Top 5 Real Estate Email Marketing Blunders

 

Real estate email marketing campaigns aren’t easy to get underway, but once they are you’ll spend less time and money on this form of lead generation than any other.

To do it right, however, learn from others’ mistakes. Check out these five common real estate email marketing blunders so you can avoid them.

And for a real estate website that takes the hard work out of marketing, be sure to check out LeadSites.

1. Not segmenting email lists

OK, stupid question here, but have you ever received an email newsletter or other form of marketing that doesn’t even remotely pertain to you, your interests or where you are at this point in your life?

Buyers don’t want to see content geared toward sellers and new home shoppers will toss your emails about the local historic district.

In fact, this is the type of stuff that prompts recipients to opt out. Or worse, nails you on the dreaded spam list.

To get the right message to the right person with your drip campaigns, each email needs to be laser-targeted, which can only be accomplished by segmenting your mailing list.

Cutting up your contact list into smaller groups, based on whether they are buying or selling and then breaking those groups into even smaller chunks, allows you to tailor your content to ensure that what each recipient gets is relevant.

Then, vary the type of content you send for a better response rate. The best way to do that, at least according to agents we spoke with, is with a separate newsletter for each segment of your list.

Does list segmentation work?

According to mailchimp.com studies, segmented drip campaigns receive nearly 15 percent more opens than those that aren’t segmented.

 

2. Failing to maintain your CRM

Taking the time to segment your leads is but one aspect of efficiently using your CRM – one of your most valuable tools.

When used for all its worth (automation, etc.), your CRM can increase your sales by 29 percent, according to Forbes.com.

Manage your leads with built in CRM – a feature of LeadSites. Learn More.

Take an hour or two over this weekend to clean up your CRM:

• Start by getting rid of or merging any duplicate entries.
• Think before deleting a contact. Archiving those not likely to act in the next year may be a better solution.
• Start saving your pennies for an AI (artificial intelligence) database integration. Yes, you WILL want one.

 

3. Making it all about you

Think about that guy (or gal) you know who dominates every conversation with stories about himself and his life. Every other sentence out of his mouth starts with “I.”

Even at non-networking events, he’ll show you photos of the family and annoy you with his latest business success story.

There’s a word for this type of person: self-centered. Oh, what the heck, let’s add another: boring.

Then there are those who seem boundlessly curious about you. They ask after your family, remember your interests and inquire about how your business has been going.

That is the kind of person to keep in mind as you choose content for your drip campaigns.

There are times and places in your marketing to toot your own horn but your email marketing pieces aren’t among them.

Concentrate on the target audience’s needs, such as finding the ideal home, getting a mortgage, selling quickly and saving money.

 

4. Not coming up with a dynamite call to action

All the valuable, highly-targeted content in the world means nothing if it doesn’t compel the recipient to act. And, you’re right, it’s not easy to come up with a strong, persuasive call to action, but it’s imperative that you do.

Experts recommend that you first decide on a “command verb,” such as “download” or “sign up” or “find” (such as “Find your dream home today!”)

Surround your CTA with lots of white space to make it pop.

Finally, to determine the effectiveness of your CTA, check out your click-through rate.

An “expert in digital transformation,” Paul Boag offers additional CTA formation tips on his blog and you’ll find good vs. bad real estate CTAs at realestatemarketingblog.org.

 

5. Rushing the real estate email marketing process

In a perfect world, we’d all have a proofreader on staff. Since most of us don’t, it’s up to you to ensure that your email marketing pieces are polished and professional.

Check and recheck for broken links, typos and spelling and grammar errors. Mistakes such as these will make your readers wonder if you are equally as sloppy when you market homes.

Running real estate email marketing drip campaign is a brilliant lead generation technique, if it’s done right. Avoid the common blunders and you’re well on your way to success.

Ready for a real estate website that works as hard as you do? Learn more about LeadSites, and how you can start growing your business today!

Dominate your market with these 200 real estate marketing ideas.

Wanting to add a MailChimp signup form to your real estate website? We go over the process in the video below: