Email marketing is a powerful tool that can help real estate professionals achieve their business goals. Despite the rise and popularity of mobile messaging and chat services, email is an important component of online life. The worldwide number of email users reached over 4 billion in 2020 and will continue to expand to 4.6 billion by 2025. This means you have a huge list of potential customers.
Plus, email marketing is relatively inexpensive and quite easy to set up. If you’re not using it already, here are some reasons to start:
Email marketing is still the gold standard when it comes to ROI. For every $1 invested, you get a whopping $36 in return.
With email marketing, you can maintain communication with your target market and keep them updated on what’s going on. By providing quality content regularly, you will gain their trust and build strong relationships, making them more likely to convert into customers.
Through segmenting your email list, you have complete control over who your target audience is. You may customize each individual message to match the needs and interests of a specific group of consumers.
In general, email marketing campaigns in the real estate industry tend to be well-received by recipients. In fact, email is the preferred method of contact with brands for 61% of consumers. This means that email marketing can be a great way to advertise properties and generate leads in the real estate sector.
By including a call-to-action in your emails, you can encourage recipients to take action, such as visiting your website or contacting you to learn more about your services.
According to a study, 92% of realtors use email to communicate with their customers on a regular basis. The competition is fierce. So let’s go through how to create the greatest real estate emails step by step.
Here are some of the ways you can build an email list with potential clients who have an interest in real estate:
With email marketing, you can communicate with your clients on a more personal level and tailor the messages to their specific needs.
Segment your subscribers into different categories if you want to extract the most out of them. By segmenting your list, you can send targeted content to specific groups, which in turn strengthens your relationships with them. Your audience will appreciate only receiving information that applies to them and is of value.
The quality of your email content is crucial in encouraging recipients to either click through the email or make a purchase. The content depends on the type of email campaign: you can choose from a variety of options such as welcome emails, follow-up emails, newsletters, or set a drip campaign.
Welcome emails
Welcome emails are an excellent way to build rapport with potential customers and introduce them to your company. They also have a high open rate, so they are likely to be seen by the recipient.
Follow-up emails
Follow-up emails can be sent to people who have recently purchased a property or viewed one that you are selling. This is an opportunity to ask for feedback or referrals. You can also use follow-up emails to try and re-engage with customers who have shown inactivity or disengagement with your brand.
Make an email (like an example below) or a series of emails that sends to past customers after a set amount of time following the deal’s closing. This email may be used to check in on how they’re settling in and whether they need any help moving out.
Newsletters
Newsletters or client stories are another way to keep your audience engaged. You can send these on a weekly or monthly basis, and they can include information about new listings, success stories from clients, or invitations to open house events. Sharing stories from satisfied customers is a great way to attract new business, as it helps to build trust and confidence in your company.
Here is a great example of a newsletter with a helpful guide:
Drip campaigns
All the above types of emails can be combined into a drip campaign chain. Drip campaigns are a series of automated emails that are triggered by a user’s behavior. For example, if someone signed up for your newsletter, you could send them a welcome email. If they then start negotiating a purchase, you could send them further emails about the process. However, if they do not purchase anything, you could send them a follow-up email to try and encourage them to engage with your company again.
Below is an example of a chain of emails from Zillow, from a welcome message and helpful tips and picks to a claim confirmation.
After you determine the types of emails to send, start writing a copy. To make your messages more effective, segment the emails and personalize them with tools that add recipients’ names.
Your email should start with a greeting, followed by interesting content that could include tips on purchasing or maintaining a house, trends in the real estate world, or information about new schemes and loans that the government offers. Again, the content of the email will depend on its type.
Once you have drafted your content, include an enticing call-to-action (CTA) button that tells the reader what the next step should be. Having a single CTA rather than multiple can increase clicks dramatically, up to 371%.
A well-designed email will help your message stand out and get noticed. Select an email template that is visually appealing and catches the eye, while also staying true to your brand’s aesthetic. It’s important to consider how your email will look on different screen sizes, so choose a responsive design.
Below is an example of a message with well thought out design and content. Houzz limited its email to a minimal amount of color for the font. Only green and gray dominate. The pictures are also matched to the tone of the fonts. The writing itself is broken up into blocks, making it easier for the reader to absorb the information. The important part of each block is emphasized by a header, which also helps to highlight the main thing in the text.
Now it’s time to start your email campaign. If you want to save time and effort, you can automate your emails by scheduling them in advance. This is especially useful if you have different groups of subscribers with different behaviors.
For example, if you don’t hear back from a customer after they make a purchase, sending them a follow-up message asking about their experience is always appreciated. This is known as a triggered email. ESPs like Selzy can help you effortlessly set up email campaign automation for more targeted interactions with subscribers.
Email marketing is constantly evolving, and one of the most important aspects of a successful campaign is tracking and testing. This allows you to see what elements are performing well and which need improvement. Find out what truly works for your clients by performing A/B testing on the email campaigns. Common variables that are tested include the subject line, CTA placement, email content length, and send time.
In the past, marketers would assess the success of an email by looking at the email click-through rate (CTR) and open rate. However, modern marketers also take engagement trends, long-term subscriber activity, and list health into account.
It’s important to track both ways in order to get the most accurate picture of your campaign’s success. Doing so will help you maximize your return on investment.
Although there isn’t one blueprint for success when it comes to email marketing, there are some key elements that every great campaign needs. In addition to guidance on segmentation, personalization, and incorporating a call-to-action, here are more top tips for ensuring your next email marketing campaign is a hit:
One of the most important things you can do to ensure the success of your email marketing campaigns is to keep your email list clean and well-maintained. This means regularly checking for bounced or invalid email addresses and removing them from your list.
As mentioned before, you should also segment your list so that you can send more targeted, relevant messages to your subscribers.
Email campaigns with great subject lines have a better chance of being successful. After all, if your subject line doesn’t interest the reader, they’re not going to open your email. By the way, statistics state that 33% of people who receive a message open it based solely on the subject line. So, make sure your subject line is short, sweet and to the point.
A large number of email opens (44,7%) happen on a mobile device, so it’s important to make sure that your messages are optimized for small screens. Use a responsive design template, or create a separate version of your newsletter specifically for mobile devices.
If your email looks like a novel, chances are high that subscribers will skim through it or delete it entirely. Keep your email content concise with a clear call-to-action (CTA) that recipients can understand and act on without having to read through paragraphs of text. The goal is to get recipients to take action, not to give them a novel’s worth of information. Too much copy will only overwhelm and discourage recipients from taking action.
In general, shorter emails perform better than longer ones. Keep your initial message concise – you can always go into more detail later.
If you’re in the business of selling houses, then you know that a big part of your success depends on your email marketing campaigns. Realtors who use email effectively can stay top-of-mind with their clients and prospects, and generate a steady stream of leads.
But coming up with fresh realtor email ideas week after week can be a challenge. If you’re feeling stuck, take a look at the following email examples from top realtors. These emails are sure to give you some inspiration for your own campaigns.
As a top realtor, you’re always looking for new leads and ways to stay in touch with your past clients. Why not add a welcome email campaign to your repertoire?
This welcome email from OpenAgent is the perfect way to introduce yourself to new leads. In the email, the company included a rating link to reviews and a brief overview of its services. The company took the time to explain how it works with clients and what they can expect from working with the brand. This is a great way to set expectations and build trust with your clients from the start.
If you’re a real estate agent, then you know how important it is to keep your clients up-to-date on the latest listings and updates. And what better way to do that than with an email?
Zillow provides all of the information that its clients may be searching for in the listings. The message contains pictures, price, square footage, and other data that would be useful to consumers.
A newsletter is always a good idea. A real estate newsletter can help you sell more by providing clients with market trends, property tips, news, and updates from your company. A monthly or bi-weekly newsletter keeps your name top-of-mind and helps clients stay informed.
The Zillow newsletter is a great example of nurturing relationships with potential clients and customers through helpful tips.
Email marketing is a powerful tool that can help real estate professionals achieve their business goals.
Building an effective email campaign for your real estate business doesn’t have to be complicated. Follow these simple steps: