Email Marketing

Time and again, email marketing is shown to be one of the most powerful marketing tactics for real estate agents and brokers. Although email marketing is used in a wide variety of industries — in fact, adoption is nearly universal for online enterprises — it is uniquely suited for real estate.

This fact is based on two important reasons:

• Done right, email marketing costs only a few cents and takes minutes to oversee each month
• It is the most personal and personable way to maintain relationships with your current leads

Let's take a closer look at how email marketing shapes the competitive landscape in real estate.

Email Marketing Is a Superior Financial Investment

All in all, email marketing is the most cost-effective approach to marketing, online and off. Once it's set up, it costs less than $10 a month. Just as importantly, expert analysis shows that it yields over $30 ROI on average for every dollar spent. There is simply nothing else that even comes close.

That figure has every potential to be even higher for real estate agents. Under ideal conditions, a single transaction can lead to tens of thousands of dollars in commission. By comparison, the money spent on email marketing is nearly nil. With the right software, the time investment can also be near zero.

Email Marketing Fixes Agents' "Invisible Problem"

Real estate agents have a unique strategic problem: Most of the people who can move their business forward are invisible. That is, the vast majority of people you meet won't be ready to jump into a new transaction with you right away, while those who are "nearly" ready have no reason to speak up.

Traditionally, agents have tried to overcome this problem by networking relentlessly. If they meet a hundred people a day, the law of averages dictates that they will find ready business. But with email marketing, you can build a relationship by keeping subscribers on your list until they are ready.

Not Everyone Gets Results from Email Marketing – Here's Why

As valuable as email marketing is, not everyone is succeeding with it.

From the outside, email marketing can look like a lot of work. And social media, which also provides plenty of business to many real estate brands, is more flashy and attractive. But if you only use one digital marketing method — or only have time for one right now – you should start with email.

Done right, email augments your real estate website to turn it into an asset that's always working for you. No matter if you're awake or asleep, 24 hours a day, your email marketing can ensure subscribers receive value and learn precisely what you can do for them, positioning you as a trusted advisor.

The biggest reasons email marketing flounders are simple:

• Not knowing who your ideal customer is
• Not dividing your email list into segments
• Not following up with individual subscribers

Master these, and your email will transform visitors into leads and leads into customers.

How to Revitalize Your Email Marketing

• Use Single-Purpose Landing Pages to Capture Data
  When you show a listing through your own website, you gain the capacity to collect a user's email so they can register their interest in a property. Expand this idea as much as possible. Create purpose-built pages for events like open houses, webinars, and more. Offer compelling bonuses, like a local market report, to give people an incentive to join your list. In effect, grow your list as much as you can.
  
  
• Target Your Emails to Your Audience
  You can't make the shift from "chasing down leads" to having business come to you unless you have a rock-solid idea about exactly who you serve and how. Clarify who your ideal customer is — that is, the kind of customer who energizes you and moves your business forward. Using your insight into their unique problems, needs, questions, and background, create messaging that nobody else could.
  
  
• Segment Your Emails by Customer Stage
  Everyone who becomes a customer goes through a buyer journey. They start with a problem or question and the need to resolve it; that's often the motivation to visit your website and sign up for your list. Then they become a lead, a customer, and hopefully, a brand supporter. What's relevant to a current lead is irrelevant to a past customer, so make sure you have "mini-lists" (segments) for each profile.
  
  
• Automate Your Email Marketing Efforts
  Last, but certainly not least, automation is the key to making email seamless. Instead of constantly writing and refining content, you can set things up once with confidence. From there, automated systems like those in your DeltaNET®6 all-in-one real estate solution will help you collect emails, dispatch messages, and follow up.

Contact us to discover more about making email marketing easy.

Most people know more than one real estate agent. Likewise, even if they know you well, the majority of people you connect with aren't ready to jump into the market: If you're lucky, they'll be thinking about it. A final decision could be weeks or months away.

What should a real estate agent do in the meantime?

The traditional answer is "follow up." And while following up is important, it's a little too vague on its own to be useful. What's the best, most effective way to maximize the power of your follow-up while saving precious hours of the day? The answer is email marketing.

By turning first-time website visitors into email marketing subscribers, you ensure that you can connect with them on a regular basis. Providing helpful, informative content through email helps you reach your goals while enabling your leads to do the same. That positions you as a trusted adviser.

Alternatives like phone calls and in-person visitors are interruptive and demanding of both your time and the lead's. On the other hand, an email can be dispatched in seconds. Using the power of email marketing automation, you can speak to a thousand people as easily as just one.

The Biggest Mistake Real Estate Agents Make with Email Marketing

Email marketing is believed by many experts to be the digital marketing technique with the highest ROI. It only takes pennies a month to maintain your email campaign, but you can inspire action that results in thousands of dollars in commissions or referral business.

That said, your emails must be precise to be powerful. If you are sending out email without a clear plan in mind, your results are likely to be disappointing. Those early disappointments can lead you to think a robust approach to email isn't worth the necessary effort.

Get through the initial setup phase, however, and your real estate marketing CRM can shoulder much of the work for you afterwards. The most important thing is to avoid the most common mistake in email marketing. If this mistake is baked into your assumptions, it can hold back your entire campaign.

The mistake is this: Believing your email marketing is only about your listings.

Yes, your listings can and should be a part of your email marketing. Especially if you know enough about a lead to understand their priorities and expectations for their next home, a targeted list of properties is a value-add. But it shouldn't be the only thing in your email marketing strategy.

To distinguish yourself from all the others out there, you need to go above and beyond.

That means sharing helpful, informative content laser targeted to each lead.

How to Bring Your Real Estate Email Marketing Strategy to the Next Level

No matter if you're just getting started with email or you've had it going for a while without seeing the results you want, it's not too late to make it work for you. Email has the potential to influence readers and inspire them to reach out to you, helping fill your schedule with less work on your part.

Here's how to strengthen your email results:

• Develop a Compelling Lead Magnet
  A lead magnet is a sophisticated piece of content that helps the reader to solve a problem or answer a question. People agree to join your email list in exchange for access. One useful lead magnet is a market analysis of the local area. A neighborhood comparison is another. As a DeltaNET customer, you'll be able to create a white-labeled Market Watch Report any time and receive it in a matter of minutes.
  
  
• Segment Your List by Buyer Persona
  Who is your ideal customer? Even if you have only one very specific customer persona — say, first-time homebuyers — you will still need three segments: One for leads, one for current customers, and one for those whose transaction is complete. Segmenting your list helps ensure the information each subscriber receives is relevant to their needs. It also makes your list part of your customer retention.
  
  
• Use Video to Tease Website Content
  Video is the most popular content online today. Most people greatly prefer it to text content, and they will even rank it over still photos and other visuals. By embedding a short video in your email, you can greatly raise the odds that readers will click through to view an article or a listing.
  
  
• Turn Subscribers into Contacts
  Although you can't control the timing of a buy or sale, you can nudge subscribers so they can get off the fence sooner. Be sure you are publicizing events like open houses, giving subscribers opportunities to take the next step. The more action they take, the more likely they are to become customers.

Contact us to discover how DeltaNET technology can help your email campaigns.

One of the most powerful digital marketing approaches is also the least expensive.

Once you set it up, email marketing costs only pennies a month. With an all-in-one real estate solution like DeltaNET®6, you automate the process. That leads to a constant flow of targeted emails that deepen relationships with your prospects, leads, and current customers.

Not sure email is right for you? Experts estimate email offers more than $30 of ROI for each dollar spent. With email, you have the power to inspire your potential customers, helping them get off the fence and onto the market.

Some real estate agents worry about rules and regulations that apply to email marketing. Luckily, all the compliance issues are handled by your CRM as long as it's configured correctly. That gives subscribers a one-click solution for unsubscribing, which represents the bulk of your responsibilities.

In exchange for this little bit of digital housekeeping, you can leverage a powerful opportunity to stay in contact with your entire network all at once — providing targeted, valuable content to each individual on your list based on their specific needs and interests.

That helps you transform your brand and position as a true local authority.

What Email Marketing Drip Campaigns Are and Why They Work

When you look at email marketing as part of your overall digital marketing strategy, you will probably see the term "drip campaign" frequently. A drip campaign consists of emails you send on a regular basis, typically once a week, but sometimes every two weeks or once a month.

With a drip campaign, you are consistently staying in touch. Each subscriber gets useful, informative content that helps them make informed decisions. At the same time, they become more familiar with your brand and what you can do for them.

For a drip campaign to be successful, there are some key aspects to be aware of:

Email List Segmentation

Segmentation means creating smaller "sub-lists" within your email marketing list to ensure the right people get the right information every time. One of the most obvious examples is having a segment catering to would-be homebuyers and a separate segment for those who have completed the buy.

With email list segmentation, you can laser-target each person's questions and worries wherever they are in the process. Segmentation enables you to get more repeat business than you otherwise would and centralizes the process of asking for referrals, too.

Email Timing

Most email subscribers are recruited through the content on your website, though some may join your list through a current home listing or after signing up for an open house. Whatever the case, it's crucial to set expectations upfront, so they are opting in with complete consent.

If you promise emails once a week, email only once a week. Change things up only in the most serious of circumstances. When people understand what to expect, they are less likely to unsubscribe since they trust you to do exactly what you said you would do.

Another aspect of timing is sending out your emails when your target audience is most likely to be active. You can optimize these settings directly from your CRM. For most working adults, online activity jolts upward around lunchtime and again in the early evening after work.

Calls to Action

Every piece of content, from your blog posts to your individual emails, is meant to inspire action in some way. Most blogs will direct people to sign up for your social media or email, for example. Your email, in turn, usually focuses on getting people to call you for the first time to set up an appointment.

You make this explicit with a call to action or CTA. A CTA can be very simple — "add to cart" is probably the most common one along with "call us today." Each email should have one CTA, though it can be repeated throughout the text if the message is long. Without it, most people simply will not take action.

Limited Time Offers (LTOs)

Limited time offers (or LTOs) are common in retail and other industries, but they need a special spin to work in real estate. It makes sense when you take a step back and look at it strategically: The point of an LTO is to motivate people by giving them a sense of scarcity. The same can be done with your listings.

When you have a hot listing that you know will stand out, promote it to those in your list you know are looking in the area. You can make it even more effective by using a video walkthrough or virtual tour to help them see for themselves just what makes the property special.

Contact us today to get started with email marketing drip campaigns from digital marketing experts.

Email marketing continues to rank near the top of the charts for real estate agents who want to quickly, consistently and effectively reach a large pool of prospects with targeted, relevant content that converts. Whether you're new to email marketing or want to modernize your existing strategy, success starts with having a clear, detailed plan for reaching your goals. Here's how to unlock your email marketing potential, improve conversion rates and save tons of time in the process.

While there are many effective real estate marketing channels, few can boast the wide user base and nearly universal integration of email. No matter the demographic you wish to reach, chances are that they have an email account and check it every day. With the right tactics, you can turn email marketing into a consistent, reliable source of leads and a powerful tool to convert those leads into clients.

Start with a Consistent Schedule for Email Marketing

Email marketing works best when you choose a schedule and send emails regularly. When a new contact joins your email list, that schedule typically starts with a welcome sequence, during which you send a series of automated emails over the course of a few days to introduce yourself. These emails often have some of the highest open rates and are critical to establishing yourself with each contact.

Over time, the emails may become less frequent but should still adhere to a regular schedule. Basically, you don't want to overwhelm your audience, but you don't want them to forget about you, either. Most agents find that scheduling a few emails a week per contact is the best way to strike the right balance.

Segment Your Email List

Unlocking your email marketing potential requires sending the right messages, to the right people, at the right time. That's why it's so important to segment your email list based on the needs of your audience. This might mean segmenting based on whether a prospect is a buyer or seller, as well as whether this is their first time buying/selling a home. You can also segment based on the location where they're shopping, the type of real estate they're searching for, or any other key factor that helps you differentiate your target audience.

Be Informative and Personable

In order to keep your open rates high and have the best chance of converting, you need to provide email content that your audience wants to see. The good news is that if someone has opted into your email marketing, they're clearly seeking information on real estate. Your job is to make your email marketing as informative as possible, based on the needs of each segment of your audience.

Just as importantly, you want your email marketing to be personable and avoid the hard sale. While the ultimate goal of email marketing is to generate new business, your audience wants to be informed rather than pitched. Including a call-to-action at the end of your email is a good thing, but turning the whole email into a call-to-action is a mistake to avoid.

Leverage the Power and Time-Saving Benefits of Automation

We've stressed the importance of keeping a regular email marketing schedule and sending the right content at just the right time. Email drip campaigns make it easy to accomplish both goals while saving time with automation. Set up automated, informative campaigns that help nurture leads over time, tailored to buyers, sellers, first-time buyers, and prospects at every stage of their journey.

Integrate Social Proof

Integrating social proof into your email marketing is a great way to boost conversion rates and show prospects what your current clients have to say about your real estate services. For email, including testimonials is usually the best way to integrate social proof. Ideally, the testimonials that you include will be relevant to the segment of your audience that you're trying to reach.

Don't Forget About Your Clients

Speaking of those current clients, you don't want to forget about them when it comes to email marketing. Following up after a purchase or sale is simply good business and shows clients that you're still there for them after closing day. It's also a great way to generate referrals, as well as social proof that you can integrate into your real estate website, email marketing, and social media marketing.

Take Your Marketing to the Next Level with DeltaNET®6

The right real estate CRM makes it easy to boost your marketing, generate more leads, and save time by automating marketing tasks without sacrificing quality. DeltaNET®6 simplifies email marketing with email drip campaigns, AI-driven email newsletters, bulk email blasts, customizable eCards, and email templates that make it easy to send personalized messages for any occasion.

Email marketing is essential to real estate success, and its importance is growing.

According to the National Association of Realtors, Millennials are now the cohort most likely to be buying a home. A full 73% of those surveyed said that email is their preferred approach for business communication.

Social media and text messaging are valuable methods, but email marketing remains the central pillar of relationship management. Real estate agents have learned to love email drip campaigns for two big reasons:

• Email combines automation with a personal touch to build relationships over weeks or even months
  
• You can reach thousands of contacts for pennies a month, giving email $42 ROI for each $1 spent

Of all the things to know about email marketing, the best one to focus on is simple: The subject line.

Why Email Subject Lines Are So Important

You might spend more time on your email subject line than any other aspect of your message. Yes, every part of an email works together to reach your conversion goals. But it all relies on the effectiveness of your email subject line. Experts have found anywhere from 35% to 49% of email recipients open a message based on the subject line alone. Your subject line leads to the click, the read, and ultimately, the site visit.

Luckily, you don't have to be Hemingway to craft email subject lines that work. Follow these best practices to get off to a strong start:

• Use Your Contact's First Name
  Here's a trick if you're emailing a specific client. Subject lines that include the reader's first name — first name personalization in marketer lingo — are more likely to be opened than those that don't. Just be sure your email list reflects the preferred name the contact uses in day-to-day life. Even if you collect last names, they're not necessary for your email subjects.
  
  
• Keep Subject Lines Short (Usually)
  About 46% of all emails will be opened on a mobile device, so it's a good idea to keep subject lines short: 5-7 words. When you are more comfortable writing subjects, you can bend this rule: Longer subject lines that trail off into the start of your email text can be enticing: "Bob, check out these homes that match your ..."
  
  
• Use Past Conversations to Your Advantage
  Your leads and clients will provide plenty of data you can use to write helpful, informative emails. But there are few things more powerful than referencing past conversations and showing insight into your reader's needs and preferences. "Sally, this home reminded me of you" is an exciting subject line – if it is accurate!
  
  
• Use (But Don't Overuse) Urgency
  Many leads will take months before they jump into a transaction, waiting for the best market conditions to come into focus. But we all know waiting too long is just as bad as jumping in too quickly. "These homes won't last long" or "Best mortgage interest rates in years" are subject lines that put this in perspective.
  
  
• Ask a Question
  Questions are the most natural way to generate curiosity about your email. They're especially effective when they bring to mind something the reader wants to know but has been afraid to ask: "Do you know what your neighbor's house is worth?" Or prompt a response: "What did you think of [address of recent open house]?"

What to Avoid in Email Subject Lines

Mass unsubscribes after an email are more likely to be caused by its subject line than any other factor. Scrap any subject line similar to these:

• "You forgot this"
  E-commerce brands in particular love "you forgot this" and variants as a way of getting people to return to their abandoned shopping carts. However, advice-centered professionals can be guilty of this one, too. Any subject line that implies a mistake or oversight on the reader's part is unlikely to make the right impression.
  
  
• "My lawyer wants to talk to you"
  Yes, this is a real subject line from a real drip campaign — the topic turned out to be some deal "so good it should be a crime." It should come as no surprise that even if this achieves a 100% open rate, stark terror is no way to prepare someone for your message. Bait and switch subject lines can lose subscribers fast.
  
  
• "[emoji] [emoji] [emoji]"
  Practically overnight, all popular email clients became capable of using emojis in subject lines. While some brands are using them to seem more relatable, the latest research suggests the opposite: Emojis "increase negative sentiment" and "do not increase the likelihood of an email being opened."

DeltaNET customers harness the power of our all-in-one, AI-driven real estate CRM to automate email communications. Even the most sophisticated campaigns can be launched at the push of a button — and you'll get instant insights on how each email performs. Contact us to find out more.

When it comes to real estate, success is all about relationships.

The biggest challenge that sales associates face today is finding new, authentic ways to extend and deepen those relationships. Between phone calls, between face-to-face meetings, what is the "golden thread" that continues to link you and your potential clients together – in a way that benefits you both?

Digital marketing offers a variety of answers—among the most powerful: Email drip campaigns.

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Keep Client Conversations Going with Email Drip Campaigns

Being successful in real estate means finding ways to keep the conversation going long after the first handshake is over. However, with all of the people you meet, it's nearly impossible to grow those relationships, run your current business, and still have time to sleep at night.

What's the Answer?

Delta Media Group comes to the rescue with the latest addition to its DeltaNET 6 toolbox with pre-built, automated email drip campaigns. We make it easy to stay in front of your clients with targeted email campaigns, offering them precisely the information they want to see.

Email drip campaigns add a dose of high-octane to your current marketing strategy. Stay in touch with clients by sending timely, relevant messages to your client base.

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Email marketing is one of the most effective tools for building lead relationships.

In the weeks or months before leads move forward, the real estate agent that's been building a relationship with them has the greatest chance of winning their business. Email allows you to do it. With it, you can speak to ten or ten thousand people with the press of a button.

The question is:  "Where's that button?"

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What's in a list? Ideally, as many subscribers as possible! Your email list should be one of your most valuable marketing assets as a real estate agent, allowing you to stay in touch, share your expertise, build strong relationships with your subscribers, and generate leads. Almost everyone has an email address and most people check their email multiple times per day, which means that email is a direct line to your audience.

Whether you're building an email list from scratch or looking to extract more value from your existing list, there's plenty you can do right now to help your email marketing create customers for life. Take your email marketing to the next level, with our guide to building an engaged email list for real estate agents.

• Set Targets for Email Marketing Goals
  Before you can get busy building an engaged email list, it's well worth sitting down to lay out your goals. These can be long-term goals, like hitting certain subscriber number milestones and cultivating a Millennial audience, or short-term goals like increasing open rates on specific email types. Your goals are likely to evolve as your email list grows, and that's a good thing! Every milestone has meaning, and there's always more you can do to grow your list.

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Email marketing is, without a doubt, one of the biggest keys to success for real estate agents.

When you meet someone, they may not be ready to immediately use your services. They may be considering buying or selling a home, but need months before they'll take action. Often, that means your potential business slips away.

Email marketing helps to keep that from happening.

Email marketing allows you to foster trust and rapport with your future clients. You can use your subscription-only email list to provide people with targeted content about real estate topics and trends.

As the weeks and months roll by, this strengthens your brand as a recognized expert. That means you're top of mind and the first person they are likely to reach out to when they decide to move.

Consider the benefits:

1. Your Future Clients "Sell Themselves" on You
   No matter who you are and where you practice, odds are good there are dozens or even hundreds of other real estate agents in your area. Just think of the confusion this can cause first-time buyers and sellers looking for help. With an email newsletter, you can communicate with clients in an informative yet conversational way. They'll come to understand your skills and expertise.

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