The following is a guest post from our friends at Edge Online.
Email may be one of the oldest marketing channels out there, but it continues to thrive as a promising one. In fact, according to a study by DMA, email marketers can expect a ROI of $44 for every $1 spend.
And that's just one of the benefits of email marketing.
But with the growing competition among real estate professionals, both in the industry and with marketing, plus the higher expectations from people for you to know their needs better, and the fight for avoiding spam filters, it can be quite challenging to market yourself and your listings by email.
This is why you need to bring your email marketing to the next level. You need to craft creative emails so interesting, your readers will crave more from you in their inboxes.
In this post, we share 10 creative email marketing tactics you can try to increase your clickthrough (and conversion) rate and build a credible brand image as the reliable real estate expert among your readers.
These tactics range from content ideas to ways of enticing your readers to read through your emails.
Local guide newsletters are perfect for your email content strategy for three reasons:
It builds your image as an expert real estate agent in your area.
Recent buyers will have a valuable guide to get their new local community well.
Prospects who can't decide on purchasing a property from your listing will be more convinced of the potential of the area.
This email series will include all news and features in your farm area. Think of it as "selling" the community to your readers.
Have any new businesses opened in the area, like new cafés or shopping stores? Feature them in the newsletter.
Are there any special deals that local businesses in your area are running? Dedicate a spot for these news too. People love a good deal.
Perhaps there are upcoming events in the community? Keep your subscribers updated with a monthly event calendar, maybe provide a downloadable calendar that readers can download for reference.
You can also include your recommended destinations or businesses within the area for dining, buying furniture items, calling for repair, and more.
Running out of content ideas for your email newsletter? Take advantage of the current season and think, "What would a buyer who just purchased a property from me, or a lead looking to sell their home, worry about in this current season that's related to their homes/properties?"
For instance, take these topic ideas categorized per season:
Spring: Planting/flower tips, How to spruce your backyard, etc.
Summer: How to transform your backyard into your summer retreat
Winter: Ways to ready your home for the harsh winter months
Autumn: Autumn-themed decors for your inspiration
If there are any important holidays coming up, you can create real-estate related content for these too. For example, you can do a 12-day series about decorating your home for the Christmas season, with the tone and subject line matching the "12 Days of Christmas" song.
Image: Molly and Claude Team
You can even create emails on how you celebrate all-for-fun holidays, like National Public Lands Day, or Gingerbread House Day.
Did you know here’s a set of words proven to evoke an emotional response to readers, entice them to open your emails, and convert them into property investors? Well, almost.
Just pay attention to viral posts on social media, analyze the words used in the headlines, and you'll immediately find some of these emotional words.
These are called power words, and they provide that extra kick to your email subject lines, which pushes subscribers to check out your email.
Subject lines like "Your Budget-Friendly Guide to Renovating Your Home for Selling," and "Free Home Valuation in Just 3 Minutes!" can attract more click-throughs and conversion than headlines like "Renovation Guide to Home Selling" or "Get Your Home Evaluated.”
Although the latter headlines are not actually that bad, they don't trigger any emotions or curiosity, while the first two headlines contain power words that make the email interesting to read.
Just be cautious when using these power words, or your email might be labeled as spam (and have you bidding sayonara to your well-crafted email content).
For a list of these power words, check this out for your reference.
Tip: To craft the best subject lines, use these power words and evaluate your subject line with headline analyzer tools online.
What better way to establish your image as a friendly, reliable source than to share your expertise straight to your clients/potential clients?
Plus, everybody loves it when knowledge is already organized and filtered to answer their problems. All they have to do is digest the information you've gathered for them.
You can create this as an email series, where you can share one article per email related to the sections of your series.
For example, in the #ContractorKnowledge series, you can share tips about choosing the right contractor, the benefits of hiring one, and more.
You can create the series based on your blog posts, so you can easily repurpose your content. And for additional blog promotion too!
Image: Breakthrough Broker
You can also share helpful articles you've come across with on the internet if it proves valuable to your readers. Real estate news and property market updates are some examples of this. Just be sure to give proper credits to the writer.
If you don't have much idea with questions buyers and sellers have, you can ask them through email or social media.
Videos are now taking over the marketing strategies of real estate professionals. And it’s no surprise, given that they provide more personalization and engagement than static images or a plain chunk of text.
According to BombBomb, a video making tool that real estate agents love to use, personalized videos gain 81% more replies and convert 68% more leads than emails without videos (or those who have but contain canned responses/scripts).
Image: FitSmallBusiness
Some ideas where videos would be a perfect addition:
Welcome emails
Local guide newsletters (you can include a vlog-type of video featuring local establishments)
Knowledge-sharing (particularly on real estate tutorials/guides you’ve created)
Listing updates (you can do a quick open house video tour of a listing you want to highlight)
Follow-up emails
Your welcome email shouldn't contain a confirmation of their subscription only. You need to tell them what's in store for them in the future.
Start off with the purpose of the newsletter or subscription. Do you intend to educate buyers into making the right property investment? Share that. People are more likely to stick around when there’s a purpose, especially if it's something that concerns them.
Then tell subscribers what emails they can expect from you in the future. Are you going to share helpful content about real estate, house upgrades, or local news that can affect the market of listings in the area?
Provide a short promotion of yourself, too. Tell subscribers what you do, how long you've been in the industry and a summary of your accomplishments.
Don't be afraid to get creative with your writing style, as long as they can understand what you want to say.
Keep your subscribers updated with your recently-acquired listings. Maybe some of them are actively looking for new properties to buy.
Make it a picture-full email, with the basic details of the listings, like address, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, prices, and more.
Your CTA should encourage readers to learn more about the properties, where they'll be directed to a dedicated landing page of your recent listings.
Photo credits: Mailbakery.com
You can then send a follow-up email to subscribers who have visited your website. Tell them they can contact you whenever they have inquiries for the listings. Or if they're looking for something that's not on the list, you’re available to help them find the right property.
Contests are a fun way to engage your email list and reward them for their continued loyalty. It's also a great way to promote not just sign-ups for your newsletters, but also your other marketing channels like social media.
For example, you can run a raffle where people get entries for referring you to a potential buyer or seller. Or it could be a story sharing contest where people can submit stories about their first property or about their dream home and they could win a renovation package for their current property.
Then, to attract more people to join the contest, you can:
Include guidelines where they'll have to share the contest email to friends and family either by email or social media for more entries.
Send emails about the prizes or a countdown email to urge more readers who still haven't joined the contest.
Guest blogging is not just for extra exposure for your brand, it’s a great way to promote sign-ups to your newsletter, as well as increasing backlinks to your website.
You can include a link in your blog post that directs readers to a page where they can sign up for your newsletter.
Just make sure you follow the guidelines of the website you're guest blogging with, and ensure that it's relevant to the topic you're writing about.
Another way to deliver valuable content to readers in an entertaining way. You can create quizzes like those from Dictionary.com's quiz emails, Hubspot’s pop quizzes, or a Buzzfeed-type personal quizzes.
Quiz topics can range from real estate facts to non-knowledge-related ones like "Are You Ready to Buy a Home?"
Credits: Kevin Ho and Jonathan McNarry of Vanguard Properties
The non-knowledge-related quizzes, in particular, can help you push your readers through the sales funnel and segment your list better. Based on the results, you can see who is ready to buy properties, and which of them still need more convincing. Creating content for them would now be easier and more targeted for you.
Think of email campaigns as a way to advertise your listings. In order to sell, you need to show the property's uniqueness in a creative way, all while helping visualize their life in this new property.
When you do the same with your email campaigns, inquiries will be lining up to your inboxes, you can enjoy more leads converting into paying investors, and even get repeat business from loyal clients.
Just remember, there's nothing wrong with being creative, as long as you're able to convey your message clearly, and that you hit the bullseye to your readers' pain points.
Want to engage your audience and grow your brand? Try Emma's robust easy-to-use product today.