A Comprehensive Guide to Real Estate Marketing Automation

What is real estate marketing automation?

Real estate marketing automation involves the use of technology to speed up and improve marketing tasks. Real estate marketing software can be used for a variety of tasks:

• Identifying and categorizing leads
• Creating email campaigns
• Engaging with potential buyers
• Crafting and managing ads
• Tracking website activity and user behavior
• Analyzing marketing and sales performance
• Predicting cash flow and sales, and more

All of this can be done quickly and efficiently, saving marketers time while helping them boost revenue.

Benefits of real estate marketing automation

In 2020, the majority of organizations (85%) have rapidly adopted digital technology. A large percentage of these firms (67%) have concentrated their efforts on making use of automation and artificial intelligence in marketing. 

Let’s explore some of these advantages in detail:

Improved process speed

Real estate marketing automation helps you do more in less time. It makes tasks like sending emails, scheduling on social media, and following up with leads faster and easier. With automation tools, agents can send personalized messages to a large number of prospects at the same time. This ensures timely and efficient communication.

Avoiding mistakes

Managing data sets by hand can be time-consuming and prone to mistakes because of its complex nature. Marketing automation can help reduce errors like typos made during manual entry. 

It also ensures that questions from clients get directed to the right person or team quickly. Having a system in place for handling communication through social media is important, so there is no ambiguity about who should be dealing with certain information.

Efficient management of paperwork

Marketing automation can save time for agents. It helps to organize paperwork related to marketing activities. Automation makes it easier to share documents with clients. It also offers an electronic signature feature to track agreements and contracts. This makes it much easier for marketers and agents to keep up with the demands of their industry.

Generating more leads

Lead generation is the lifeblood of any successful real estate business. The vast majority (97%) of people looking for a new home used the Internet as part of their search process. Marketing automation helps agents reach a wider audience and streamline their processes. Automated systems can send emails, track website visitors, and use analytics to find potential buyers and sellers. These systems also help create content that will make more people interested in the property which leads to more sales.

Types of software for automated real estate marketing

Real estate marketing automation tools are effective for establishing trust between buyers and sellers, identifying properties, and generating new leads. These tools streamline the real estate marketing process and come in different types of software, each designed to maximize efficiency.

CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software

Real estate CRM is a tool that helps real estate companies and agents of all sizes manage their relationships with customers. It assists in organizing customer data and tracking interactions between the business and its clients. Below you’ll find a helpful video on how to choose a CRM for real estate services, as well as how to get the most out of it.

CRM systems can be used to automate a variety of marketing tasks:

Automation of different marketing channels

Marketing channels are various methods you use to reach your target audience. For example, your company may use email, social media, SMS, and other channels to engage with customers. When these channels are integrated into a CRM system, you can keep track of all customer interactions in one place. 

Let’s say you sent an email to your client and he clicked through to your website. The CRM system will automatically log that interaction and add it to the customer’s profile. Then, the system can automatically send a personalized message to the customer’s social media, reminding them of an unfinished cart on your site.

This automation approach allows you to optimize communications and create personalized marketing campaigns across multiple channels.

Handling customer feedback and requests

Nearly 46% of customers anticipate an email response from businesses within one hour. This is too long and should be shortened as much as possible. Utilizing marketing automation can quicken the speed of responses to inquiries. When a customer clicks on an advertisement, lead response automation will send a message right away with no delay. A CRM system can be set up to send out pre-written marketing messages at specific times. This helps reduce the waiting time for communication, resulting in faster sales.

CRM can help you handle missed requests that occurred due to different reasons. For example, the client called after hours or all employees were busy. By checking the CRM, you can easily access information about all missed requests and start working on them right away.

Automation of customer engagement

The use of customer engagement strategies in marketing and sales has become increasingly important, with more companies (80%) investing in automation tools for this purpose. In the future, AI chatbots will be a key tool for attracting customers. Chatbots are used to save time and resources when engaging with potential clients, and they can be integrated into current CRM systems as well as websites. 

Chatbots are responsive, tireless, and give the customer answers to all their questions. For example, a chatbot can work according to the following scheme: 

1. It sends a welcome message to everyone who clicked on the Facebook ad. 
2. Next, it offers to learn more about the offer.
3. It learns more about the client’s needs and offers exactly what he needs. 
4. If the user shows real interest, the chatbot connects them to a real estate agent who finalizes the deal. 
5. The chatbot sends all the information collected during communication to the company’s CRM so that the agent can work with it.

Enhancing client relationships through automated communication

Maintaining a relationship with past customers is essential. If the collaboration was prosperous, past clients may give you a good review and reach out again to request new real estate properties. Automated marketing follow-ups can be a helpful tool for keeping in contact and sending scheduled emails to leads according to various criteria. A real estate CRM system has this built-in feature.

Email marketing software

Email remains a popular way of communication between real estate agents and their customers, as it is trusted by 93% of them. To effectively generate leads, sending emails is the best marketing strategy. Email marketing provides the opportunity to communicate at all stages of the transaction – from the welcome letter to the moment clients sign the documents when they buy/rent a home. With the help of emails, the company stays in touch with potential customers, gives them answers to typical questions and objections, fuels interest and gradually leads them to purchase.

Ad management software

Around 17% of Facebook users keep tabs on businesses and corporations, while over 78% of American citizens use the platform to find out about various products. 63% of agents use social media for promoting listings, with a significant 90% of them selecting Facebook as their preferred platform. As such, advertising through Facebook is highly effective. Not only does it have the potential to reach large numbers of people, but it also allows companies access to valuable user data that can be used for targeting purposes.

Ad management marketing tools can be used to:

• Target potential customers
• Send out email campaigns across various social media networks
• Analyze the return on investment (ROI) of ads and track customer behavior. 

Additionally, these tools are often compatible with CRM systems to identify the most effective advertisements.

Customer experience software

Customer experience software helps agents manage client interactions and enhance satisfaction throughout the buying or selling process. It helps them communicate, remember to follow up and get feedback on how they can do better. 

Such a software can provide valuable insights into the performance of brokers, as well as  identify areas for improvement. The software can generate reports on metrics such as response times, conversion rates, customer satisfaction levels, and more. This data can be used to better manage resources and ensure that clients receive the best possible service.

Lead nurturing software

Lead nurturing involves being in contact with potential customers as they move through the sales funnel. Companies can nurture their leads by using automated techniques, such as email campaigns, to deliver timely and relevant information to them. This helps guide leads down the funnel toward a conversion. Drip email marketing tools are especially helpful for this purpose.

A solid open house marketing program lets businesses easily promote the open house as well as automatically follow up with potential buyers afterward. Agents can collect the emails of everyone who visits the website. Then lead nurturing for marketing and send automated follow-up emails later. It also provides real-time reporting about the lead nurturing process.

Property management

Property management software simplifies tasks such as rent collection, maintenance tracking, and communication with tenants. These software solutions centralize property data, automate processes, and provide comprehensive analytics.

Real estate automated marketing tips and best practices

Here are some best practices for using automated marketing in your real estate business:

Segment your leads

One of the key strategies for successful real estate automated marketing is lead segmentation. This means sorting potential customers into different groups based on their needs, age, or the stage of the buying or selling process. 

Segmentation helps agents send emails and content that match different types of people. For example, emails for first-time homebuyers can be different from emails for real estate investors or sellers looking to downsize. By understanding what each group needs, agents can provide helpful information and be someone they trust when it comes to real estate.

Use lead magnets

Lead magnets are valuable resources or incentives that you offer to potential leads in exchange for their contact information. They are an effective way to attract and capture leads in the real estate industry. Lead magnets can take various forms, such as e-books, guides, checklists, or access to exclusive market reports.

When creating lead magnets, it is important to make sure that the content is helpful and related to what your target audience needs. Lead magnets should also help them with things they are struggling with. For example, you could offer a comprehensive guide on the home-buying process or a checklist for preparing a property for sale. By offering valuable resources, you can not only capture leads but also position yourself as an expert in the industry.

Below is a clear example of a lead magnet that targets a specific audience: first-time home buyers:

Work out the sales funnels

A sales funnel is a visual representation of the buyer’s journey, from the initial awareness stage to the final conversion. When you make a map of your sales funnel, it helps you understand how people become customers and what needs to be improved. If you don’t know how to build an email marketing funnel and its different stages or how prospects move through it, you may miss out on valuable opportunities to optimize your marketing and sales efforts.

In real estate, a typical sales funnel may include stages such as lead capture, lead nurturing, property viewing, negotiation, and closing the deal. By optimizing each stage of the sales funnel, you can increase your chances of converting leads into satisfied clients. For example, you can automate a real estate follow-up email after a property viewing. Or you can send personalized offers based on a lead’s preferences.

Take care of security issues

Using any type of technology can pose a potential security risk. And this is true for real estate marketing automation systems too. These systems typically store a wealth of sensitive information, including client contact details, property listings, financial data, and transaction histories. If these systems are not adequately protected, there is a risk of unauthorized access or data breaches. So, it’s important to take steps to mitigate these risks. 

When using real estate marketing automation systems, be sure that you use an encrypted internet connection when accessing your account. Make sure to use a secure HTTPS/SSL connection when conducting business and avoid using public Wi-Fi networks that are not secure. This will help prevent any unauthorized users from intercepting sensitive data or information stored in the system. 

Make sure you are using a secure login with multi-factor authentication. Multi-factor authentication adds an extra layer of security, requiring users to enter additional information (like a code sent via text message or email) to log in to their accounts. 

Keep all software and hardware up-to-date with the latest patches and fixes. This will help ensure that any known security vulnerabilities are patched up, reducing the risk of an attack on your system.

Engage with your customers

Maintain a personal touch and engage with your customers. Automated marketing can facilitate this by enabling personalized interactions and timely follow-ups.

Use automation tools to send personalized emails, birthday greetings, or holiday wishes to your clients. There are many real estate email ideas that you can use to inform and engage your customers. 

Add chatbots to your website or social media pages. This will help you answer people’s questions right away. Use technology to see what your customers like and give them better advice. Talk to customers so they have a good experience and so they might recommend your business to other people.

Final thoughts

Real estate marketing automation is the use of software to automate marketing tasks. It helps save time and money while optimizing marketing efforts.

Different types of software are available for real estate marketing automation, such as CRM software, email marketing software, customer experience software, etc.

There are several best practices for utilizing automated marketing in real estate:

• Categorizing leads based on specific criteria to deliver targeted content and personalized communication.
• Creating valuable resources or incentives to attract and capture leads. 
• Mapping out an email marketing funnel to help optimize each stage of the buyer’s journey. 
• Prioritizing data security to protect sensitive information. 
• Engaging with customers through personalized interactions and timely follow-ups to build strong relationships and increase referrals and repeat business.