Inboxes are full. Attention spans are short. And yet, many financial sales teams are still relying on email as their primary way to reach leads.
Here’s the hard truth: most of your prospects aren’t reading your emails.
If your open rates are underwhelming and responses are drying up, it’s not just you. It’s the channel.
This post explores why email has stopped working, and what modern financial sales teams are doing instead to get replies, book meetings, and convert leads faster.
The Decline of Email in Financial Sales
Email open rates across financial services are now hovering around 15–22% on average. But that’s just open rates—click-through and reply rates are often well below 2%.
Why? Because:
- Spam filters are stricter than ever
- Gmail buries your emails in the Promotions tab
- Your prospects get 100+ emails a day
- They’ve seen the same templates before
Even the best copy can’t save an email that never gets seen.
Your Prospects Are Reading—Just Not Email
The average person checks their phone 96 times a day. Text messaging is native, fast, and highly visible.
Compare this:
- Email open rate: ~20%
- SMS open rate: 90–98%
- Email response rate: ~2%
- SMS reply rate: 35–45%
If you’re trying to get attention, book calls, or re-engage cold leads, SMS wins every time.
What Financial Sales Teams Are Doing Instead
Modern firms, broker desks, and advisory teams are turning to SMS automation to:
- Book meetings
- Reconnect with unresponsive leads
- Send timely investment alerts
- Follow up after a pitch
- Qualify inbound interest faster
They use tools like WeAreSMS to schedule, personalise, and track responses—all without manually messaging one lead at a time.
Sample Use Cases That Work
1. Replacing the “Just Checking In” Email
Old: “Hi John, just following up to see if you’re still interested in the ISA product we discussed.”
New (SMS): “Hi John, just checking—still want to explore that ISA offer? Happy to send more details. Reply YES if interested.”
2. Time-Sensitive Investment Alerts
Old: Email campaign sent to full list. Open rate: 18%.
New (SMS): “New 5-yr bond just opened—min £100K. Reply YES for details. Txt STOP to opt out.”
3. Reactivating Dormant Leads
Old: “Haven’t heard from you in a while—do you still need support with your portfolio?”
New (SMS): “Still thinking about next steps with your investments? Quick call this week? Txt YES or NO.”
How to Get Started with SMS
You don’t need to abandon email completely—but if you’re serious about lead engagement, start layering in SMS.
Start with:
- Re-engagement campaigns
- Review reminders
- Lead qualification follow-ups
With WeAreSMS, you can:
- Upload your leads
- Use proven templates
- Automate replies and follow-ups
- Track responses and opt-outs
No dev team needed. No complex setup. Just faster conversations.
Final Thought
Email isn’t dead. But it’s not enough. If you’re still relying on cold emails to fill your calendar or drive conversions, you’re losing to teams who’ve already discovered SMS.
The fix is simple: test a message. One line. One reply. One meeting booked.
Try WeAreSMS. Start converting again.
