Many moons ago, the only way to reach new folks directly was through their physical mailbox. But direct mail is a tough channel, and most people sort their mail over the trash can.
The email inbox was uncharted territory for about five minutes. These days, most inboxes are just as chock full of unsolicited emails, from hair loss cures to diet pills to the lost fortune of a north African prince. No wonder there are more and more sophisticated filters designed to separate good from bad email.
That doesn’t mean email marketing is dead. In fact, email marketing is still an effective channel, especially for real estate agents, if you know how to do it right.
In a recent benchmark report, Mailchimp looked at email marketing results from various industries. Today, the average real estate-focused marketing email sees a 22% open rate, with a 2.22% click rate. That means of all the people who receive a real estate related email, 22% will click on the email to read it (open). Then of those, 2.22% will click on a link within the email, responding to a call to action. Newsletters lead the pack in email marketing for real estate.
In a time when marketing buzz is all about social, email marketing seems almost as antiquated as snail mail. But the folks at Inman want you to reconsider, noting that the there is more competition in social channels and that email offers more effective messaging and tracking for real estate.
It was in looking at reports like these that the team here at AdWerx decided to round-up some of the how-to guides from the experts in email marketing that we particularly liked, hoping to make it easier for real estate agents like you to find a platform and partner with whom you can build your business.
Mailchimp Email Marketing Field Guide
Mailchimp is a very easy to use, easy to manage email marketing platform. And they offer a good deal of education and training for the novice email marketer. This field guide isn’t specific to real estate agents, but is a clear, concise walk through of email marketing, with excellent examples of small businesses putting it to good use.
AWeber Email Marketing for Real Estate Agents
The AWeber email platform has taken time-tested email marketing guidance and customized it for real estate agents. Overall, AWeber receives good marks from its customers, particularly for its robust autoresponder tools. Noting that time is of the essence, AWeber lets you customize and automate emails for fast response to folks who contact you or sign up for your newsletter.
iContact Email 101: Key Practices for Small and Medium Businesses
iContact is a robust email marketing platform with a scaled pricing structure. They offer a collection of guides and resources, including this introduction PDF, which is available without registration.
Once you decide on an email marketing platform, your next challenge is developing your content. What are you going to say? How often will you send your newsletter? Here are a few helpful great articles that give you suggestions and guidance on crafting a regular email newsletter for real estate:
5 Steps to Create the Perfect Email Campaign by Jen Snyder. While this post is full of ways you can subscribe to Jen’s own email newsletter, her recommendations are very actionable and sensible for today’s real estate agent.
5 Content Ideas for Real Estate Emails by our friends at AWeber offers, well, exactly that. The topics are very real estate specific, and organized in an outline that you can follow exactly or customize to suit your needs.
30 Email Newsletter Topics You Can Use Right Now from the site-building company Wix isn’t real estate focused, but this is a good thing. This list includes great ideas and tips to humanize your newsletter, make it more well-rounded and provide additional interest for your subscribers.
Digital marketing for real estate is all about cultivating an arsenal of tools, from landing pages to online advertising. And email marketing falls right into that toolkit. The challenge is to break through the noise and help your prospects discover your content as valuable and engaging.
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