The real estate market is changing even as you read this, so you need to diversify your marketing palette and be on pivot mode in order to outsell your competition. You may already be using multiple digital marketing channels. More power to you! But if email is not part of your toolbox, you’re missing out big time.
Because get this: the average open rate for the real estate niche is 41.6%.
Drip campaigns in particular can make a significant difference to your numbers because it will help you:
- Move prospects more quickly and efficiently through the marketing and sales funnel, leading to more conversions
- Nurture your leads by catering for their preferences, answering their questions, resolving their doubts, showcasing your services, and more
- Increase audience/subscriber engagement by sending the right emails to the right folks at the right times
- Be consistent, so that your business always remains top of mind
If you’re new to drip emails, catch this comprehensive guide to drip campaigns first. That done, come back here to learn how to set up a real estate drip campaign.
1. Identify Your Campaign Goal
You shouldn’t be concerned with your overall goal right now. It won’t help you here. You need to identify a specific campaign goal. Adopt the “big cat” mindset.
Big cats often tend to single out their prey from the surrounding herd. No matter which animal may be nearer at a given time, the cat doesn’t budge from its target.
So imagine a young couple looking for a 2-bedroom apartment at a specific location within a fixed budget. Your campaign can furnish the couple with information related to the mortgage process, closing costs, home inspections, neighborhood updates, etc.
2. Segment Your Target Audience
Once you’ve identified your campaign goal, segment your audience on the basis of what individual prospects are looking for. From our last example, it’s easy to see in which segment the couple should fall: “First-time Home Buyers.”
In this way, you create segments according to shared pain points, such as “luxury property seekers,” “rental property investors,” “condo sellers,” and so on.
3. Create A Logical Email Sequence
An email sequence is a string of marketing emails sent out to your target segments on a set schedule.
Suppose someone has subscribed to your email newsletter. So you have a new prospect now at the top of the funnel. You want to lead them to the bottom where they’re ready to convert. Here’s what a logical email sequence would look like:
- You send a welcome email thanking the subscriber for signing up. You also offer a free downloadable guide on “How to Find the Right Neighborhood”
- Three days later, you send out another email in which you explain why discussing affordability matters; you include a link to a proprietary mortgage calculator. For example, here is a real estate email drip template from Zillow.
3. After seven days, you send an email highlighting the essential steps for first-time home buyers; the email highlights your role as a real estate agent; it also contains a CTA to schedule a consultation
4. 10 days after the third email, another email goes out featuring new listings, high-quality photos, neighborhood highlights, virtual 360-degree tour options, etc.
5. 14 days after the fourth email, you send out the next one highlighting the importance of pre-approval for serious homebuyers; there’s also a CTA for booking an appointment with a preferred lender to hash out pre-approval options
6. 16 days later, you send another email showcasing what the community looks like; the email contains blog posts and videos featuring neighborhood amenities, such as schools, parks, etc. The email also offers to connect the recipient with a local realtor
Of course it’s a very simple illustration. But this is what a logical email sequence should look like. Remember that email sequences work on the basis of user actions. In the above example, you send out the third email only if the subscriber’s activity on your website signals their interest in buying a home.
Just like the first step, the rest of the steps are automated and user-triggered. But what about the days in between? How can you know when to send the next email?
4. Set Time And Frequency
Finding the right balance is key. You may send more emails than you think you should because your audience wants to hear from you. At the same time, pushing the pedal to the metal is a strict no-no! You don’t want to bombard them with emails every two hours.
You can start with one email per week. If you’re a B2C business, you may send more. But if you’re a B2B business, send no more than four-five emails per month.
The jury is still out on what the best time to send an email is. Research shows that Fridays have the highest open rates and click-through rates. But ultimately, it depends on how and when your prospects interact with your messages.
So for ongoing engagement, feel free to send one to two emails with informational content and market updates. For actively engaging subscribers, you can send listing alerts on/within a day of new listings.
5. Set Up Automation Workflows
Automation is at the heart of drip campaigns. Your drips are nothing but automated emails sent out on the basis of user actions on your website.
So if a visitor explores your website wanting to know about a homeowner’s guarantee, or hazard insurance packages, it will trigger an email featuring a downloadable guide on hazard insurance, or testimonials from previous buyers, etc.
But how do you set up an automation workflow? Well, that depends on the email marketing platform you’re using. The steps vary depending on the ecosystem of every ESP. Speaking of, check out how to use HubSpot workflows for lead nurturing.
6. Make the Campaign Live
Your real estate email drip campaign is now ready to launch! But your work is not done. As soon as the campaign is live, track and monitor its performance over time.
This is where you need email analytics to be your eyes and ears. By analyzing how subscribers are engaging with your campaign, you can optimize for more targeted, relevant emails, leading to better response rates. Over a month or so, you’ll be making data-driven decisions, resulting in more conversions.
The most interesting part of analytics is that you get to know your audience better. Everything else follows from that. Take the following scenario.
A real estate company called Housemates launched a drip campaign. After a week, their analytics data revealed that emails featuring luxury properties had consistently lower open rates than those featuring mid-range properties.
On seeing this data, the company creates a separate drip campaign aimed only at high-net-worth individuals, anticipating greater engagement with the drips.
Fine-tuning is perhaps the best part of email marketing. Your strategy gradually tapers to laser-point precision, so that you can over time shoot where the bottle is.
Launch Your First Drip Campaign With Us!
Now that you know the basics of real estate email drip campaigns, it’s time for action. We can help you set up complex automation workflows so that you can interact with your prospects at every touch point.
In addition, we have the expertise on all major ESPs, and more. Trust us, the time is ripe for real estate email marketing. So, let’s talk!