Email marketing transforms wealth management for Simon Snelder

The company

Simon Snelder is a wealth manager based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates who consults with expats to help them achieve their financial goals. Originally, he worked with his family business, but eventually realized his passions lay elsewhere. Fascinated with the financial industry, Snelder loved engaging in conversations around investments. He spent time learning about the industry and studying its trends, and soon began his own wealth management consultancy.

"Getting the first few clients wasn't easy, but it was fulfilling to lay the foundation of my business," Snelder recalls. "Now my focus is on transcending my passion and giving my customers a positive experience with personal finance in such a way that it becomes easily understandable to them."

The challenge

When the COVID-19 pandemic brought the world to a standstill in 2020, Simon thought of taking the big leap with his business idea. He already had a website, so he decided to start up his masterclasses, videos, and newsletters. "I wanted to put my content out there," Snelder says. "After all, there was a boom in online content at that time. I was trying to do something different there. I wanted to establish contact with my prospects—especially those who liked my work." Snelder began his work in 2013 with real estate. Having acquired his MBA in Finance, Snelder knew he had a penchant for the financial sector, educated himself, and obtained several more certifications to build a expertise in that space.

Finding his niche segment was an altogether different game for Snelder. but he found it in expats in the UAE. "I just need them to be serious about their financials, or people who are beginning to take it seriously," Snelder says, "because I invest a lot of time and energy in them and want them to take this journey with utmost seriousness."

Eventually, Snelder began to reach out at regular intervals to get his message across to his audience. "I tried with different content mixes, like newsletters and videos and different social media platforms," Snelder says. "I found great effectiveness in LinkedIn for my target audience and saw a lot of benefit in sending out newsletters. It allows me to provide deeper insights." Initially, Snelder had chosen Mailchimp for his email marketing campaigns, but ultimately saw a need to scale up his business's potential.

Winning clients' confidence was one of the biggest challenges Snelder faced. After all, in the financial space, even top banks have been caught committing fraud. "It was important for me to show that I was genuine and truly cared for my clients," Snelder says. "In that sense, getting the initial clients was a challenge."

Snelder began on his home turf, in the Netherlands, beginning with just a few of his Dutch clients, who he was able to bring on board—but somewhere along the line, he realized his strategies weren't effective enough. "I used to write blogs and thought people would approach me. But for them to approach me, it was important for them to see the value I'd provide for them,"Snelder says. "I was also unable to keep the pace of newsletters steady." That's when Snelder became acquainted with Zoho Campaigns.

The solution

"With Mailchimp," Snelder recalls, "I realized many of the emails I sent weren't even being opened. So you put in all the effort, yet only a small percentage of your readers actually receive the email." A lot of his emails were getting stuck, and it struck him as unfair that he would invest his time and money into creating content, and yet subscribers who signed up for the newsletter didn't receive it due to issues with the intermediary service. It disrupted the entire process. "I don't face that problem with Zoho Campaigns," Snelder says. "Switching to Zoho has indeed made my email marketing easier." According to Snelder, the transition to Zoho Campaigns was quite easy, and he has no doubts that email marketing is here to stay as a crucial function of growing a business.

Snelder sees great value in email marketing when it comes to communicating detailed messages. "While I occasionally create deep-dive videos, I understand that not everyone has the time to watch them," he says. "So, in my newsletters, I include links to these longer videos and write comprehensive content about my stories or topics. This way, subscribers can read the email at their convenience, come back to it, and digest the information when they have time."

The benefits and ROI

Interestingly, Snelder finds Campaigns useful for additional reasons unrelated to email marketing. "I typically use Zoho Campaigns for various purposes," he says. "I segment my campaigns into two types: monthly newsletters and special campaigns focused on unique topics." Previously, Snelder sent reminders for webinars and invitations, but has since discontinued that practice, focusing instead on delivering educational and relevant content to his subscribers via special campaigns that occur every two to three months and offer exclusive content for his most engaged audience.

"Zoho Campaigns has revolutionized the way I work and communicate with clients," Snelder says. "It allows me to swiftly analyze data to see who's engaging with my emails. I can easily track who's clicking and opening them, enabling me to segment more quickly and send smaller batches to a wider audience. While I'm not currently a marketing professional, I recognize its necessity to broadcast my message effectively. I haven't ruled out the possibility of using more of its services in the future."

Looking ahead

Snelder works with a small team who help him streamline all of his daily activities, from his paper work and idea generation to video shoots and production. "In today's business landscape, being visible is crucial. No matter how excellent your product or service is, without proper marketing, it goes unnoticed. Technology aids efficiency, connectivity, and streamlining these efforts, which are vital for any business to thrive," says Snelder, who recognizes himself as someone who is constantly seeking new ways to scale and innovate.

"Apart from broadcasts—I've already produced over 25 episodes—I've expanded to platforms like Spotify and SoundCloud," Snelder says. "I aim to create longer, more engaging videos with occasional humorous investment-related sketches." His focus lies in enhancing financial literacy, educating people about alternative investments that outperform traditional ones, and generating better returns.

"I have customers in the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and North America. One good post-pandemic thing has been that one can jump on to any platform like Teams or Meet and discuss any topic with your clients—which might have called for a face-to-face meeting before. That has effectively changed today," Snelder says. "I'm consistently on the lookout for ways to improve and innovate in how I spread my message effectively."

To know more, visit Simon Snelder