Most sales reps know that one of the keys to long-term success is to keep in touch with prospects and past clients. But when you’re pulled in a thousand different directions, keep-in-touch marketing can be one of the first things to suffer. Email marketing to the rescue!
Recent studies continue to prove that email is one of the most powerful and cost-effective marketing strategies available, with a far higher ROI than media darlings such as social media marketing.
According to a study by McKinsey, conversion rates to purchase are three times higher with email marketing than with social media, and 91 per cent of study participants used email on a daily basis. For real estate sales professionals, email marketing can be the “secret weapon” in your quest to build a referrals and repeat-based business. With the right tools it can be easy and cost-effective for any real estate professional.
Here are four simple tips on effective email marketing for real estate sales reps:
- Build your list of email addresses.
- Nurture leads with drip email campaigns.
- Keep in touch with a monthly e-newsletter.
- Analyze results using campaign reporting.
Many real estate agents have databases complete with home addresses and phone numbers but they’re missing email addresses. Remedy this by asking for email addresses as a regular part of your interaction with prospects and clients. Explain that the information you’ll send is informative and relevant. Should they no longer want to receive your emails, they can unsubscribe at any time.
A terrific option for collecting email addresses is to hold a draw for a gift card. Announce your draw on social media and have users send you their email addresses as their entry. Remember to ask for emails at open houses, listing presentations and when you’re at local events. Don’t forget that you must conform with Canada’s anti-spam legislation.
A drip email campaign is a series of pre-written email messages sent automatically over time. Drip emails are written for specific audiences such as buyer leads, seller leads, renters or FSBOs and are an amazingly efficient way of keeping in touch with both hot leads and longer term prospects. They save you from having to painstakingly type and send every email to each individual contact.
If you’re taking advantage of your CRM’s automated lead capture, you’ll get an immediate alert whenever a new lead is received so that you can contact the new lead before another Realtor does. You can also tell the system to automatically assign a drip email nurture campaign whenever a new lead is received, creating a true “set-it-and-forget-it” level of email marketing automation. Between your immediate phone call and your ongoing nurture email communications, you’re in great shape to convert that lead into a client whenever they’re finally ready to “make the move”.
A monthly e-newsletter is a great way to stay front of mind with past clients and important referral sources without cluttering their inbox. By providing high quality real estate related information, clients are assured that they’re working with a salesperson who’s not only looking to provide a service, but also to provide genuine value between transactions.
With e-newsletters, it’s important to send relevant information in every email. Regular communication by email ensures that your prospects and past clients remember your name, know that you’re still available, and keep your contact information handy.
The final step in effective email marketing is to understand what’s working and what’s not, and the best way to do that is using email campaign reporting.
How many people are opening your emails? How many are clicking which hyperlinks in your emails? Email campaign reporting can answer these questions – plus many more. It allows you to get a better understanding of your email campaigns at a high level, including who is opening your emails, clicking on them, and even forwarding them to others. Armed with this insight, you can easily identify the leads that are ready to move forward with buying or selling a home.
Email has proven to be the most powerful, cost-effective and pervasive marketing tool available to real estate agents. Prioritize email by building your list, keeping in touch with automated messages and analyzing results. Before you know it, the list of contacts looking forward to hearing from you will grow and your business will flourish.
Candace Green is the marketing manager for IXACT Contact Solutions Inc., a real estate CRM. In addition to overseeing many of IXACT Contact’s key sales and marketing programs, Candace works with real estate professionals to help them achieve their real estate goals through effective contact management and relationship marketing.
