Email marketing is a significant tool for the real estate agent. At the centre of it all is your database. The better your database detail, the better your email marketing results.
As technology supports real estate even more, the database and how you use it will get ever stronger. The best real estate people have a database that they manage themselves and consistently grow through cold calling and prospecting.
Every person you speak to or meet with should go into your database with the relative contact detail and record of the connection. This would include email contact, although not everyone will want to be contacted with ongoing listings and property detail, so compliance to your country based email spam rules and regulations is essential.
The only people who should get regular emails from you regards any property sale or lease listing, are those that specifically recorded their agreement to do so.
So let’s assume that you know the email spam rules in your area and that you are doing the right thing in that regard. Here are some other great ideas for ongoing email contact.
- When you capture the persons information in your database you really have to include the contact criteria of the person and what property they are looking at now or may own. Your database has to have sufficient flexibility for that tabulation of information.
- Keep a record of all the property detail that has been sent to the person so you can refer back as necessary. Do not send too many emails in a short period of time. One a week or one a fortnight is generally the rule of thumb.
- Make sure your email allows the receiver to unsubscribe from future contact. Make it very easy for them to do that. Don’t send things to people that do not want it: the process will give your business a bad name, if not expose you to litigation for breaching email laws.
- Have a privacy statement on your website that explains to people how you manage their contact information and email. People are becoming more sensitive to online privacy, and laws now stipulate that you must tell them what you will do with their information and how you manage it. Confidentiality is critical with your database and email contact list. Do not share them with anyone else.
- If you send emails containing property detail you could send it as plain text or as HTML. The big trend is HTML for the presentational advantages achieved, and there are lots of great programs for real estate agents to use in this way. Importantly the HTML layout has to be in keeping with your branding and corporate image. You can get or create HTML templates to use in that regard, and then place the property detail inside the template.
- Format some of your emails to be read on a small smart-phone screen. This means that the email format should be long and narrow. Today many people first get their email on their handheld device and make choices to read it or delete it at that time. This makes it easier for them.
- If you send brochures by email, send them only as a pdf file attachment (not word format). That will preserve the layout and presentation just the way you want it.
- Auto responders are common tools of choice for real estate offices now. The auto responder should take the enquiry from the website and respond to the prospect immediately. This enables you to handle the enquiry later in the day with more specific property information or a telephone call.
- Website opt-in forms are common place now and should feature on all your main website pages where people first land. In this way you will gather the enquiry automatically for your database. The website generated enquiry should then be bounced to your database and office immediately for response and follow up. The opt-in form content you use on your website should be considered and planned. The content you capture should be that which you want for the enquiry follow up, but you may also want phone numbers and some detail of the property they require.
- Landing pages in your website have to be strategically planned. A landing page is something that is designed to attract both people and the search engines. Your real estate website should have more than one landing page; within limits you could have several landing pages including those for key suburbs you have in your territory, or the property disciplines you serve (sales, leasing, property management). That means your website could have 5 or so landing pages so that are optimised for search engine exposure.
- Free give-aways on a squeeze page design should also be handled. Every real estate website should have a squeeze page that is designed for one use only. That is to attract people to your database in exchange for some free information or offer. The squeeze page is different than a landing page mentioned above. For example your squeeze page could be offering a property report of local rental trends for landlords, or a hit list of issues to assist tenants to find new commercial premises.
- Personalise your emails with the first name of the person you are sending it to. Your auto responder should be able to do this for you.
These tips regards email marketing will help you get started in building that database. Keep your real estate database up to date and it will become a serious part of your business success.
Immobilienmakler Heidelberg Makler HeidelbergSource by John Highman