Texting: One of an Agent's Greatest Tools

It wasn't that long ago when most phone service providers enforced strict limits on text messages. Most users could send 500 or even just 100 a month. Now, such rules are unthinkable -- the average American sends and receives around 85 texts a day. With 96% of all U.S. adults owning a cell phone, virtually everyone sends and receives texts. What's more, the average text message is read within three minutes.

Those facts are of great interest to relationship-driven industries like real estate. Seventy-five percent of consumers surveyed say they are okay with receiving texts from brands. With its astonishing 90% open rate, texting shows signs of giving email a run for its money as the marketing technique with the lowest costs and highest campaign ROI.

If you're not using text marketing yet, it's not too late — but now's definitely the time to start!

The Benefits of Texting for Real Estate Professionals

Real estate is all about relationships. Once you incorporate it into your workflow, text marketing is a natural extension of that mindset. From leads to clients to former customers, all can benefit from and respond to texting.

Let's consider some of the top advantages:

1. Texting is Personal

The great majority of texts are legitimate, one-to-one communications from the people your leads genuinely want to hear from. When contacts opt in, they invite you into a much more casual and personal space than their email box. You, in turn, can speak to them with clarity and authenticity, making a real connection.

2. Texting is Responsive

Real estate pros have long understood the faster you can respond to a lead's first attempt to reach out, the more likely you are to get an appointment scheduled. Texting allows you to answer others even faster than a phone call. Plus, you can do it without completely interrupting the flow of your busy workday.

3. Texting is Universal

Consider the stats above — 96% of American adults have a cell phone. They don't need the latest fancy Apple smartphone to send and receive texts. Even the simplest phones with the most budget-friendly plans can generally receive unlimited texts. You never have to make any assumptions about your contact's technology.

4. Texting Uses Automation Effectively

Some marketing techniques, like email, are a natural fit for automation. Others, like a phone call, had better be done manually. Text messaging falls somewhere between the extremes. While a personal text is often the best bet, you can automate certain "event-based" texts, and they will still feel perfectly natural.

Text Message Marketing: From Beginner to Advanced

If you use texts in your day-to-day life, you have skills that will serve you well in text marketing.

For example:

• It is okay to use contractions, emojis, and even let a typo slip through if it fits your personal style
• Don't bombard your contacts with a lot of text messages without letting them get in a response
• Avoid texts late at night or before morning coffee unless it's an emergency for a current client
• Don't forget to check your own texts a few times a day — they are now part of your work life

The key to text messaging is context. If you send messages only when it makes sense, you'll avoid having contacts opt out. Texting is a two-way street: your goal is to combine great timing with interesting content that will get recipients to respond more often. To do that, you need to know your clients well.

Let's look at ideas for taking texting to the next level:

• Automate Your Initial Opt-In Texts
  To stay on the right side of the law, it's crucial to ensure contacts affirmatively opt in for ongoing texts. You can automate this process using CRM data, ensuring that open house attendees and those who register for updates on your local listings receive an opt-in invitation right away — when they're most likely to consent.

• Make It Easy to Set Appointments by Text
  Many people prefer the convenience of text to the rigmarole of a phone call. Some people dodge phone calls to avoid high-pressure sales situations. By texting leads a link to a scheduling app, they can put themselves on your calendar in a low-friction environment.

• Ask Questions in Your Texts
  Every time you get a response to a text, you open the door to extending that relationship. The best way to incorporate questions is to make them meaningful, like "What do you like most about the house you just toured?" Most recipients prefer to dash off an answer rather than risk seeming rude.

DeltaNET customers have the opportunity to deploy text messaging campaigns with confidence from right within our high-performance, AI-driven real estate CRM. RE Technology readers can try it FREE for 30 days.

To view the original article, visit the Delta Media Group blog.