three tiers, Lite, Standard, and Premium. Pricing varies by number of contacts, with Lite starting at $12/month for 0-500 contacts and Premium moving up to $575/month for the max of 50,000 contacts.
Ideal Firm Size: Small to mid-sized. Offers a marketing campaign calendar, social media marketing tech, and SMS marketing add-ons. Good for small to medium firms with contacts not exceeding 50,000 who want to get started quickly and have access to other marketing capabilities.
Key Features and Benefits:
Compliance Capabilities:
Pricing Structure: Has two categories of pricing, one for individuals and small teams and one for business and enterprises. Individual and small team pricing offers a free tier and goes up to $800/month with 2,000 contacts. The business category begins at $800 and increases to $3,600/month for 10,000 contacts. Additional contacts come with an upcharge.
Ideal Firm Size: Small to large. Has features required to scale, plus options for higher contact limits at the enterprise tier.
Key Features and Benefits:
Compliance Capabilities:
Pricing Structure: Lite begins at $15/month (less for annual plans). They also offer an unlimited plan; the pricing does not change regardless of the number of contacts. This is an unusual feature among providers.
Ideal Firm Size: Small to mid-sized. Intuitive interface that offers one-click personalization options, but may have fewer advanced customization features than other platforms geared toward larger firms.
Key Features and Benefits:
Compliance Capabilities:
Pricing Structure: Essentials plan begins at $13/month for 500 contacts, with Premium scaling up to $1,360/month for 200,000 contacts. Enterprise solutions are also available.
Ideal Firm Size: Small to enterprise. Approachable price point and range of capabilities for beginners, while also having an advanced suite of tools at higher tiers for scaling up to enterprise levels.
You may want to begin with sending individual templated emails, but automating more of your process is where you’ll see the real time savings while also staying top-of-mind for clients and prospects alike.
Pre-scheduled nurture campaigns allow you to strategically guide prospects through their decision-making journey with minimal hands-on management. Start by creating a 3-5 email sequence that addresses common questions and objections while showcasing your unique approach to financial planning. Space these messages a few days apart, and gradually increase the depth of financial insights shared.
If someone has gone through your nurture sequence and hasn’t become a client, try re-engaging them with a new sequence. This could begin with a non-intrusive check-in that references your previous interactions – either something from the nurture emails or an initial call you had, depending on what information is available from your CRM.
You can follow up with additional resources that could be valuable to them, like a recent blog post or a tax planning checklist. Converting a lead into a client takes multiple touchpoints, and automating as much of this as possible helps reduce your active hours spent on prospect communication.
Once someone becomes a client, there is likely information about the onboarding process that will be the same for almost everyone. Information like how to access their portal, where to find important documents, and how to connect their accounts can all be shared across several onboarding emails.
You may also choose to include an email requesting feedback about their onboarding process so that your team can make adjustments in the future.
Your CRM may already have the ability to send reminder messages about upcoming calls. If it doesn’t, this can likely be automated in the email provider of your choosing. This is relevant for both your existing investors and the prospects you’re working with.
Once you’ve selected your email service and are ready to launch your campaigns or individual messages, take a final look through this checklist.
Campaigns generally have more than one email, while single sends are one email at a time. Verify that these settings are correct:
Review that the following items are included and appear the way you want:
Over time, your auto-send campaigns will accumulate data that can be used to adapt your strategy. If you aren’t familiar with some of the key metrics for email marketing, take a look at our blog post that reviews these metrics.
Testing can be applied to every part of your process, from the subject lines to the send time. It comes in two main formats: 1. A/B testing where your email service or some other tool splits the traffic into a control and test population, and 2. pre/post testing where you make a change, let it run for a given period, and compare performance after the change to performance in the period before. Platforms vary on how robust their A/B testing capabilities are.
Some easier tests include changing the subject line, adding/removing calls to action (CTAs), changing the send time, and adjusting the time between email sends within a campaign.
Some more in depth tests include altering the level of detail of the writing but keeping the overall content the same, getting more granular with user segmentation and creating new content for more specific groups, and changing the email frequency based on the level of engagement.
Effective email communication doesn't have to be a time-consuming burden that pulls you away from client strategy and portfolio management. Whether you're drawn to Salesforce's enterprise-level capabilities, Constant Contact's accessible pricing, or HubSpot's scalable features, the key is selecting a platform that aligns with your current needs while offering room for growth.
The automation strategies and compliance guidelines outlined in this guide provide a solid foundation, but success ultimately depends on how well you adapt these approaches to your unique client base. Start with one or two automated campaigns, establish your compliance processes, and gradually expand your email marketing sophistication as you see results.
If you haven't evaluated your current processes recently, now is an excellent time to assess whether your existing approach serves both your efficiency goals and clients' communication preferences. The investment in proper email marketing infrastructure pays dividends in time savings, stronger relationships, and ultimately a more scalable advisory practice.
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