Real estate lead nurturing with email: A refresher course in 3 steps

I got another email from that agent today. When I first started receiving them, they were somewhat interesting and in newsletter form.

Now, they’re blatant appeals for business and the emails I receive on an every two- to three-week basis are identical.

And annoying as hell.

And, at this point, with her becoming the Queen of Spam in my email inbox, if she were the last real estate agent on earth, I’d sell my house FSBO.

Let’s make sure you aren’t annoying the you-know-what out of all those folks you’re dripping on.

It’s time for a reminder of what it takes to not suck at real estate lead nurturing via email.

1. If you don’t use a CRM, get one

CRM Lead Followup

Believe it or not, we’ve met agents who don’t use a CRM. Crazy, right?

A good CRM is the backbone of successful real estate lead nurturing. The automation features are worth their weight in gold – taking care of a lot of your communication tasks (like an email drip or newsletter campaign) while you’re busy generating leads.

Best of all, use a CRM in your real estate practice and, statistically at least, there’s a chance you’ll increase your sales up to 29 percent, according to a study published at Forbes.com.

A CRM may also help increase your income. Forbes.com talks about a study that shows how companies that use a CRM product increase their sales by 29 percent.

2. Tweak your CRM

Imagine you’re a former client and a recipient of one of your emails. The content in those emails is focused on homebuyers – how to get a loan, how to come up with the down payment, etc.

Of what value are these emails to someone you worked with in the past and has no intention of buying another home?

This is why list segmentation is so important if you hope to successfully nurture your leads with a drip email campaign.

Group the folks in your database according to where they are in the sales funnel. Former clients who are most likely at the top value homeowner information, market information and hyperlocal tidbits.

Buyers and sellers should be separated too, to ensure that you’re remaining top-of-mind because what you send is welcome, not annoying.

3. Understand that nobody cares

Lead nurturing - Nobody cares

“As a real estate agent, repeat clients and personal referrals are vital to my business. I’m always looking to help anyone who’s ready to buy or sell a home.”

For some reason, the agent who sends this email (repeatedly) thinks this is engaging. In fact, stick the quote into Google and you’ll find 70 other agents using it in their marketing.

Does she think her recipients care what is vital to her business? Especially those of us who don’t know her?

The truth is, aside from your family, nobody cares what is vital to your business and that you need leads. To start a real estate lead nurturing email with stuff that is all about you is a waste of your money, time and energy.

The best drip campaigns are all about the recipient. They’re helpful, whether it’s information they need to know to prepare the home for the market, get the home sold or buy a home – it offers real value to the recipient.

When it does, your real estate lead nurturing emails are less likely to tick people off.

Don’t be the guy or gal at the party who immediately hands out a business card. Be the one who is curious, about what people do for a living, how many kids they have, what they do for fun.

Finally, don’t neglect the call-to-action. Even if it’s just to steer them to your website and/or blog, every email should have one.