Real Estate Marketing: 11 Ideas to Improve Your Email Messages

More than 122 billion (that’s billion with a B) emails are sent every hour, according to MarketingProfs. How many of them are from you, trying to make contact with leads? More importantly, how many of your emails are being opened and read? There’s no doubt that email use is on the rise, which also means an even more inundated inbox for consumers to slog through. How will they know your email is a keeper?

Here are 11 ideas to improve the chances of leads opening, reading and acting on your emails.

1. Make sure the From field on every email shows you or your organization as the sender. That way, recipients will know at a glance who sent the message and become accustomed to receiving emails from you.
2. Keep your subject line captivating and brief (fewer than 45 characters to keep it from truncating). For example:

• “Click here to view this property”
• “Check out these top 3 things that boost curb appeal”
• “Barbara, is the home you've been looking for?”

1. Get personal: Use a contact’s first name in the subject line and salutation. Even if this is the first email a lead receives from you, they want to feel as though you personally selected them, not like they’re just another face in the crowd.
2. Keep it short. Readers are only going to scan for highlights, so don’t try to tell the whole story in a single email — use links to drive them to your website for more information.
3. Keep it relevant. Ask yourself:

• “Will it solve their most pressing problem?” Maybe leads don’t know where to begin in the buying or selling process, maybe they just a have a quick, simple question. The point is, you have an opportunity to position yourself as the expert they need and your message should reflect that by being informative and helpful.
• “Does this email educate my reader?” Put the larger picture into perspective with clear, specific reasons that show how partnering with you will benefit them. Don’t give them a reason to contact another agent because you didn't understand their needs.
• “Is my message worth reading?” If you are replying to someone’s inquiry, remind them why they contacted you; if it’s the first time you’re reaching out to that lead, tell them upfront why you’re getting in touch. Talk more about how you can help them and less about how great you are. Don’t waste their time with information they didn't ask for.

1. Include a clear call to action and make it easy for the recipient to follow. Consider these:

• “Find the home of your dreams”
• “Get your free in-home consultation now”
• “Keep up to date with new homes, price changes and more”
• “Call me!”

1. Anticipate that recipients are using a preview pane in their email program, so share your pertinent information earlier in the message rather than later.
2. Consider using plain text instead of HTML. The message will display the way you intended it, and you won’t have to worry about its readability on mobile devices. While HTML makes for slicker views — and nearly every mobile device now supports HTML5 — what YOU see isn't always what THEY get. Test your messages in both plain text and HTML, and see which format gets a better response.
3. Provide lots of links; keep the message even shorter and less cluttered by using text links. For example:

• Format like this: “Check out Premier Agent Resource Center News for more information.”
• Instead of this: “Check out Premier Agent Resource Center: http://www.zillow.com/agent-resources/news/“

1. When placing graphics in your email, use versions that are optimized for web — 25KB or smaller in size.
2. Proofread and spell check!

Email marketing isn't going away — if it’s not already part of your lead generation repertoire, it should be. You get dozens of emails every day and there’s nothing magical about how you decide which to keep or delete: The emails you choose to click on are most likely ones where the sender has targeted you personally and is offering an actionable solution to your unique issue. Your leads act in the same way, and knowing how to effectively address, craft and format emails to them can help your messages float to the top of the inbox deluge.