Empowering Real Estate Professionals: Constant Contact CEO Shares Insights and Strategies
The role of effective communication and marketing cannot be overstated, especially for small businesses. One company at the forefront of empowering small businesses to maximize their marketing capabilities is Constant Contact. In a recent interview with Marilyn Wilson, President of RE Technology, Frank Vella, the CEO of Constant Contact, shared valuable insights and strategies aimed at helping real estate professionals thrive in today's competitive environment. Frank Vella's journey into the world of technology and small business empowerment is one fueled by passion and purpose. With a background that includes stints at Microsoft and a deep-rooted connection to small business through his upbringing, Frank brings a unique perspective to his role as CEO of Constant Contact. The vision he brings to Constant Contact is clear: to help small businesses stand tall and succeed in their endeavors. Real estate professionals face unique challenges, especially in today's dynamic market. Through tailored solutions and a deep understanding of the industry's nuances, Constant Contact aims to empower real estate professionals to effectively market their services and connect with their clients. Constant Contact is best known for its email marketing platform, but they offer far more than just email marketing. It serves as a comprehensive digital marketing solution, designed to simplify the complex process of marketing for small businesses. By integrating things like social media and event planning and promotions into the platform, busy agents can maximize their marketing time by accomplishing several tasks without switching platforms. This also leads to deeper personalization and automation options based on user interactions across different media. Sometimes the hardest part of any marketing effort is simply getting started and getting past the blank page. Understanding that challenge, Frank explained how they have built AI-driven content creation to alleviate the burden of marketing content generation. With a few simple prompts, their AI engine will create anything from an open house invite to just sold messages. In times of economic uncertainty, Frank offers invaluable advice for real estate professionals. He emphasizes the importance of leveraging existing networks, staying present, and being responsive to client needs. Despite market fluctuations, the fundamental need for housing remains, presenting opportunities for those who are adaptable and proactive in their approach. As the real estate industry continues to evolve, Constant Contact remains committed to providing innovative solutions and unwavering support for real estate professionals to thrive in a competitive landscape. Watch the full interview with Frank Vella in our ongoing Tech Titan series: Get a free trial of Constant Contact for your business. Gain 100% access today. FREE TRIAL. No credit card. Related reading 8 Ways to Leverage the Magic of AI for Real Estate Marketing Recruitment and Retention Tactics: How Brokerages and Teams Can Leverage Constant Contact

5 Tips for Better Email Open Rates, Plus PROVEN Plug and Play Subject Lines
As a marketing professional, I often leverage email for client outreach, invitations to webinars and events, educational communication, and prospecting. I'm often asked for advice on how to improve open rates and engagement, and I want to start with the most overlooked, but absolutely crucial part of the email…the subject line! A compelling email subject line is what's going to land you in the inbox, enticing your audience to open and engage with your content. Below are five proven tips for crafting effective email subject lines, as well a list of words and/or phrases that deliver results. 1. Personalization Using personalization such as the person's name or geographic location helps your email POP in the inbox and makes your emails feel more relevant and/or tailored to the recipient. Examples: John, here's your exclusive discount code. The hottest new listing just hit Willow Creek. 2. Urgency/Scarcity Subject lines that convey a sense of urgency or scarcity encourage recipients to open your email promptly, fearing they may miss out on an opportunity. Examples: Last chance! 50% off registration ends tonight. Need CE credits, Michael? 5 slots left. 3. Intrigue Questions in subject lines can pique your recipient's curiosity and motivate them to open your email to find the answer. Examples: Tanya, are you making this common staging mistake? Has your broker failed to share this important compliancy information? 4. Specifics Incorporating specific numbers or statistics in your subject line can make your content appear more credible and valuable. Examples: 10 proven tips to boost your productivity. 12% of Sarasota agents made this strategic move in 2023 5. Concise Email subject lines should be short, clear, and to the point. The longer or more ambiguous the subject is, the more likely it is to fail in capturing your recipient's attention. Examples: New Continuing Education: Register Today Exclusive Access: Listing Presentation Webinar And last, here's a list of words and/or phrases that can be combined with any of the above suggestions to help your emails stand out in crowded inboxes, increase open rates, and ultimately drive higher engagement. Happy marketing! Exclusive Exclusive Offer Inspire Discover Exciting Limited Update What?! Epic Epic Journey Limited Time Time Sensitive Action Required Breaking News Quick Tips Proven Strategies Inspiring Stories Essential Guide Exclusive Access Incredible Action Amazing Wow! Essential Unlock Why? Secrets Bondilyn Jolly is President of Marketing at WAV Group. Related reading 7 Emails You Need to Send to Real Estate Leads The Best Email Subject Lines: 11 Formulas to Use in Real Estate Build an Opt-in Email List: 8 Proven Tactics to Try Now

Upcoming Changes to Google's DNS Policies: What you need to know
You might have heard that there are some upcoming changes to Google and Yahoo policies around sending business emails through their services—and you might have a few questions about it. To help clear up what's happening, here's a quick look at what you need to know. What's happening? Starting on February 1, 2024, Google and Yahoo are introducing stricter policies around business emails received by Google and Yahoo email addresses to verify that the emails sent are authentic. The goal is to reduce spam. These policy updates will require all businesses to authenticate their email domains through their DNS records to continue sending emails. Why is this happening? This change is an initiative on Google's part to combat the volume of spam and phishing emails that consumers receive, and is being done entirely independently of third-party website and email providers. What does this mean for you? Generally speaking, users of CRM solutions for business email purposes will be required to authenticate their email address domains with a DMARC policy in their DNS records—whether it's their own domain or a domain owned by their brokerage. We'll continue to update you as these policies roll out to make sure you don't experience any interruptions in your business communications. Stay tuned for steps and how to reach out if you have any questions or concerns! To view the original article, visit the Lone Wolf blog.

10 Tips for Rocking Real Estate Email Marketing Campaigns as a Savvy Agent
As an agent in the real estate market, you know that effective marketing is the key to scoring those dream deals and building lasting relationships with clients. One powerful tool that can help you make a splash in the digital domain is none other than email marketing. Picture this: your inbox becomes the trick up your sleeve for captivating prospects, nurturing leads, and closing deals like a pro! In this post, we're dishing out some top-notch tips to elevate your real estate email marketing campaigns from drab to fab. Let's dive right in and make those leads rain! Know Your Audience In email marketing, it's just as important to know your audience as it is to find the perfect match. Spend some time categorizing your email list by preferences, location, price range, and type of property. Your leads will feel valued if you send them personalized and pertinent content, which will increase your chances of winning them over. Craft Attention-Grabbing Subject Lines Consider subject lines to be the first sentence of your best-selling book. You want to pique the interest of your recipients and entice them to open your emails. Be original, but keep it short! A little bit of humor or urgency never hurt anyone. Avoid using spammy buzzwords like "Act Now!" because nobody wants to feel as though a digital used car salesman is pursuing them. Killer Content is King It's time to reel your leads in with content that impresses after they've been drawn to your emails. The secret to establishing credibility and trust is to create engaging, educational content. Think about disseminating market trends, insider knowledge, and neighborhood news. To keep your leads engaged, mix promotional emails with useful, non-salesy content. Embrace Visuals In the world of real estate, a picture could be worth a thousand deals in addition to a thousand words! Add high-quality photos and videos of your properties to your emails to make them more appealing to readers who prefer visual content. To captivate your audience and leave them wanting more, highlight the special qualities and beauty of each listing. Make it Mobile-Friendly Your emails must display beautifully on all devices in this era of mobile browsing, including desktop computers, tablets, and smartphones. To ensure a seamless experience for your leads wherever they are, make sure your email templates are mobile responsive. Call-to-Action: Crystal Clear and Compelling Be persuasive and direct when using CTAs. Strong, direct language will motivate your leads to take action. Your CTA should be the bright beacon leading your leads to their ideal home, whether it's scheduling a viewing, subscribing to a newsletter, or requesting more information. Timing is Everything Even if your email is excellent, it will probably be ignored if it arrives in your lead's inbox at three in the morning. Timing is everything! Investigate various days and hours to determine when your audience is most receptive. Test, Tweak, Repeat Email marketing for real estate is an art, and every masterpiece needs some polishing. Analyze the effectiveness of your email campaigns frequently, A/B test various components, and use the results to improve your approach. Try out various formats, subject lines, and visuals to see what your audience responds to the most. Stay Compliant with Spam Laws Nothing can ruin your campaign more than breaking spam regulations. Always provide a straightforward way for recipients to unsubscribe from your emails, and make sure you adhere to all national and international laws governing email marketing. Follow Up, But Don't Overdo It Follow up after sending that flawless email, don't forget! Your leads will know that you genuinely care about their needs if you follow up at the right time and with grace. However, refrain from bombarding them with incessant emails — a gentle touch is always better than an email tsunami. So there you have it, real estate rockstars! Armed with these tips, you're ready to conquer the email marketing game and take your agentage to soaring heights. Remember, authenticity, value, and a touch of pizzazz are the keys to turning your email campaigns into a lead-generating powerhouse. Happy emailing! To view the original article, visit the Transactly blog.

Secrets for Streamlining Your Cold Emailing Strategy
Fierce competition and dynamism have made it mandatory for every brand to connect with quality prospects and motivate them to become warm leads. Cold emails have historically been one of the most popular lead generation tactics. It gives you an opportunity to connect with targeted prospects quickly. Why an Email Marketing Strategy Is a Crucial Business Asset

3 Tips for 'Spring Cleaning' Your Real Estate Business
The hot summer housing market is just around the corner. Is your real estate business ready? All agents who want this season to be their most successful one yet should be taking a moment to prepare for the upcoming shifts in the market. Typically, summertime sees a surge of buyer demand alongside more homeowners listing their properties for sale. According to a study that investigated the times of the year when people are more likely to move, June is one of the busiest months — with July 31 being the single most busy day for moving in the U.S. For agents, this means that more buyers and sellers usually enter the market at this bustling time of year. If you want to capitalize on these opportunities and lock in more transactions to grow your business, there are steps you can already start taking to prepare for the summer real estate rush. 3 Best Practices to Prepare for Real Estate's Summer Rush Agents, it's time to take notes. We've put together three must-do tasks to help you strategically "spring clean" your real estate business. From optimizing your workflow to making sure that your tech stack is equipped to boost its bandwidth, here's everything you need to do. 1. Polish Up Your CRM Contact List First things first, it all starts with your CRM. Your database of contacts is like a gold mine for your business — but whether or not you activate its full potential depends on how you leverage it. To ensure that your database is ready to roll into real estate's busiest time of year, take some time to review your contacts. Correct any errors, add any additional insights you may have, and tag all of your contacts under the correct categories — so you'll know at a glance where they lie in your funnel (are they lukewarm, cold, or ultra-hot?) and what their transaction type is (buyers, sellers, downsizing?). Having a clean contact database means that when you get a rush of new leads, you're prepared to do your best business and use your CRM to its full potential. 2. Audit Your Technology Tools If you haven't performed a technology audit recently, now is a great time to make sure that all of your tools are working well for your business. Look for any possible system upgrades or new offerings that may be available to improve your efficiency. We recommend doing some quick research on the websites of your tech providers or reaching out to service teams to get the inside scoop on all things new. As you review your current set of technologies, prioritize automation — which can help you do more without actually having to do more. To streamline everywhere you can to get the maximum efficiency out of your tech software, make sure that you're leveraging smart integrations. Automation frees up time in your day while giving you access to more business opportunities. 3. Enhance Your Drip Email Marketing Campaigns Are your drip email campaigns in need of a refresher? As you're automating your workflow, make sure to give your nurture campaigns some TLC before summertime hits. Revisit your action plan and customize your nurture cadence to make sure that you're hitting the optimum number of touchpoints — which is 10, per lead, per month — and are reaching out on diverse platforms, like email, text, social media ads, and more. To view the original article, visit the BoomTown blog.

12 Real Estate Email Marketing Mistakes Every Agent Can and Should Avoid
More and more real estate marketing activities are rightly focused on the most important aspect of the agent-client relationship: effective communication. As a result, email continues to be an extremely important tool in every agent's arsenal. After all, there's really no other method for efficiently communicating with so many leads and clients at such a low cost. As the real estate email marketing landscape continues to expand, it becomes that much more important to focus on differentiating yourself as a top-tier agent. Part of that process is to ensure that you're not making any "rookie" mistakes that are sure to paint you as a "rookie agent." At Zurple, we encourage agents to get the most out of their email strategy. Still, there are a number of mistakes that are both avoidable yet stubbornly persistent across the industry. So, the next time you compose an email to your prospective or current client, be cognizant to avoid the all-too-common mistakes below. 1. Typos - It's funny how some would suggest purposely sending typos in an email to make it seem less robotic or automated. A better way to avoid coming across like a robot is to make your emails personal with relevant information your recipient would appreciate. Take the 30 seconds to review an important email before it's sent! 2. Poor grammar - Make sure your sentences are coherent and in the proper tense. Although not everyone notices grammatical errors, glaring issues with your grammar may put off a prospective client – calling into question your professionalism in the process. 3. Wrong property link - When sending out a link, make sure you send the right link. Sending clients, whose price range is $500k - $700k, a link to a $1.5 million home may be enough to have your future emails flagged as spam. 4. Links don't work - If you send an email with a link, make sure it works. Sometimes email editors will do some funky things with your URL — like add in an extra http:// so always be wary. Take the 10 seconds to click on your own link – there's no excuse not to! 5. Wrong property address - This is another easy one, but a big one. Always double-check addresses in emails targeting a specific property. 6. Personalization is incorrect - Email tags can be dangerous, because they can be wrong. Go the extra mile by keeping your data clean to ensure that personalization tags are accurate (and don't contain typos). After all, "Dear Johhn" doesn't look so good... 7. Date and/or time mix up - When sending out emails with dates and times, such as an open house announcement, be sure to triple check this information. A mistake here can result in some very frustrated people or even a loss of business. Remember, there's no guarantee that someone will read your follow-up email correcting your prior mistake. 8. Misleading "From name" - If you're using an email service like Mailchimp or Constant Contact, take extra care to ensure that the "from" field uses a description that would be recognized by your audience (like, your name!). Otherwise, you can really hurt your open rates because people don't know that it's you who is sending the emails. Your personal brand is being used whenever people see the "from-name" so make sure to get it right every time. 9. Sending to the wrong recipients - Sending information to the wrong person or group of people is a great way to ask people to unsubscribe from your list. So, it goes without saying that your recipient list needs to be accurate, every time. 10. Incomplete text - There are going to be instances when you're writing an email, are interrupted, then finish composing that email at some later time. Except, you sent the email without realizing that you had a sentence that was just hanging or disjointed. As with typo avoidance, take an extra 30 seconds for a re-read, especially after an interruption. 11. Correct pronouns based on context - If you're sending an email blast — aimed at the individual — make sure your email references the individual as an individual. The same rule applies if you're writing to a plural audience. Here's an example: "I was thinking you might really like this property…"instead of "I was thinking you all might like this property..." 12. Missing intro - This may depend on your style and relationship with the recipient, but typically a greeting like Hello, Hey, or Hi {first_name} is a nice thing to have at the very beginning of an email. While not a hard-and-fast rule, a missing intro can decrease the personal feel of an email. To help you out, we've created a quick, printer-friendly checklist you can use for your own real estate email marketing campaigns — or even your personal emails. Download and print it now! To view the original article, visit the Zurple blog.

Leverage Your Inbox to Cultivate Leads and Repeat Business
We've all heard that staying engaged with past clients is a phenomenal way for real estate agents to nurture their real estate business. But what does that mean when it comes to your inbox? Email templates and a catchy subject line? Should you be sending your past customers constant emails about their dream home being listed, or just sending them a friendly celebratory email for their birthday? Maybe they have a friend or family member they've mentioned on Facebook or Instagram who's looking for a home — should you reach out just to see if you can help them in their search? Could you even send them a follow-up email about a school in their district that's holding a meet-and-greet event for new parents in the area? The answer is: Do it all. Reach out, even if nothing's going on As a real estate agent, you understand how imperative it is to build connections and keep them going. Staying in touch with your client base, even if they're settled in their homes and not searching for a change, is a great way to maintain a relationship and build credibility as a trusted source for all things real estate. By casually reaching out, you stimulate memory of the interactions they've had with you, reminding them that you helped them during an extremely stressful and pivotal time. Anyone within their immediate sphere of influence then becomes a prospective buyer or seller capable of perpetuating further lead growth for your business. Utilize real estate email templates Email templates are everywhere. Whether for real estate, general marketing ideas, proposals, newsletters for community events, etc., there's an email template ready and waiting. Use them. Not only do they save time, but they can have a fairly positive effect on your stress levels. In fact, using an email template set to a steady drip campaign can free anywhere from two to eight hours of your time per week, leaving you available for that last minute open house or to explore a new local market for a client. Specific email templates geared toward agents also give ideas on how to set up an open house invitation, present housing market data and generate buzz around your personal brand by using proven design and content strategies with your personal branding. It's okay to be human It doesn't matter if you use a template or craft an email from scratch, it's essential to connect with your clients on a human level. For example, if you had a past client who needed more nurturing reach out, try engaging with them on a gentler level by asking how they are, changing your punctuation usage and possibly adding a few emojis here and there. Showing empathy, even in an email, is a great way to build a positive connection with you and real estate, negating some of the more stressful facets of the transactions. If you decide to use a template, try adding general interest information about home design, the buying process, things to do at home or anything else that displays you as a thoughtful expert in your area. Your inbox is a simple yet powerful relationship online meeting tool. It's excellent for engaging established clients, prospecting new buyers/sellers and just staying generally connected with the homeowner community. There are also great learning opportunities that allow you to leverage your emails more effectively, displaying proven strategies and techniques to increase open rates, save money and thoughtfully engage with your contacts. Interested in more tips and tricks to master your email marketing? Dig in deeper with this FREE DOWNLOAD Your free AWESOME EMAIL MARKETING GUIDE will give you more ideas on how to use your inbox and email marketing strategies to stay in touch with past clients so you can create repeat business, as well as generating new and referral leads. Need help with leveraging email marketing to cultivate more business? Elm Street Technology does the work for you and offers solutions that help you stay in touch with past clients so you can generate referral leads and repeat business. Connect with an Elm Street Technology Success Coach today to learn more.

28 Topics to Theme Your Real Estate Newsletters
Real estate newsletters can be very effective in connecting and engaging with your lead database. Whether you send email or hardcopy newsletters, it's always important to give your readers valuable content, so they associate your name and brand with helpful information. Since inboxes tend to flood with emails on a daily basis, newsletters should be unique and catchy. When creating newsletters, you can use several tactics to make your message stand out, one of which is by theming your content or message. Here are some topics to help you brainstorm and get started! Real Estate Newsletter Topics: 2022 Real Estate Trends to Be Aware Of Predicted Buyer Profiles of 2022 Predicted Mortgage Rate Trends for 2022 Real Estate Scams to Be Cautious Of Safety Tips for Homeowners When Is the Right Time to Sell or Buy? Latest Trends in New Construction Local Real Estate Trends (TIP: Tailor your content to the local market to provide relevance) Local Community Events DIY Design Tips to Update Your Home Fix-It Tips For Small Projects Around the House DIY Tips for Landscaping Your Backyard Best Practices for Keeping Your Home in Good Shape with Pets What to Look for When Shopping for a New Home First-Time Buyer Advice Green Home Tips Selling Scams to Be Cautious Of Feature a Luxury Listing Interior Design Trends Moving Tips - Recommend any companies? Home Staging Trends Common Selling Questions and Answers Top Reasons to Move Open House Advice What to Look for in a Seller's Agent How to Increase the Value of Your Home Seasonal Tips for Selling a Property Holiday/Season Inspired Pro tip: Try creating your newsletter as a real estate infographic. Readers are drawn to images over text, keeping them engaged longer! Whether you're informing leads about real estate trends, DIY tips or buyer and seller insights, make sure to provide compelling newsletter content (like these!) that your readers will find valuable. To view the original article, visit the Zurple blog.

How to Maintain a Positive Email Reputation
Email marketing is a necessary tool for your business to thrive in today's digital world. With so many companies utilizing email as their go-to communication, it is essential to hold a positive email reputation. What is an email reputation, and how do you make sure you have a positive reputation? Your reputation is a score that service providers assign to you. A higher score means a greater chance for your email to make it to the inbox. How to get that high score is a little more complicated, though. DO Include Email Opt-Ins Offer your leads and clients a double opt-in. A double opt-in is when someone subscribes to your email list, they immediately receive an email from you asking them to confirm their email address. A double opt-in ensures that your email list is comprised of real people and not bots. An opt-in also helps you to narrow down who actually wants to receive your emails and hopefully results in fewer unsubscribes. Personalize Your Emails Include your recipient's name not only in the email body but in the subject line as well. Personalized emails increase the chance of your email being opened and help develop a personal relationship with your recipients, leading to a positive email reputation. Segment Your List Break your list into smaller groups and send different variations of the same email and subject lines. This can help you with your A/B testing to find what content works best for you and your audience. It also increases the chances of your email making it to the inbox rather than getting nabbed by the spam wall. Send Quality Content This one may feel obvious, but when you email your database, make sure you send content they are interested in! Think about your personal inbox. What kind of content do you want to see? Something that applies to you and your interests or arbitrary articles and emails that mean nothing to you? Sending aimless emails to your list will result in lowering your email reputation. Clean Up Your List Be sure to keep your email list updated. If a client unsubscribes, make sure you don't keep sending them emails; otherwise, you risk service providers marking you as spam. Even if you have valid email addresses, you need to be making sure they are all still active users. Continuing to send emails to expired email addresses or just people who don't interact with you results in service providers viewing your emails as spam and marking them as such for all the emails you send out. Make sure your email lists are active and clean, so you don't have to worry about getting stuck in the junk box! DON'T Use Spammy Language Service providers have noted what kind of language spammers typically include in their subject lines and emails. Ensure you aren't using this language in your communication with leads and clients; otherwise, you risk a lower score! It is easy enough to search for lists that explain what words constitute as "spammy," but here are a few to keep in mind for your next email: Opportunity Cheap Investment Lowest Price Loans Incredible Deal Mortgage Home No Obligation Use Excessive Exclamation Points or All Caps in Your Subject Line You may think that multiple exclamation points and ALL CAPS will get your reader's attention, right? Well, THINK AGAIN!!!! Spam walls have picked up on this tactic and rarely allow emails that look like this through and into inboxes. Grab your reader's attention in different ways! Check out some good subject line examples here! Purchase Email Lists Renting or buying email lists is one of the worst things you can do for your email reputation. It doesn't give you a foot in the door; instead, it does quite the opposite. People on these lists don't want to receive anything from you. Chances are, your email will be marked as spam, which will mess up your emails to reliable sources. It is easy enough to grow your email list organically, plus don't you want to be marketing to people interested in working with you? Use social media, landing pages, and other marketing tactics to grow your email list naturally. To view the original article, visit the Wise Agent blog.

The Best Email Subject Lines: 11 Formulas to Use in Real Estate
There are two kinds of people in this world. People who maintain a clean email inbox, and people whose inbox is bursting at the seams with a high number of unread emails (my inbox is at a shameful 602). The average person sends and receives approximately 120 emails per day. Most people won't open all 120. So how do you fight through the clutter, and get your audience to open YOUR emails? You have to master the subject line. It doesn't matter if your email contains the most amazing content if no one even opens it. 3 Types of Subject Lines The best headlines and email subject lines generally fall into three categories. We've gathered proven formulas and examples under each category to help you write better subject lines to increase your open rates: Social Proof These types of subject lines are fueled by people's inclination to make decisions based on the choices that other people have made. Stating that a great number of people or a very influential person has made a certain choice increased the weight of social proof. Formula: [Provide social proof] [Ask compelling question]Example: Millions of Americans affected: can you afford to ignore the changes in mortgage rates? Formula: [desired result] Like a [desired group or person]Example: Remodel your dream home like Chip and Joanna Gaines Formula: How [impressive number ] Got [desired result] in [time period]Example: How your neighbors sold their home in less than a week! Formula: Why [impressive number] of People are [taking desired action]Example: Why Thousands of Californians are selling their homes now Threat These subject lines are intended to push people to act to avoid a threat or pain, rather than gain a benefit. These subject lines promise your audience that the message inside the email will protect them against these threats. Formula: [Lie/Threat] about [Topic]Example: 10 things most real estate agents won't tell you Formula: Don't [Take action] until you read thisExample: Don't buy a home until you read this Formula: [Number] [Topic] Mistakes You're MakingExample: 10 Home Buying Mistakes You're Making Formula: Avoid These [Number] [Topic] [Pitfalls/Mistakes]Example: Avoid the 5 most common mistakes of first time homebuyers Gain The simplest of the three categories, these subject lines simply state the benefit with the promise that the inside message will help you achieve it. Formula: The [#] way to [Benefit]Example: How to get your home sold above asking price Formula: How to [Achieve Desired Result]Example: Don't buy a home until you read this Formula: Imagine [Desired Result]Example: Imagine living in your perfect home right now The Secret Formula of All Formulas Subject lines can make or break your emails. It has to be interesting enough for someone to want to open it. Gary Bencivenga, often referred to as the best copywriter in the world, has come up with a formula for writing great subject lines: Interest = Benefit + Curiosity One's level of interest is directly proportional to the presence of two factors: benefit and curiosity. The recipients should be able to read your subject and know that something in the email will benefit them. It must also possess a level of unpredictability. Even if the subject offers a clear benefit, if people can predict what the message inside will say, they are less likely to read it. The goal is to pique the reader's curiosity by teasing them just enough to want to read more. To view the original article, visit the BoomTown blog.

How to Inject Creative Life Into Your Emails
We all need fresh inspiration from time to time in our lives. Whether it's in our personal lives or our professional responsibilities, sometimes the monotony of routine can start to wear on you. The same goes for a marketing strategy, with email being the one marketing channel that can sometimes feel like a complete hit or miss. Far too often, marketing plans get stuck in a set-it-and-forget-it template and start to grow stagnant – and your ROI starts to suffer. Here are three areas in your email marketing where you can get creative as a real estate agent and inject your personality into how you communicate. 1. Throw a party Let's face it – everyone loves a party, even more so when they aren't the ones hosting it. Client appreciation events do exactly what their name entails; they are for you to appreciate your clientele – while also looking to deepen your existing relationships. Hosting a party has all the makings of a creative angle for promoting it. Make sure you give yourself enough lead up time to let people know about your event, planning it and building your guest list. This allows for a series of emails to go out in a drip campaign hyping it up, and reminder emails as well. Hint: Suggest that they "bring a friend," which will then allow you to add them to your database and expand your referral numbers for future follow-up. Hey – the more the merrier! 2. Celebrate an Anniversary Personalized email marketing is the trick to cutting through an overloaded inbox. Whether it was a prospect you met two years ago, or a lifelong friend, people LOVE when they are remembered. The trick to doing this is to jot down any and every key point you had from their last conversation. Pick up on birthdays, wedding anniversaries, graduations and move-in anniversaries to log them into your CRM. It is truly unbelievable how far follow-up on key dates like this can go, because it shows that you care and that you pay attention to the smaller details in their life. It's also an easy and mighty way to stay top of mind when they're in the market for a real estate professional. 3. Host a Fundraiser This pairs well with the party aspect, because people like to rally behind a fundraiser in their community that supports a great local cause. You could: Host a BBQ as a fundraiser and request attendees to donate old clothes. Design a road hockey tournament with proceeds going towards sponsoring a youth sports team or club. Volunteer you time serving at a local restaurant, with proceeds going to your preferred local charity. Host a food truck event to raise money. Plan a community bake sale to bring together the neighborhood. All proceeds from the baked goods going to charity. How to make your emails stand out Now that we've outlined three ideas on what to base your email campaigns around, it's time to breathe life into these emails. When looking to inject personality into your email marketing strategy, remember that it's important to know your audience and tailor your content and messaging towards their proper segment. For instance, the email copy for a 25-year-old prospect won't be the same as a 60-year-old newly retired couple – the message has to meet the demographic. This is why having a real estate CRM is crucial because it allows you to segment these different personas and design drip campaigns to cater to the respective siloes. Here are some tips to help make your message pierce through the screen: Use GIFs GIFs, or Graphics Interchange Format, are image files that support both animated and static images. GIFs are easy to consume, they catch your eye, and they have an emotional impact. Everyone has seen enough cat GIFs flooding their social media—but, remember, this type of media really resonates with the Millennial generation and could be hit or miss with an older demographic. It's good to try new things – but make sure you know your audience will actually consume it. More Visuals, Less Text Let your visuals tell the story and feed all of the information through them. Remember, visual content generates up to 94% more views on your posts – take advantage of what that statistic is telling you. Film it While video has long been seen as an expensive and time-consuming marketing practice, the truth is that is doesn't have to be. With BombBomb, you can easily record videos and insert them into your emails by filming with the video recorder. Try this: instead of typing everything you want to convey into an email, write it out as a script for yourself and film yourself on your computer! It's a much more intimate and compelling way to personalize your message, and helps put a face behind your message. No matter how creative you choose to get with your emails, all roads lead back to having a high-powered CRM to help you launch the campaign and measure its effectiveness. To view the original article, visit the IXACT Contact blog.

How to Create the Perfect Email Address for Real Estate Agents
An email address can say a lot about a real estate agent. Sometimes it's the only form of contact they'll have with real estate leads. So it is important to look professional and also make it easy to remember. Here are some tips to follow. 1. You Need to Use the Word 'Realtor' in the Correct Context There are plenty of bad examples that we would advise against when using the word "Realtor." According to NAR guidelines, you can only use the word when it is coupled with your first and last name. So [email protected] is okay. @DoeJaneRealtor works too. [email protected], while great for branding, goes against NAR guidelines. 2. Make It Easy for Prospects to Remember If you can, try to craft your real estate email address without numbers or characters. This includes "_" and ".", as those with a touch screen will have to access a separate keyboard to type that symbol in. Homebuyers are already stressed enough, so make it easy on them with a simple email address that is either your name or your branding. 3. Not All Email Services Are Equal After years of working in the real estate industry, I've seen plenty of agents utilize free email services such as AOL, Yahoo, and Gmail for their business communications. We would strongly advise against using AOL and Yahoo emails primarily for their high likelihood to filter emails into spam inboxes. Gmail, however, is perfectly acceptable. 4. Use Company Branded Emails if You Need to Company branded emails are great to establish your credibility before they even open up the email. There is a certain level of legitimacy—if a real estate prospect receives an email from a person that is part of recognizable brand, they are more likely to open it if they are in the market to buy or sell a home. The biggest caveat to using an email address provided by your company is that it gets turned off if you ever leave your company. 5. Use a Self-Branded Email Address These emails with vanity domain names are probably your best option. They usually will cost a monthly or annual fee. However, it helps keep brand consistency for your internet presence. It makes it much easier for a real estate lead to find you online if your website address, email address, and social media usernames are the same. To view the original article, visit the Zurple blog.

Staying in Touch vs. Spamming Too Much
I do love Father's Day. These days, one of the greatest treats is spending time with family. I also got a few text messages from close friends--I sent a few, too. But this morning, my inbox was littered with "Happy Father's Day" greetings from CRMs. What do you think happened next? As I went through them, I noticed a few things. First of all, it seems like the most popular CRMs used by agents either only have one Father's Day greeting in the drip system, or it was just the most popular choice among agents. I had lots of duplicates of the same greeting; honestly, it made the entire thing seem insincere. I also noticed that there was nothing personal about it. None of the agents took the time to share anything about themselves – like a child's graduation or maybe summer activities that they are enjoying, etc. The greeting was nothing more than a form letter. Moreover, I am certain that I did not subscribe to their marketing campaign. After deleting a few emails, I changed my behavior and started hitting the unsubscribe button. I am sure that agents across America found a bunch of unsubscribe notices in their inbox this morning – depleted databases. The great unsolved challenge for real estate professionals is cracking the code to staying in touch with the people in their database. Every year, the National Association of REALTORS® publishes research that indicates that over 90% of consumers would use their Realtor in a future transaction. Only about 20% of consumers actually use their Realtor again. In addition, agents claim that about 50% of transactions comes from past clients and referrals. All of that research points to the leaky bucket of client retention. Here are a few areas of opportunity that may plug some of the holes: Use tags in CRM to indicate as many things as you know about this person. Develop customer personas. It is a lot of work, but it will make a difference because it will allow the right message to go to the right person, at the right time. Match and append the CRM database to keep it up to date. Services like Aidentified not only complete customer contact records, but they also monitor for life events. Send sincere messages to people that you know. The average agent has 397 people in their database. Sending a real note to 50 or 100 of them would be far better than spamming them all. If you do not know the person that well, tell them about what Father's day means to you and the traditions you have in your family – or favorite places to go in your community and things to do on Father's day. Do good. Give money to a charity in your local community that helps children who are fatherless. Use humor. Top 10 Father's Day disasters – you can easily find that stuff with a Google search. One friend sent me a text of a dad in a canoe with his young son. The dad was paddling, and the son was playing in the water. Then the son fell in the water and dad scooped him up and put him back in the boat and continued paddling as though it never happened. It was awesome. Another one showed a dad at the zoo with his son and daughter. The son was giving food to a giraffe who then picked the son up in the air because the boy did not let go of the leaf. The dad grabbed the son – amazing. Don't send the email. If you do not have the time or inspiration to send an email that is good enough, don't send it at all. All the agents who have me in their database that made this decision did not get their email address blocked. Sometimes that is a win. Happy Father's Day I had a great Father's Day weekend and I hope you did as well. Marilyn, Alexandra and I went to Lake Nacimiento. It is a reservoir and campground in northern San Luis Obispo County where we keep our boat. Alexandra invited a few friends up to join us. It reminded me that Father's Day is not so great for some kids; but in some way, I think they enjoyed joining our family. We had a good time and some of us got a little too much sun. Alexandra's wake surfing skills are getting pretty good. The water situation in California is real. The lake is down below 30% capacity and drops a foot or two every day. July 4th may be the last weekend on the boat this year – which is pretty sad. The boat and the camper were the things that allowed us all to keep our sanity during the COVID lockdown. We are going to need to find some new fun-filled family activities for late summer. Maybe an agent will send me a few inspiring ideas. To view the original article, visit the WAV Group blog.

You've Got Mail: Inside the Dos and Don'ts of Email Marketing
With the ability to talk to thousands of past and current clients for a few dollars a month, email scales with your practice better than any other digital marketing technique. Sophisticated email drip campaigns that use data directly from your Customer Relationship Management suite can run 24 hours a day with little intervention. Still, email has a learning curve to conquer before you'll be able to make the most of it! There are two significant challenges when it comes to a flourishing subscriber list: Getting leads to consent to join your list Providing useful and informative content Excited to get started? Don't forget: Before anyone gets to see your carefully crafted messages, they have to opt-in. Federal laws prohibit sending unsolicited commercial email, and many U.S. businesses strive to comply with the standard set by the EU's General Data Protection Regulation, which is even more strict. Luckily, there are plenty of ways for real estate pros to give leads a chance to opt-in. For example, you could send an automatic invitation to prospective buyers who register for an open house. Many will join if you offer something valuable, such as inside information on the local market. The bigger challenge is keeping people on your list until they become confirmed customers. From the time someone joins your list, it may take weeks or even months before they decide to take the next step. The truth is, you have limited influence in getting them to take action. But as challenging as it may be, your email list has the power to keep you top-of-mind and help future clients overcome any doubts that may hold them back. While someone is on your leads list, your goal is to cultivate their trust with useful, relevant content. At the same time, you must avoid the missteps that cause people to unsubscribe. Once someone unsubscribes from marketing emails, you cannot re-invite them and are unlikely to get them back! Keep in mind, though, an effective email list is a game of averages. You don't have to appeal to every subscriber every time. Your focus should be on maintaining a precise list, while your content also remains valuable enough for new subscribers to outpace occasional losses. As long as you're moving in the right direction, you're crafting a powerful asset! An email list with hundreds or thousands of followers is a competitive advantage few can match. It allows you to draw attention to new listings or vital market trends at any time. And email subscribers are even more likely than social media followers to read your message and click through to your website. THE BIG QUESTION IS THIS: What are the "DOS AND DON'TS" of email marketing that will keep you growing? Based on years of work with thousands of real estate experts, here are our answers:  DO Share Valuable, Informative Content Aligned with Your Brand Every piece of content is written for someone, so be sure you know who your best customers are and what matters to them. Content that's useful to a Millennial buying a first home might be meaningless to an empty nester downsizing for retirement. All content should showcase your knowledge and essential "brand promise."  DO Segment Client Types and Send Different Content to Each One Segmenting your list is the easiest way to be sure the Millennial and the Boomer both get the content they want. A segment is like a mini-list where subscribers are further divided based on their interests and is a great way to appeal to a broad range of customers.  DO Personalize Your Messages as Much as You Realistically Can First-name personalization – "Hi, Joe!" – is used everywhere because it's personable and effective. But in today's marketing world, it's only the beginning. Personalization can draw on data in ways that make content more convenient—for example, highlighting listings that are in a buyer's target area and price range.  DO Leverage Your CRM to Get More Data for Personalization A Customer Relationship Management system provides total visibility into who your leads and customers are, how you met, and where they stand in their home-buying process. A CRM centralizes all the information that leads volunteer, so utilize it to look for meaningful ways to both request and use data as the situation warrants.  DO Automate the Process with Relevant Drip Email Campaigns A drip campaign is an ongoing series of targeted emails made to inform subscribers, foster rapport, and move them toward the next step in their journey. Drip campaigns can be automated using your CRM's storehouse of data, providing a completely personalized experience based on user behavior and buyer persona.  DO Track Your Results and Continuously Improve Your Work Each email you send yields an enormous amount of data in real-time. You will know how well your subject line worked by the number of people who clicked your message and whether the hook resonated by how many visited your site. Use data like this to send more of the messages your subscribers really respond to.  DON'T Talk All About Yourself in Every Email You Send Out Email can equip you with many "soft" ways to remind people who you are, what you know, and what you can do for them. Every email should offer opportunities to move forward, but a hard sell betrays a lack of confidence. Use your emails to demonstrate your insights. Let your leads do the rest for you.  DON'T Scare People Off with Your Email Autoresponder Every once in a while, people actually will respond to your emails. It doesn't mean they think every message is written especially for them – most realize this isn't the case – but they do expect a personal response. This is a terrific opportunity to start a conversation, so don't set up an automatic response that might turn readers away.  DON'T Get Stuck in the Spam Filter (Especially with Attachments) These days, most people are aware of the risks posed by hackers and phishing scams. Networks are cracking down on dangerous or suspicious behavior, and that includes the big email and internet service providers used by your subscribers. Never use file attachments, as they are likely to get your message marked as spam. Also, avoid words like "free," "millions," and "deal" in subject lines.  DON'T Forget to Use a Mobile-Friendly Email Marketing Template The total amount of internet traffic that originates from smartphones is trending toward 51%, with only a slight bump downwards due to a very unusual 2020. The majority of your emails will probably be read on the phone, so be sure you select an email template that looks great on phones, tablets, and laptops as well as desktops. Done right, email marketing is the ultimate complement to your real estate website. While your website helps you attract potential customers, it's your email list that plays the biggest role in converting them into first-time callers eager to discuss your services. Put these two resources together, and you get a powerhouse: The ability to generate and convert leads any time of the day or night while you stay focused on what you do best. Many of your peers have already discovered email marketing—make 2021 the year you benefit, too! Try out email automated email marketing campaigns with a FREE 30-day trial of DeltaNet 6 for RE Technology readers. To view the original article, visit the Delta Media Group blog.

5 Different Real Estate Emails to Schedule Ahead of Time
Do you ever wish you had more time on your hands? You can get more of this much needed resource by utilizing this time saving hack: scheduling emails. In this article, we list a few different emails you can schedule ahead of time to help ease your workload.

The 6 Emails Every Agent Should Be Sending (FREE DOWNLOAD)
Regardless of "water cooler" chit chat across social media, email marketing is far from dead. In fact, 40% of B2B marketers say email newsletters are most critical to their content marketing success, and 73% of millennials prefer communications from businesses to come via email. And, regardless of your business vertical, 99% of consumers check their email every day and it is by far the preferred way to receive updates from brands... which includes you, oh mighty real estate agent. The secret to leveraging email marketing for your business is to develop a communication strategy that supports each facet of your audience's real estate journey. Think about it—your database may include active buyers and sellers, prospective clients who are a year away from a transaction, past clients, as well as family, friends and local community members. It's important to think through not just the type of email communication that makes sense and provides value for each contact in your database, but also the frequency of how often you send communication. Many agents fail to take the time to plan thoughtful, valuable email workflows and then question why they have such little success. With a 40-to-1 ROI, email marketing is the most affordable way for busy agents to present targeted, personalized content to their audience. What's even cooler about email marketing is that lists are easy to segment (e.g., by need, geography or engagement levels), which allows agents to get the right email in front of the right people at the right time. FREE DOWNLOAD: The 6 Emails Every Agent Should Be Sending Luckily, the marketing minds at Elevate (tryelevate.com) have created a FREE GUIDE to help agents get started with the basics of thoughtful emails for every contact in their database. Even better, using a CRM with automated email marketing built-in (like Elevate) allows agents to easily "set it and forget it" with their email campaigns once they are put into place. [ DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE GUIDE NOW ] Bonus Content Inside your FREE GUIDE, you'll find links to stream email marketing videos and download more helpful marketing content. And, if you'd like to schedule a one-on-one demo with an Elevate Success Coach to see what you can do to improve your email marketing strategy, CLICK HERE.

6 Types of Emails Agents Should Leverage
Email marketing delivers high ROI (40 to 1) and is proven to help generate leads, boost engagement, and drive conversions. In this Monday Morning Mentor video from the marketing minds at Elevate, Aaron Gutekunst discusses the six emails real estate agents should be sending to provide VALUE to their audience, regardless of where the lead may be in the sales pipeline. Chock-full of tips, tricks and visual examples, Aaron covers everything an agent needs to know to deliver an excellent email experience.

3 Ways to Become the GO TO Agent in Your Neighborhood without Leaving Your House!
We're all trying to figure out what our next normal looks like. The truth is that there are solid business disciplines that have always worked and may even work BETTER as the real estate sales process becomes more virtual. Albert Clark of HomeActions joined me on a Coffee Chat last week to teach us how to support your clients with insightful and unique homeownership information and market data to become THE go-to agent in your neighborhood. Here are three key takeaways for you: 1. A clean database is the basis for effective marketing Without a consolidated, up-to-date and, ideally, even segmented database, it is really difficult to succeed at online marketing. Now is the time to look at all of the places you have customer and prospect information and consolidate it into one list on an Excel spreadsheet as a start. Then it can be uploaded into your client relationship management system and into direct marketing and social media solutions. 2. The days of ME, ME, ME advertising are OVER If your advertising campaigns focus on all the ways that you are amazing and nothing about how you can help your clients, you're wasting your money. Instead, share your insights about how the market is doing, political issues regarding homeownership, mortgage news, and the best ways to maximize the value of your home. You are not relevant. Period. 3. Consistency is key You can be the best agent in the world and deliver amazing service during a transaction—but if you don't stay top of mind, you are not likely to get the referral or the next listing. You need to find disciplined and, ideally, automated ways to contact your sphere at least every two weeks with information that MATTERS to them. Watch the recording below to learn more: If you would like to learn more about HomeActions, you can contact Albert Clark at [email protected]. Don't Miss These Upcoming Coffee Chats! Monday, May 11 Learn How to Win New Listings During Covid-19 by Delivering a List of Qualified Buyers with Charles Williams, CEO/Founder of Buyside Tuesday, May 12 Look No Further than Your Local MLS to Generate a Ton of Business FREE! with Amy Gorce, Principal Business Development of CoreLogic Wednesday, May 13 Learn How to Become a Social Media Expert Without Doing All the Work! with Michael Glazer and Michael Tomasetti of BackatYou Media Thursday, May 14 A Multi-Channel Marketing Approach That Gets Prospects Chasing You (Instead of You Chasing Them) with Ryan Hartman, VP Advertising at Inside Real Estate If you would like us to sign you up for all upcoming coffee chats, email [email protected] and he will get you signed up. If you would like to get notifications every time a Coffee Chat recording is published, subscribe to our YouTube channel, RETechnologyInc. Then hit the bell next to the Subscribe button and receive notifications every time we publish new educational videos. Get Recordings of All Coffee Chats If you would like to binge watch all of the Coffee Chat recordings, click here. If you would like a FREE 3-month trial of RE Technology, go to retechnology.com, click Create Account and then use one of these coupon codes: COVID-19A COVID-19B COVID-19M

How to Keep Your Email Marketing Simple
When an online form prompts you for your email address, we're quick to feel guarded and protective of giving away this type of access, whereas in the past it was given without a second's worth of thought. The reason for this hesitation is because people are tired of being sold to and bombarded with these in-your-face marketing messages. They're tired of giving away their information and allowing you to commandeer their digital peace. This reluctance is still prevalent today, but when you've unlocked the idea that email is to further your relationship with your reader rather than to pitch them, you've entered a dangerous level of freedom with how and what you communicate.

Real Estate Marketing 2020: Special Dates and Themes
2020 is coming, which means it's time to start planning your marketing strategies now. Because there's so much content out there, today's consumers--and future homebuyers--expect a little something extra to inspire and inform them. No matter whether you're focusing on email, social media, or even a real estate blog, here's a list of special and themed days you can use to inspire and inform with your content!

Email Marketing Makes Customers for Life
Email marketing is, without a doubt, one of the biggest keys to success for real estate agents. When you meet someone, they may not be ready to immediately use your services. They may be considering buying or selling a home, but need months before they'll take action. Often, that means your potential business slips away. Email marketing helps to keep that from happening.

Email Marketing Dos and Don'ts
Studies show that Americans check their email up to 15 times per day, making email one of the most effective marketing channels for staying top-of-mind with existing clients and for reaching new clients. It's important to remember, however, that with a large number of emails hitting inboxes each day, the quality and usefulness of your emails will determine whether it's clicked on and read or sent directly to the spam folder. Here are some important dos and don'ts for creating emails that get read and remembered.

5 Tips to Get Your Emails Read
Email marketing is a very vital tactic for businesses of all sizes – when executed correctly. In fact, it's actually the preferred way clients want you to communicate with them, with 91 percent of U.S. adults suggesting they would like to receive emails from companies they do business with. While it's a highly effective and low-cost marketing solution, many people keep making the same mistakes.

If You Are Not Generating Massive Sales from Your Email List, Try This
The riches are in the niches. Someone famous said that, and people repeat it all the time because it rhymes and it's true. Now more than ever, your ability to segment your market and deliver meaningful messages will determine the level of your success. Most people interpret this to mean that you can only serve a small segment of the market and ignore everyone else. But really, I think you can serve all the people in your database--you just need to be able to give them each what they find valuable.

[Best of 2018] 50 Words Real Estate Agents Should NOT Use in Email Subject Lines
We're continuing an annual tradition of counting down our top 10 articles of the year. The following article was originally published in January and is #3 in our countdown. See #4 here. In the world of email marketing, subject lines are a tricky one. There have been countless studies conducted across a wide range of industries to find out which subject lines are most effective. Our opinion? Spend the energy learning what NOT to do in regards to email subject lines, rather than staying on top of the latest research and trends. ​With that said, we prepared 50 examples of subject lines, words and phrases for real estate agents that have proven to be ineffective over the last decade of email marketing. Just check out your spam folder in your current inbox and you'll see what we're talking about. There will be good examples of bad subject lines in there that get caught by your spam filter. It's our job to keep you informed, so here are the top 50 subject lines, words and phrases you should avoid, so that your email does not get sent straight to the spam folder without a "get out of jail free" card. Let's get started!

5 Rules for Real Estate Drip Email Campaigns
Drip email campaigns are one of the most powerful tools in a real estate agent's toolkit. These handy marketing emails help you stay in touch with your prospects and past clients on a regular basis while the automation component saves you a lot of time and energy. Sending out a well-timed relevant email message is a powerful way to remind your real estate prospects of who you are and how you can help them. The messages establish you as a leader in all things related to home ownership and they ensure that your entire database has easy access your contact information. Whether you're just getting started with drip email marketing or you've been using the technique already, here are some do's and don'ts to make sure your real estate business gets the most out of this terrific marketing tool.

4 Email Marketing Truths to Boost Your Lead Conversion (and How to Do It)
When it comes to online marketing, aside from social media, email marketing is one of the most effective ways to boost lead conversion. With modern email marketing tools, creating effective emails has never been easier. But first, let's take a deeper look at four email marketing truths to boost your lead conversion and how to do it.

Don't Alienate Leads with the Wrong Drip at the Wrong Time
As a real estate consulting firm, WAV Group constantly tests the effectiveness of business tools used by agents and brokers. Recently, I received a drip marketing piece from an agent that prompted me to UNSUBSCRIBE. Drip marketing is designed to stay in touch with your clients, so they don't forget you when it comes time to transact again. It is automated and designed to touch base in a way that feels sincere and genuine. Great drip marketing systems use tags or groups to put people into a pile to receive the appropriate communications. In this case, I registered to this agent's website at some time in the past. They transferred my contact information over to their drip marketing campaign. Then the agent sent me something that came out of left field:

The Free Home Valuation Email Series that Gets the Listing
The offer of a free home valuation is a lead generator, but how do you get the listing from that free home valuation offer? When email and then drip email programs and services came along, businesses took note and loved the marketing power they provided. Drip email became a staple of Internet marketers and real estate agents became big users. Of course, once something becomes so popular, it then often gets abused. A whole lot of drip email is caught by spam filters. Even if it makes it to the inbox, the recipients often just ignore and delete it. You may be offering a free home valuation on your website, as it has proven to be a good lead generation tool. They fill in some information about their home and you do a preliminary CMA and send it to them. At this point you haven't seen the home, nor have you spoken to the homeowner, in most cases. It's a form and a valuation email. What can you do with drip email to move them along a path to giving you their listing? Here is a simple and short three email series to get the job done.

Creating Auto-Responders that Drive Engagement
The Problem: You know what you want to say, and when you want to say it--but you just don't have the time to actually say it! Seriously, who has the time to follow-up immediately with every single newsletter sign-up or market report request when you are out in the field day in and day out? The Solution: Auto-responders! What is an auto-responder, you ask? Essentially, they are personalized email (or text) messages that are triggered by specific actions that your leads and prospects take with your website, landing page, online forms, or another email. Auto-responders are a great way to immediately reach and maintain the attention of a lead, continuing to build relationships even when you can't be at the computer. ​Creating auto-responders doesn't have to be overwhelming. Here are some ideas for auto-responders you can easily implement for lead nurturing. What are you waiting for?

Are Digital Ads the New Drip Campaign?
E-mail marketing is a proven, affordable way for real estate agents to earn new and maintain existing relationships. It's not quite as easy as the popular term "drip campaign" suggests it might be, however. Drip campaigns imply that the same message can be left to "drip" into inboxes month after month, sent with the hope that eventually someone either gets annoyed enough to unsubscribe or hopefully, calls to inquire about a listing. In short, the idea that any marketing effort can be run totally hands-free and still pay off represents a rather fundamental misunderstanding of how marketing works. This is why every few months, major consumer brands adjust their message and run new commercials. They test and measure to find out what resonates. Making matters somewhat worse is the growing number of CRMs that automate not just content delivery, but content creative, too. Marketing can indeed be automated and effective. But it can't be left unmonitored, only to eventually drip its way into the SPAM folders of forgotten clients.

Email Experts' Top 4 Real Estate Email Marketing Tips
Real estate email marketing is free, but you really hope the old saying that "you get what you pay for" isn't the case for your results. You send them out by the hundreds or even thousands, hope they get opened and read, and then you hope that some of them ultimately get to the closing table. What works for real estate email marketing? Here are the top four tips from email marketing experts who know what works.

10 Magic Words to Use in Email Subject Lines
Pulitzer Prize winner Isaac Asimov once stated, "I made up my mind long ago to follow one cardinal rule in all my writing - to be clear." We couldn't agree more when it comes to your email subject lines. No, you don't need to be a Pulitzer Prize winning writer to drive those open rates, but there are a collection of 'magic' words that WILL help your email list grow and keep your clients coming back for more of that sweet, sweet content—and it couldn't be more clear (pun intended).​ So what makes a word 'magical'? It's a word that provokes certain feelings or emotions in your audience, something that drives desire, fulfills need, or solves a problem. The key is not just to KNOW those words, but also understand how you can use them to evoke the response you want from your audience. ​Based on our user engagement and data curated around the web, here's a list of 'magical' words for your email subject lines that drive opens and clicks—and a selection of words that you should NEVER use (if you want to stay out of spam filters):

How to Close More Real Estate Deals with Email Marketing
If you're completely new to email marketing, you will probably want to start by sending a monthly email newsletter to your contact list. It's a great way to build your brand, engage with your contacts and establish credibility. Once you have that up-and-running and are seeing the benefits, the next email marketing strategy to consider is called "drip email." A drip email campaign is a series of marketing emails triggered automatically to leads and clients. "Generally speaking, the goal of a drip campaign is to turn a subscriber into a customer. They are absolutely valuable to your marketing efforts," explains Neil Patel, a New York Times Bestselling author and one of the top 10 marketers according to Forbes. We couldn't agree more! Compared to a monthly real estate email newsletter, drip email is more targeted, goal-oriented and designed to help you close more deals. Both are valuable and worthwhile for agents, they just have different purposes. Here are a few things to think about when considering drip email marketing.

4 Elements of a Real Estate Newsletter
When it comes to the style of your newsletter, there are only four main elements necessary to make sure you're giving your audience exactly what they want and need: Visual appeal Good real estate content Links back to your website and social channels Contact information We have broken down each of these elements below to make it super easy to make sure you are right on track.

Myths and Realities of the Gmail Promotions Tab
"Why do my emails go to the Gmail Promotions tab?" It's a question all marketers have asked themselves. The long and short of it is—because Gmail sees what you're sending is a type of promotion. Gmail uses some pretty smart algorithms that sniff out emails it thinks have promotional materials, so across the board, email marketing platforms have a higher chance of arriving there. This also means that outside of those algorithms, the only person who has the power to move your email from Promotions to Primary is the owner of that inbox. But is the Promotional tab the mortal enemy of marketers that some people think it is?

How to Capture Leads and Build Great Email Lists
In Part 1 of this series, we covered the basics of building a natural, organic email list. The premise? Building a quality database takes a little time, but the end result will be a group of quality contacts who actually want to receive communication from you and are more likely to do business with you. According to the National Association of Realtors, 94 percent of millennials and 84 percent of baby boomers say they use the internet during the home buying process. In addition, 43 percent of all home searches start online, according to Realtor.com. Having an easy to find online presence in multiple channels is key to driving lead generation opportunities. So, let's dig into some of the different ways you can build online presence and capture leads. Keep in mind, not every one of these ideas may fit your business model, skill-set or budget. There's no "one size fits all" solution, so be sure to pay attention to what is and is not working for you, and adjust your focus and expenditures appropriately.

Make Your Newsletter (More) Awesome: 5 (More) Things You Can Implement Right Now
A few years ago, we put together our 5 best tips for creating a newsletter that absolutely rocked. This year, we want to build on that list and give you five more strategies/tips you can implement today to rock out your newsletter some more. You can check out the original post here, but the five tips boiled down to this: Local content will have the highest engagment. Breaking up the newsletter into bite-sized chunks is more digestible for your readers. Using the data provided in the email reports will help you improve your newsletter content. Subject lines are just as important (if not more) than the body. Video rocks and people respond well to it. A wise entreprenuer by the name of Darren Rowse once said, "Content isn't king. Usefulness is." This is going to be our focus of the next five tips to make your newsletter (more) awesome.

Real Estate Email Marketing: How to Run Email and Text Drip Campaigns
The secrets of real estate email marketing may seem cryptic and confusing at first. Why are some agents so successful with their email newsletter campaigns when others struggle to get a single open? Is it the time of day? Is it the quality of their email lists? Is it as complex as the right subject lines or is as audacious as learning graphic design and typography? Email marketing is a powerful marketing tool when in the hands of the right marketer. In the hand of the wrong person, it can yield undesirable results. In fact, real estate is the no. 1 offender for email spam and list abuse according to a 2017 study by MailChimp! If you are seeing unexpected results from your real estate email marketing campaigns, or if you want a quick refresher to improve click-thru rates and see better engagement, this is the guide for you.

Generating More Email Leads for Your Real Estate Business
Email leads are arguably the most valuable tool you can use to foster client relationships. Obviously, an initial signup indicates that the lead is potentially interested in your services. In addition, the email address provided can also be used to foster long-term relationships through consistent marketing. With that in mind, it's extremely important for all entrepreneurs to continue growing and fostering their subscriber lists. We've outlined a few of the most effective ways to generate more email leads below. Check them out to learn how to start growing your list today. Social Media Often, when people discuss digital marketing, they tend to view email and social media as two separate avenues for lead generation. However, the reality is that social media can often act as a funnel to encourage people to sign up for your email list. There are a few ways that these two tools can be made to work together: Adding a Signup Form: Right now, Facebook is the most effective platform for this, but there are plenty of apps available that will allow you to add a signup form directly to your social media business page. Promoting a Contest or Giveaway: Consumers love free things. Entice them to give you their email by using your social media profiles to advertise a small prize for followers who subscribe to your list. Just make sure to include a strong call to action so your followers know how to properly enter their information. Host a Webinar or Live Event: Platforms like Google+ make it easy for Realtors to connect live with their clients, which can allow consumers to feel a stronger connection to your brand. Use a signup form to have followers register for the event beforehand to collect their emails and promote a sense of exclusivity.

Final Touches: How Agents Can Test Their Email Subject Lines
The past two weeks, we've been laser-focused on boosting your email open rate. That means we're going to focus on something you may not spend a lot of time on — your email subject line. Check out these posts for how to write email subject lines that are bound to stand out with your audience: How real estate agents can write better email subject lines (Part 1 of 2) How real estate agents can write better email subject lines (Part 2 of 2) Of course, every email is different and every database is full of unique people with unique motivations — so it's important to go past best practices and measure how well your subject lines perform. Analyzing your email subject lines Prior to sending, consider using a subject line analyzer so you can determine if you are hitting the right notes. While it was technically designed to analyze headlines, not subject lines, the best analyzer we have found is from CoSchedule. The service analyzes your content to ensure it has a balance of common words, uncommon words, emotional words and power words. Below, when we enter in the subject line, "How to do the right thing," it reminds us to add more "power words."

How Real Estate Agents Can Write Better Email Subject Lines
Today, we're laser-focused on boosting your email open rate. That means we're going to focus on something you may not spend a lot of time on — your email subject line. If you tend to write your email subject line right before hitting "send," you could be losing legions of readers who want what's enclosed, but remain unmotivated to click Open. Below are a few Do's and Don'ts that real estate agents can follow as they write out subject lines for their email campaigns. 1. Focus on localization The experts over at MailChimp, a leading email platform, say that using a city name is an even better way to boost your open rate than using the recipient's first or last name. This is excellent news for real estate agents who send out hyperlocal content. If you send out a monthly market update to your sphere, be sure to namecheck your city or market area in the subject line. If you have your contacts divided up by neighborhood, subdivision or any other geographic factor, use those insights to power your subject lines and make them even more granular.

5 Key Email Marketing Metrics for Real Estate Pros
Email is a universal means of communication. It allows you to send targeted messaging at the most opportune moment. According to the Radicati Group, there were 4.35 billion email accounts in 2015, a number they've predicted to rise by more than 26% to 5.59 billion by 2019. It's growing in use, easy to use, personable, customizable, effective and, above all, it's measurable. With the varying capabilities of email marketing software, you can easily get a complete picture of how your email campaigns are doing. But what pieces of data give you the most insight into how your emails are actually performing? Below are five of the most important email marketing metrics for real estate professionals to monitor. 1. Spam Score Most email marketing providers will calculate your spam score to optimize campaign delivery. Mail servers use various filters to identify spam – try to avoid these top triggers to make sure your emails are actually being delivered to your audience's inbox: Excessive use of exclamation points!!!! Using different colors, fonts, and/or styles Common spam words and phrases like "FREE" and "Buy now!" USING ALL CAPS

Why Autumn Is the Perfect Time for Targeted Email Marketing
As a real estate agent, you likely know that email marketing is a great way to stay top-of-mind with clients. It's convenient, keeps lines of communication open, and allows you to pass along valuable information that benefits the client. But did you know that autumn is actually the best time of the year for targeted email marketing for real estate agents? Summer is a time for vacation, adventure, and breaking from the usual routine. In the fall, we get back to our daily lives – and real estate clients get serious about shopping for homes. Ahead, the team at Delta Media Group will explain why that's the case, and how you can take advantage by creating a targeted email marketing campaign of your own. Tis the Season: Why Fall Is an Excellent Time to Buy or Sell a Home As people begin to refocus their attention on home shopping, we tend to see a consistent set of trends in most real estate markets year after year. Sellers are a bit more willing to budge on their asking price, while buyers are eager to close the deal and feel ready to put forth their best offer. Even in a market that is more favorable to sellers, autumn tends to be the time when deals get done. That's why it's the perfect time for targeted email marketing for real estate agents. The targeted part of targeted email marketing is very important to note, and it's ultimately what makes the difference in a successful campaign. The clients and curious shoppers on your email list don't just want to be bombarded with every listing in their area code. They want tips, recommendations, and listings tailored to their needs, not the needs of a generic real estate client.

Why Your Real Estate Email Marketing Is Failing
In spite of all the new digital advertising opportunities available, email marketing continues to be the most powerful, cost effective way to generate and nurture real estate leads. In fact, according to a study completed last year by DMA National, email has an average ROI of $38 for every $1 spent! It's clear that email is an effective way to reach your real estate leads and past clients. It's affordable, keeps you top of mind, builds rapport and reminds your contacts of who you are and how to get in touch with you. If your real estate email marketing isn't performing as well as you'd like it to, there is hope! Let's explore a few reasons why your email marketing may be failing. Reason #1: You don't do email marketing. Let's get this one out of the way right off the bat. There are an alarming number of real estate agents who are not leveraging the power of email marketing (or reaping its benefits). Maybe it's on the list of things you just haven't gotten around to yet, but it's time to prioritize this valuable form of communication! According to a marketing study by McKinsey & Company, email is three times more likely to result in lead conversion than social media. Unlike other online marketing methods, email allows a direct-to-client conversation that is easily personalized and customized.

Anatomy of a Real Estate Newsletter: How to Create Enticing Emails for Leads
What exactly does a potent and powerful real estate email newsletter look like? What are the core elements needed to continually increase your open and click-through rates and lead conversion numbers? To maximize the value of your real estate email marketing newsletter, it's important to put an equal focus on the value of your content and the structure that can create a great user experience. You may think the structure of your real estate newsletters differs greatly from newsletters sent by professionals and brands in other industries, but in actuality, there are standards that work across industries that you should absolutely implement to effectively engage and nurture your leads. Below, we break down the anatomy of a premier real estate newsletter: from the subject line and header image to the listings featured and footer information. Easy-to-use, responsive templates Few agents know how to build an email newsletter from the ground up. Many use custom-made templates from one of the numerous email marketing resources that exist across the internet. Ideally, the template you go with for your newsletter is responsive — meaning it'll look just as fantastic on iPhones, iPads, Androids, and the like as it would on a desktop PC or laptop — and allows you to easily add in your own copy and different multimedia formats (more on those in a minute). Statistics show email open rates on mobile devices will only continue to rise, so it's imperative to use a platform and template that makes your newsletter stand out from non-responsive emails. You can certainly go all out and build your own email templates from scratch, but given the demands of being a real estate agent, your best bet is to leave it to the experts who can deliver ready-to-go real estate email templates for you, so you can focus on the business tasks that matter.

New Ways to Find Sellers and Take More Listings (7/7)
Thursday, July 7, 2016 at 4:00 PM PDT Find sellers who are planning on listing their house now, before they are working with other agents so you can take more listings, without cold calling, to keep your pipeline full and production growing all summer and into the fall. Also Learn the Seven Essentials for successfully finding more sellers in your Sphere-Of-Influence (SOI) and how to make your Social Media generate more seller leads. Drive traffic to your website or company web page. See how to be successful finding more sellers even if you are not PC savvy. Register now!

5 Tips for Better Email Marketing Copy
An effective email marketer is one part psychologist and part public relations whiz. They know that while email is one of the best ways to stay top-of-mind with prospects and clients, it has to be done right or it will be ignored or, worse, marked as spam. For real estate agents, successful email messages can drive leads, referrals, and repeat business. But how can agents craft emails that "wow" their database? To help you get started, we've rounded up five email copywriting tips that will banish the "blah" from your marketing. 1. Use Y words Make your message all about your customer. (This should be your no. 1 rule in ALL of your marketing!) To do this, replace words like "I" or "We" with "You" or "Your" to shift the focus to your prospect or client. 2. Avoid spam trigger words Use the wrong words in your email marketing and your message could get caught by your recipients' spam filters--and never seen at all. Avoid obvious spam triggers like writing in ALL CAPS, w.e.i.r.d. punctuation, and words such as free, lowest price and mortgage rates. These things are a surefire ticket to your contacts' junk mail folder. Avoid them at all costs!  

Top Online Marketing Trends for Real Estate Pros
How many articles have you read that list the many ways 2016 will be a great year in real estate? Sellers are selling and buyers are buying. But how do you, as the real estate professional, capitalize on said growth? Utilizing the latest and greatest in online marketing technology will definitely help! Provide shareable, interactive content It’s time to take your blogging seriously! No more poorly written or irrelevant posts. Not only is it important to start writing articles about content that your prospects are actually interested in, but you also need to focus on creating content that’s share-worthy. REALTOR®Mag recently offered the following tips to better leverage your blog: Be an amazing storyteller and let your personality shine through your posts Use pictures, infographics, and interactive content to engage readers and grab their attention Be a friend to local businesses by mentioning them in your posts–this benefits you both! Use technology to automatically share your blog posts to various social media sites Incorporate video Video will continue to play a big part in online marketing this year, providing a great visual and helping to make your marketing messages more personal. Target your videos to the audience you would like to reach with a carefully crafted script. According to the National Association of REALTORS® report on “Real Estate in the Digital Age,” 26% of buyers are using online videos sites such as YouTube during the home search. You don’t even have to have fancy equipment. Many of today’s mobile phones take high quality videos. For iPhone users, you can change the quality of your recordings by going to Settings > Photos & Camera and then selecting Record Video to update your video resolution settings.