Even in the age of social media, a good email marketing campaign carries unique value. Email marketing is a popular segment of internet marketing that helps businesses develop a direct relationship with their potential clients. With over 5.6 billion active email accounts, a well-thought-out email campaign can generate a revenue turnaround of $42 for every $1 spent. What’s more – email marketing is accessible for all age groups, extremely affordable for marketing companies, and offers an ROI as high as 4400%!!
You can use email marketing for your real estate business to develop personalized brand awareness through one-on-one marketing and drive your real estate customer’s loyalty at every stage of the buyer journey—from lead-nurturing, conversion, onboarding, to retention. Meeting your clients directly in their inboxes can do wonders for your real estate business, provided it is done right. Let’s learn the basics of email marketing for real estate marketing companies:
Firstly, How Should You Send Your Emails?
While you may be thinking that you can simply send emails through your regular inbox (it is technically possible, but….), you’re better off going with an Email Service Provider (ESP). An ESP like Mail Chimp, or an independent email marketing platform like Constant Contact, SendinBlue, Drip and many others, is software that sends and manages email marketing campaigns. This ensures you do not run into problems with limited email bandwidth, design, and more importantly, email deliverability. An ESP will also ensure your emails do not get marked as spam. If you want to set your real estate business up for email marketing success from day one, get yourself a dedicated email marketing service!
Make Email Marketing Work For You
Everyone knows that to be a successful broker or agent you have to maintain and grow your client base. Email marketing systems (EMSs) are a good way to save, sort, and segment your contacts while having full control over your list and the message you want to convey. Best of all, with an EMS you can automate your email marketing campaign so that your message keeps penetrating the right audience while you focus on sales and managing your business.
Here are some ways to make email marketing work well for your real estate business:
- Start with an actionable welcome: A welcome email is a great way to introduce both cold and warm leads to your services. It thanks new subscribers for opting-in, outlines the content they will be receiving and announces your strengths as a realtor. No matter how you design your welcome email, make sure it’s clear and actionable. Ask your readers to schedule a phone call or meeting, connect on social media, or even “white-list” you so that your emails don’t end up in the spam folder.
- Add value with a newsletter full of relevant and interesting content: Establish yourself as an expert in the local real estate market by sharing think-pieces, information about upcoming events and local attractions, open houses, and mortgage news and advice. Conveying important and helpful information to your readers will keep you top of mind while featuring your realty services.
In addition to relaying important information, newsletters should be short, easy-to-read, and shareable. Make sure you utilize all your digital options and include videos, images, infographics and other media content to produce an engaging email.
- Nurture your buyers’ decision-making process:Don’t leave your readers hanging! Check-in periodically to find out your buyers’ current needs through customized emails and questionnaires.
- Captivate interested sellers with emails:Sellers want to know what their home is worth and whether or not you’re the right person to trust with its sale. Emails are a great starting point to engage interested sellers, with the end goal being an in-person meeting to discuss their needs in-depth. Keep in mind that 70% of home sellers interview just one agent before signing a contract!
- Keep former clients in mind to promote lead generation:Referrals are the mainstay of a real estate agent’s business. The NAR states that 40% of buyers and 38% of home sellers choose realtors that have been referred to them by a neighbor, friend, or relative. Therefore, you need to plan carefully when marketing to former customers. Customize your emails to provide them with content they will find valuable or meaningful, such as information about local events or greeting cards.
- Maintain the connection using automation:If a prospect opts in to your email newsletter, requests information online, or takes some other action on your website, send them an automated email with a personalized subject line in order to stand out. Research indicates that consumers are 50% more likely to open an email with a personalized subject line, yet only 2% of emails employ this technique when sending out emails (Yes Marketing, 2017).