Whether you have two leads in your CRM database or 200, it’s important to nurture each and every one of them in some distinct way.
Your prospects, like any other person in your life, won’t do what you want them to do if they feel neglected and as though you’re not paying attention to them. In real estate email marketing terms, that means leads won’t move down your sales funnel, interact with your content, and convert into clients without some nurturing.
The best way to consistently nurture your clients on a set schedule that prevents you from wasting time or energy? Drip email marketing campaigns.
Maybe you’ve tried out email marketing software in the past but gave up on it because you either a) found it too complicated or b) didn’t think it helped you to achieve your business’s goals. But our steps will show you how to make this process easy and effective.
First, you should find an email solution that works for your needs. Then, focus on how you use the email marketing software you’ve chosen. And if your current software doesn’t provide the options you need, it’s time to look for one that does.
No matter how familiar you are with email drips, it’s almost a guarantee you have questions on how to implement them for better conversions … and we’re here to answer them. We’ve compiled the most popular questions we get about email drip marketing for real estate and provided insightful answers to help you get started.
What exactly is the point of drip campaigns?
When used correctly, drip real estate email marketing campaigns can generate a satisfying amount of prospect engagement and interest by keeping the conversation going with buyers and sellers.
Email drips follow a pretty systematic approach when it comes to how they’re organized and the content they contain.
For example, if someone browses the listings on your IDX website and favorites a few, that action may prompt a lead capture form to appear, which they then fill out. This new lead is added to a drip and initially receives a downloadable piece of content from you in their inbox. From here, you can keep them on a longer drip campaign that sends them emails, say, once or twice a week for five weeks, depending on whether they’re a hot or cold lead.
A drip is triggered by an action that a lead takes, and you decide exactly what steps are required to activate the next set of emails.
At the end of this drip cycle, you will have a much clearer understanding regarding that lead’s buyer intent: Either they’re ready to “cross the finish line,” so to speak, and hire an agent, or they’re just not ready yet and need another type of drip campaign. And in turn, they have a sense of who you are and the value you provide.
A drip is only triggered by an action that a lead takes, and you decide exactly what steps are required to activate the next set of emails.
That all being said, it’s possible your email campaigns didn’t see as much success in the past because they didn’t have the necessary elements, the content wasn’t relevant to the recipients, or you waited too long (or not enough time) in between sends. Revisit your data to see where you can improve.
Should every agent invest in drip email marketing?
Roughly 80% of marketers say that email has a higher ROI than search. And email marketing is changing thanks to increases in message opens on mobile devices. Desktop open rates fell by nearly 60% just a few years ago, which speaks to the fact that you should always strive to create messages that are mobile-friendly.
Plus, there’s a lot of freedom in real estate emails. You have almost limitless options when it comes to what kinds of content you can share with your prospects, variations on subject lines and calls to action, and even how frequently you choose to distribute your messages.
A new way of nurturing your leads can be exciting instead of intimidating if you know the various angles you can and should take to connect with your lead lists.
How do I get started with my own drip campaigns?
Before you think about how many conversions you’re hoping to see, or the number of emails you’ll send, focus on your leads’ characteristics and traits, and consider not only the shared qualities your prospects have that will effectively separate them into different buckets, but also the best way to communicate with them in distinct campaigns.
A lot of your early campaigns will be trial and error, it’s true. Once you have a small number of prospects for a test send, think about what you want to say in your initial messages — in other words, ask yourself: “What do my real estate leads want to learn from me?”
Let’s say you specialize in selling homes to large families (ones with several children). You could share what’s great about your community and its schools in a brief video tour. You could give them some information on the finances involved in buying a home. You could even detail the best entertainment options for kids nearby. And hopefully, this is all information you know well and share often with your leads and clients already.
Whatever info you choose to dispense in your automated real estate emails, get to the point right away and provide links to content that expounds upon these insights on your website to get them closer to conversion.
How long does it take to create a single campaign?
What you absolutely need when you’re not well-versed with the art of drip email campaigns is a meticulously planned schedule — both for when you can create new emails to incorporate in campaigns and to develop a sending schedule for said emails for each campaign you run.
Regarding the latter effort, planning out your messages and the assets that will accompany them will get you off to a great start and keep you organized. Consider this type of process to start off with, and then improve it over time based on your own particular schedule:
- Send 1: Send an introductory message to your top prospects, along with a link to your brand video if you have one.
- Send 2: Send them a 3-D listing tour of recently sold or on-market properties.
- Send 3: Deliver market reports or moving guides.
- Send 4: Direct your leads to a testimonial page on your IDX site. The social proof will help prove your in-depth knowledge in the minds of your prospects.
This, of course, is a shortened version of a typical email drip. You can schedule the emails as close together or as far apart as you’d like, depending on how you choose to nurture your leads.
How can I ensure my leads open and read my emails?
Unfortunately, some of your prospects will inevitably unsubscribe from your email list with seemingly no transparent motive. The good news is that people are used to having active inboxes, and 77% of people even prefer receiving emails from companies they want to eventually buy from.
Like with the structure of your messages, there are virtually endless possibilities for which metrics you decide to track in your emails. To get a better idea of how engaged your prospects are with your content — which, in turn, can give you insight into the areas where you need to improve — carefully monitor your email data.
For starters, use your real estate email marketing software system to track opens and clicks — arguably the most important metrics to track. Moreover, though, sync your email solution with your CRM, if possible (most offer APIs to do this nowadays) so you can get even more granular email data, like which specific leads are opening and engaging with your emails.
The more data you’re able to secure from your drips, the more easily you’ll be able to discern the “winning” campaigns — ones that turn your buyer and/or seller leads into new business (or at least improve their lead score through other engagement) — and “losing” campaigns, which are essentially those that receive little lead interaction whatsoever and do little (or nothing) to move your prospects further down your inbound marketing funnel.
How can I tell if my campaigns are working?
Whether or not you feel like your real estate email campaigns are successful really depends on the goals you have for your email drips and for your business. Determine details like how much engagement you’d like to see from your content and your goals for total conversions to get a better idea of performance.
When you take the time to see your emails from the point of view of your potential customers, those messages will end up being more relevant and engaging.
On the other hand, if you see dismal open rates, and people are steadily unsubscribing from your email lists, it’s time to take a hard look at who is receiving what. For instance, does every one of your contacts receive the same piece of content? Are you personalizing your email messages? Are your leads bucketed in a way that makes sense?
When you take the time to see your emails from the point of view of your potential customers, those messages will end up being more relevant and engaging.
How often do I need to create new campaigns?
The frequency of your new email sends is going to depend on how interested you are in experimenting with different campaign types: variations on your lead segments, how often or infrequently you choose to send out new messages, and what types of content you’ll include to bolster your real estate emails.
Start off slow, and increase or decrease when you have some sense of how often leads like to be contacted. You can adjust the email cadence based on the categories your leads have been assigned, and make sure to include at least one opt-out button within your messages so people can decide whether or not they want to be on your contact list.
Are there templates I can use for my campaigns?
If you’re a relatively tech-savvy real estate pro, you can certainly venture out into the world of intricate email software and build your own campaign templates from the ground up. For all other agents — many of whom understandably lack the requisite HTML and CSS know-how to craft striking email templates on their own — using pre-made templates is definitely the way to go.
There are a number of top-tier drip email programs you can use to begin your campaigns in earnest (we know of a good one with easy-to-use templates and intuitive campaign creation capabilities), so simply do a bit of research to find the option that both fits your agency’s marketing budget and is simple to get going with.
