The insurance industry can be challenging to attract new clients or retain existing customers, as it is highly competitive. Insurance companies must find ways to reach their target audience and communicate their value proposition from many available options.
Cold email is still one of the most effective ways to generate insurance leads and start valuable conversations with prospects. It has many benefits, like hyper-personalization, cost-effectiveness, research-based segmentation, value-driven content, etc, when it comes to naturally reaching prospects.
Let’s explore the role of cold email for commercial insurance prospects, laws and regulations for cold emails in different countries, how to craft a cold email to reach commercial insurance prospects, and more.
What Is Cold Email for Commercial Insurance?
A cold email is a communication method for sending a message to a business prospect that you don’t know or haven’t interacted with before. Reach out to those directly through a cold email by personalizing the message to show you have done the research.
The main goal is to make the first contact. Offer insurance products or services that might interest the prospect, and take the conversation to the next stage. It is an effective way to make the company name well-known, especially in the B2B landscape.
Cold email is one of the best strategies and first lead generation methods when it comes to sales prospecting. Collect the email addresses by doing online research and focusing on businesses and prospects that fit the buyer persona. Therefore, effortlessly reach decision-makers who actually control policy decisions, such as business owners, Chief Financial Officers, financial directors, HR managers, etc.
Cost Effective
Regardless of company size or budget, cold emailing is an affordable approach. It helps businesses get recognized by people who are genuinely interested in insurance services.
Flexible to Respond
Recipients can easily respond to the cold emails at their convenient time. It doesn’t get ignored because the recipient can respond to the email without any interruption, unlike cold calls.
Increased Brand Awareness
Easily generate commercial Insurance leads by promoting your company’s strengths, features, and benefits through efficient cold emails. Get recipients familiar with the insurance offer while building a sense of trust and reliability.
Personalize Your Messaging
Contact prospects with cold emails who fit the customer profile. Add a personal touch that resonates with the targeted audience, improving response rates.
Is Cold Email Legal for Commercial Insurance? Laws and Regulations
Cold email is one of the most widely used modern outreach methods and a powerful marketing tool to start conversations for business purposes, like commercial insurance. However, it is often confused with spam, since it is an unsolicited email that is sent to someone with no prior contact.
It is legal to send cold emails. However, it depends on the approach and compliance with many cold email regulations worldwide.
It is necessary to follow cold email marketing regulations for commercial insurance, like the CAN-SPAM Act in the U.S, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union and the UK, Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL), Australia’s Spam Act, etc, to avoid being spam. These laws direct how businesses can send unsolicited emails without violating privacy rights.
CAN-SPAM Act (United States)
This federal law was enacted in 2003. It applies to all commercial emails and makes sure that recipients can opt out of receiving emails. It also summarizes the penalties in case of violations.
- Use the right header information. “From, “To, and “Reply-To” should reflect the identity.
- The subject line should not be fake and should deliver the content of the message.
- Email must contain a valid physical postal address. This can be the company’s address, or a P.O. box registered with the U.S Postal Service.
- Add a clear and easy-to-find option for the receivers so that they can opt out of future emails anytime.
GDPR (The European Union and the UK)
This law became active in 2018 and has regulated cold emails in the European Union and the UK since then. It states that commercial insurance businesses must get prior consent before sending unsolicited emails to individuals.
- Send cold emails for valid reasons that align with the recipient’s business or professional interests.
- Get their clear agreement through an opt-in form to receive emails from you.
- Perform a 3-step Legitimate Interest Assessment to process personal data, like names and email addresses.
Provide an easy way for the recipients to opt out of future emails, like an unsubscribe option.
CASL (Canada)
Canada has strict rules and regulations in place, like CASL, which is related to cold emails and other commercial messages. It has been in effect since 2014. This applies to everyone, like individuals, businesses, non-profit organizations, etc.
- The recipient’s consent is necessary before sending cold emails or any other commercial electronic messages under CASL.
- It can either be expressed or implied. They can sign up through a form or make their information public without indicating that they don’t want to receive unsolicited messages.
- Cold email must contain a clear sender identification, like company name, email address, contact information, etc.
Add a clear, easy-to-use unsubscribe option to cold emails.
Spam-Act (Australia)
Australia’s anti-spam laws have been in effect since 2003. It regulates unsolicited emails and protects its consumers. It’s important to get the recipient’s expressed or implied consent before sending any commercial insurance email.
- Aim for securing expressed consent. Use a sign-up form or a similar method to make sure recipients explicitly agree to receive cold emails.
- Cold emails must have the correct information about the sender, like business name, a valid postal address, or contact information.
- Add an unsubscribe option for the recipients for an easy opt-out from future cold emails.
Avoid misleading or false content in the emails, like fake subject lines or inaccurate claims.
How to Cold Email Your Commercial Insurance Prospects?
Cold email is a way to directly communicate with the target audience. Your agency can build trust and establish itself as an industry expert by providing valuable content and educational resources related to insurance. It also helps to increase brand awareness and generate more qualified leads.
It can be challenging to stand out in crowded inboxes while building trust around complex insurance products. That’s why you should know how to cold email commercial insurance prospects with the right cold email strategy to transform the prospects into policyholders and one-time clients into lifelong customers.
Create creative cold email campaigns by targeting the right audience, personalizing content, using attention grabbing subject lines with responsive layouts, while keeping the content short.
Research Your Prospects and Segment Your List
Know the audience before sending them a relevant and engaging cold email. Effective cold emailing should build on relevance, like identifying decision-makers, understanding their pain points, and more.
- Identify Decision Makers
Look for specific people who handle insurance decisions, like the Chief Financial Officer, HR manager, or Chief Executive Officer. Find prospects by using the industry, company, job title, etc.
- Research Their Business
Also, look for their recent company successes, like a new location, a merger, or expansion into a new market. Use such information to hook the email.
- Understand Their Pain Points
Research their challenges that are specific to their industry. Let’s say a construction company can have different insurance needs and alarms than a tech startup.
Craft Compelling Subject Lines
The subject line is the first thing that the receiver will see. It will grab their attention and get your emails opened quickly. Personalize the subject lines by focusing on a pain point, referring to a common connection, etc.
- Personalize at Scale
The subject line should be more informative and focus on clear value propositions. Use snippets, like {{First Name}}, or {{Company name}}, to be more personalized and targeted.
- Focus on Pain Point
The subject line should be specific. Focus on a particular pain point or specific risk relevant ot their business.
Example
“Is your [industry] business prepared for this sudden risk?”
- Refer to a Common Connection or Event
Pinpoint the exact message that resonates with the audience in the subject line. Try mentioning a mutual connection or asking a question to test which one gets the best open rates.
Example
“[Mention connection] recommended I get in touch.”
“[First name] saw your recent expansion”.
Write Concise Email Body
Keep the email short and noticeable. Just get to the point quickly. It is because the time will be very short to capture the prospect’s attention. Lead with the most compelling piece of information.
- Opener
Start with a highly personalized and relevant hook. Mention a key finding during the research to show the effort.
- Value Proposition
Follow with a clear and concise statement to highlight how the solutions provide value. Focus on the benefits, like reduced costs, simplified processes, etc, not just mentioning the features of the service.
- Call to Action (CTA)
Keep the request simple with low commitment. Always ask for permission to share more information, not just for a 30-minute meeting.
Subject: Prospecting [Company Name] from [Specific Risk]
Hi,
I saw on [LinkedIn/Company Website] that [Company Name] is [mention specific trigger event,e.g., “expanding into new facilities”, or launching a new project].
That’s exciting news, and it often brings you new risks to manage. For example, we’ve helped other [Prospect’s industry] companies navigate [mention a risk relevant to their news,e.g., ‘New liability exposures with larger distribution’, or challenges with cyber coverage for a new online platform”].
I’d like to share how we helped a similar company [ mention result,e.g., reduce their premium by 15% while expanding coverage].
Would you be open to a brief 15-minute call next week to see if we can identify any potential gaps or savings for [Company Name]?
Best Regards,
[ Name]
[Title]
[Insurance Agency Name]
[ Phone Number]
Final Words
From the earlier discussion, we explained that thriving in the insurance business depends on stronger client relationships. Cold email, if it is executed well with precision and empathy, it can be a powerful strategy to initiate them.
Effective cold outreach emails need careful planning and personalization, like segmenting the audience, crafting a precise email body with a compelling subject line, complying with laws and regulations, etc, when you’re writing for commercial insurance prospects. These are not just theoretical, but are actionable steps that you can implement today and speak directly to the prospect’s core concerns.
