Why Your Email Drip Marketing Sucks

As a person that has contact with tons of Realtors, I inadvertently get added to agents' drip marketing email campaigns quite frequently. More often than not, it's a Realtor that I may have had one or two email conversations with. My guess is they have some sort of automated sync agent that is not functioning properly and it puts me on a buyer or seller campaign.

While many might find this annoying, I find it a fantastic opportunity. It gives me time to survey what agents are using to cultivate their leads. Sadly, the blunt truth is that most of the campaigns they are using, to put it mildly, suck.

I have found that there are some common themes in these campaigns and some things that most agents seem to be missing the mark on. With that in mind, today I'll share with you three reasons why your email drip marketing might suck, and how you can fix it.

There Is No "One Size Fits All"

You might think this would be an obvious one, but I cannot tell you how many times I run across email campaigns that take a one-size-fits-all approach to nurturing leads. The problem is, you cannot do this. First off, there is the obvious fact that you will come across two basic potential groups of people—those that are wanting to sell a home, and those that are wanting to buy a home.

Secondly, there are differing degrees of each kind of person. For instance, there are people that want to sell right now. There are others that may want to do it within the next year. There are also buyers out there that might want to buy, but they currently have bad credit and no real idea about the home buying process. That's not even taking into consideration that there are also real estate investors that you are going to encounter.

Each of these different groups needs a distinct campaign that has been built specifically for them. You see, the whole point of a drip marketing campaign is not just to stay in front of a prospect. It's to convince them that you are the thought leader in your marketplace. To do so, you need to educate them with information that they will find valuable and pertinent to their current life situation. It is IMPOSSIBLE to do this with one simple drip campaign.

Your Emails Lack a "Next Step"

Another problem I see with many agents' email drip marketing campaigns is the lack of a strong call-to-action (CTA) or next step. Again, you don't put someone on a drip campaign solely for the sake of staying in front of them. Educate them. The problem is that you don't want your emails to read like a novel. Shorter, more succinct emails are more likely to be read fully. So how do you educate them then? Use a call-to-action with a downloadable item of value at the end of your message.

Much like the CTAs I put at the end of every blog post, you can do the same with emails. For instance, let's say your focus is on first-time homebuyers. One CTA could offer a downloadable ebook that explains the importance of getting pre-qualified for a loan.

Again, educate them, BUT specifically with items they will deem valuable and pertinent to where they currently are in their life circumstance.

Simply Tracking to See "Open Rate" Is Not Enough

Lastly, and equally as important, are your analytics. Your analytics help you to figure out if the messages you are sending out are on point and being well received by your prospects. If the only thing you are doing is tracking whether people opened your email or not, you are falling short. Open rate is important, but you need to know what other actions someone is taking with your emails. This will allow you to employ a behavioral style follow-up plan that will help guide you to correctly nurture and convert that lead.

Taking the example of the CTA I mentioned above, a landing page is a perfect way to track these behaviors or actions. For instance, you can track link clicks (people that click on the link in the CTA to get to the downloadable item). Or perhaps you have a short form they fill out (say, name and email address) in order to get the item of value. Or maybe it's just as simple as tracking the download of the item of value. This would allow you to then put these people in a separate category and serve them more specific marketing material that will help move them further down the funnel and turn them into a client.

Email drip marketing campaigns are great tools to aid in nurturing real estate leads that you come into contact with. The key is to take the necessary time to customize, optimize and track these email messages so that you have the best chance to close the lead and pick up a new client.

To view the original article, visit the Leading Agent blog.