The Ultimate Guide for Real Estate Email Marketing with Templates and Examples

Why and How to Start Your Real Estate Email Marketing Campaign

Academy Content Team

Real estate email marketing may seem like a thing of the past but it is not dead yet. It is still one of the most effective ways of marketing your services. So many leads prefer cyberspace. The process of buying homes involves acquiring a lot of information and data. It is much easier to browse online than invest that time in home visits. The leads you may miss on social media you can catch using email marketing as email is frequently checked and consistently used. 

Once common, the physical visiting of the properties is far less so these days. Today 80% of people who are thinking about buying a house do some research on the internet, we imagine the other 20% will be jumping online soon. 

Furthermore, close to 89% of people use the internet to find a real estate agent. So if you are an agent (that’s why you are reading this) you need to develop habits to empower your online presence because that’s where your potential clients are. 

Real estate email marketing isn’t just about finding new leads. It’s a personal and convenient way to reach out to your existing and potential clients and build stronger relationships with them. 

If you have not established a strong email list, are not fully convinced there is value in email marketing, or don’t know where to begin, we will tell you everything you need to know about real estate email marketing.

Why Email Marketing for Real Estate?

It is estimated that the number of email users in the U.S. will reach nearly 255 million by the end of 2020. Almost every service online uses email in some way. Have a look at these stats:

Real estate email marketing is an all-in-one solution, although it is underrated by many in the field of real estate as they confuse email marketing with spamming. 

There are others who mistakenly think real estate is all about in-person meetings and that online marketing is just showing off with little payoff, but that’s far from the truth. With 99% of users checking their emails every day ignoring the potential for engagement misses a great opportunity to expand your business. There are simply many reasons to make real estate email marketing a must.

Build Your Email Marketing List

You know that you need a solid audience base (AKA your email list) let’s dig deeper and see what you need to do next to create your email list:

Define Your Goals

First off you need targets and goals and need to define your email real estate email marketing strategy. The goals you set should be clear and free from ambiguity, actionable, and most importantly measurable. At this first step ask yourself: What are you planning to achieve? An increase in the number of your subscribers or to nurture existing leads? Here are some examples of the goals you can take on:

The success criteria you define should be realistically achievable and you should be able to easily measure them. 

Have a Select Audience

You can’t just start emailing everybody. First off, the contacts in your list should have willingly opted-in for your emails. You don’t want to look like a spammer. That is both unprofessional and harmful for your career. In fact there are some laws against spamming. 

FTC
CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide for Business from FTC

All you need to do is provide an opportunity for your audience to request your emails and always give them the option to unsubscribe. One of the ways you can get your visitors to subscribe to your emails is lead capturing landing pages where you offer content and your help in return for the visitors contact information.  We will discuss this in the next section.

Find Your Own Favorite Email Service Provider (ESP)

Email service providers allow users to send email campaigns to a list of subscribers. In short,  an ESP needs to do two basic things: keep email addresses and contacts and send emails. A decent ESP allows you to manage your contact lists and send and keep track of your real estate email marketing campaigns on a larger scale. Most of the mail services are free but some premium features may be charged.

You might face many options when it comes to choosing an email service provider for your real estate email marketing. There are some features to keep in mind while looking for your ideal ESP:

With roomvu profile, you can upload your contacts with a click of a button

These features will save you lots of time and exempt you from starting from scratch every time you want to send a new email to your audience. 

Take the Best From Landing Pages

As mentioned above, you need to get people subscribed the right way. The legal way with their own consent. To do so, there is no need to resort to dishonest measures to trick them into giving up their email address. Instead, make them an offer they won’t want to ignore.

Roomvu contact form is an effective landing page customized for agents

Make some landing pages, actually lots of them for different groups in your niche and make an offer based on their needs. The only thing they need to do is to provide you with their contact info and email address. By filling in such information they express their willingness to receive your emails. All fair and square. Follow these tips to create landing pages that matter!

Real Estate Email Marketing Templates

Writing effective real estate marketing emails can be essential to closing deals these days. However, many realtors find composing emails challenging. To help you with this and to give you an idea how you should be writing real estate emails we have gathered a list of templates you can use to increase your chances of nurturing those hardly earned leads.

1. New Listing Email

Hello [Prospect Name],

I’ve found new listings which meet the criteria of being in [neighborhood] and have [requirement 1], [requirement 2] and [requirement 3]. 

[House #1]


[House #2]


[House #3]


[House #4]


[House #5]

Let me know which of these homes most meets your wants and needs and I’ll arrange a private showing.

If none of these are what you want please let me know what other requirements I should be looking for. Any information you provide will be used so that I can help you more productively with the next listings.

Looking forward to hearing any questions, comments, or concerns.

Regards,

[Your Name]

2. Low-Interest Rate Email

Hi [Prospect Name],

Hope you are doing well and enjoying [holiday, weekend, etc.]

I’ve got some updates on the market.

I thought you might be interested to know that interest rates in your area have dropped to [percent].

If you’re interested to learn what options you have for buying a new home or what price your home can be listed for, click this link to book a time on my calendar: [Link to Meeting tool] and we can arrange a meeting. 

Regards,

[Your Name]

3. Client Retention Email

Hi [Prospect Name]

Hope you are doing well and have settled into your new home.

Now that you’ve done the hard part and found your dream home I wanted to share some ideas for increasing your home’s value in the next year.

Here are some useful links which will give you some ideas on home improvement and renovation.

[link to an article about home improvement project #1]

[link to an article about home improvement project #2]

[link to an article about home improvement project #3]

Feel free to ask me any question regarding how to start. I can also recommend affordable service with great quality for [carpentry, home design, etc].

Happy new home!

Regards,

[Your Name]

4. Testimonial Email

Hi [Prospect Name]

Hope you are doing well and enjoying [even, holiday, etc]

Finding a home that meets your needs can be a real challenge. What’s more, choosing a realtor to help you get started can be even harder.

There are many realtors who can list facts, figures, and achievements but it’s hard to tell who genuinely cares and will go the extra mile for their clients.

To show you how I feel about my job and my role in a clients’ journey to find a house I’ve included a story from my previous client, [client name]:

[Insert client testimonial]

If you would like to know how I managed to help [previous client name] find their dream home, feel free to click on this link to arrange a meeting.  I’m excited to learn more about you and what kind of a home you have in mind.

Looking forward to meeting you.

Regards,

[Your Name]

There are a few tips to keep in mind when writing testimonial emails:

Do: 

Don’t:

5. Thank You Email

Hi [Prospect Name]

Hope you are doing well in your new home.

I want to express my gratitude for choosing and trusting me as your realtor. It was such a pleasant experience working with you and I am honored to have been able to help you during this process. 

If there is anything more that I can help you with in the days, weeks and months to come, please feel free to contact me with any questions. I will be more than happy to help. 

 Looking forward to hearing from you. 

Happy new home!

Regards,

[Your Name]

6. Email to Potential Sellers

Hi [Prospect Name]

There is a rising real estate market in your neighborhood with buyers keen to learn more about the properties in [neighborhood].

If you have been contemplating selling your house or if you are just curious what price your home can be listed for, I have some insightful analysis I would gladly share with you. I think you will be surprised how much you can list your home for.

If there is anything more that I can help you with in the days, weeks, and months to come, feel free to contact me and ask questions. I am more than happy to help. 

Looking forward to hearing from you. 

Happy new home!

Regards,

[Your Name]

7. Real Estate Email Newsletter

The most important thing to remember when writing and sending newsletter emails is to make it interesting and convincing enough for the prospect to make them take the next steps. That means you need to have a clear call-to-action in the email instructing them what exactly to do next. 

It is a great idea to personalize each email you send and make it specific to the recipient. This way you can warm the hearts of prospects and nurture the relationship you have with them. Remember it’s all about building trust.

Hi [Prospect Name]

Are you wondering if it is time to buy a new home? I believe it is.

It is my job to monitor the market and find the best potential opportunities to buy and sell homes. I trust this is the ideal moment to buy because:

Reason 1

Reason 2

Reason 3

I completely understand this is not an easy decision and you likely would rather sleep on it for a while but in order not to lose the opportunity, we can set up a time to talk more and I can answer any of your questions. Click here [link to your calendar] to arrange an appointment.

Regards,

[Your Name]

8. Open House Follow Up Email

Hi [Prospect Name]

It was nice meeting you at [address] on [day]. I hope you found the house was what you had in mind and liked the [property’s features — i.e., great backyard, spacious dining room, beautiful view]. Please feel free to ask me any questions.

If you like the neighborhood, I also have some other properties that I think will meet your criteria. They have all the features of the property you visited plus a few other benefits. I’d be happy to set up a private showing for you this week.

Looking forward to hearing from you. 

Regards,

[Your Name]

9. Open House Thank You Email Template

Hi [Prospect Name]

Thank you so much for your time on [day] for the showing of [property]. I was wondering if I can help you with any questions you have about the property. Also, if you are interested, I have a few other properties in the vicinity of the [property they visited] that I think you will find interesting. They have quite a lot in common with the [property] plus a few other benefits. 

I’d be more than happy to arrange a time for showing of the following homes:

Property 1

Property 2

These homes are listed at [estimate price] on the market these days. Let me know if you would like to know more.

Regards,

[Your Name]

10. Expired Listing Email

Hello [Prospect],

I see your listing for [address] has recently expired. I understand how frustrating that could feel but I believe I can help you with that. 

Realtors tend to blame the price when homes don’t sell. I don’t think like that. I believe given the proper marketing a home can sell for a reasonable price and I believe your price was reasonable.

Being a realtor is not enough that’s why I have made myself a marketer too. I think I can sell your home for your price. 

During the last [period] I have managed to sell [number] of houses in [prospect neighborhood] for the average of [percent] over the asking price with the skills I have acquired in marketing over the years. 

I’ve studied your property and found some ideas to increase your chances of making a sale. If you are interested just let me know. I’ll be more than happy to turn this disappointment around. 

Regards,

[Your name]

11. Expired Listing Email

Hello [Client name],

Your listing has expired, you’re disappointed, and you’re probably being swarmed by other real estate agents offering you magic tricks to sell your home. You have every right to compare and make your next move, but here’s why you should stick with me:

At the moment no other realtor knows your property as well as me. I have talked to home buyers and their agents, compared your property to other homes in the neighborhood, and know exactly what to focus on next to make a sale.

As a gesture of goodwill, I am happy to announce that I am offering you a discount on my commission for the extended period. From the things we have learnt so far about buyers and market status, I have developed an action plan which will be able to sell your house in under a month.

If you are interested, feel free to contact me by phone or make an appointment by clicking here [your calendar]

I know this is not what we wanted to happen but I am certain that in the next few days we will find the best buyer for your home.

Regards,

[Your name]

12. Listing Feedback Email

Hi [prospect name]

I am just checking to make sure you received the listings I sent you on [day]. If for any reason you didn’t receive the email or there was a problem reading it please let me know. I can also resend the listings via postal mail, or deliver it to you personally.

If you received the email and have read it could you let me know if any properties caught your attention? Did any of them appeal to you?

If you would like to learn more about any of the homes in the listings, I can set up a time for a showing. On the other hand, if you want to know what else is available please let me know why so I can provide you with a better tailored list.

Feel free to call or email me for any further help or questions.

Regards,

[Your name]

13. Referral Request Email

Hi [prospect name]

I hope you and your family are doing well and already feel at home in your new house. As you know, I really appreciate the business and personal relationship that I have with you. Today I am writing to ask you for a favor. I am always trying to expand my business and always on the lookout for opportunities to work with good people like you. Do you have any friends, family, or colleagues in need of real estate brokerage services?

I provide the following services:

Real estate sales and purchases

Real estate home staging

Local real estate market reports

Local real estate market expertise and guidance

Real estate professional referrals (for those moving to another state or country)

Real estate leasing (commercial, industrial, retail, and residential)

Also, if you have any problems I can help you with, please do not hesitate to contact me. I’ll be glad to continue working with you. 

I hope to hear from you soon!

Best Wishes,

[your name]

Real Estate Marketing Made Easy

Now that you know how vital real estate email marketing is, it’s about time you started incorporating it into your marketing efforts. However, reading long emails is hard and usually discourages readers from going through to the end of the message. As mentioned above, videos help a great deal convey your message in the emails you send. 

We in Roomvu are happy to provide you with your branded video-making services. You need to sign up to get a free roomvu profile and get your customized branded videos made for you in no time. Roomvu uses the latest real estate data to make relevant and up-to-date video content on a weekly basis. These real estate videos will be updated regularly in your profile with your branding. Videos are ready to be sent to your clients or shared with your network on social media.

With roomvu profile, sending real estate videos are easier than ever

You can email any videos directly from your profile. There are some email templates you can choose from and add sections of your profile to deliver more value, further increase impact and improve response rate. 

With roomvu profile, you can easily add your experience, specializations and testimonials to your email.

Here’s What Sending Emails Looks Like:

Without Roomvu Profile:

With Roomvu

With a roomvu profile, you don’t need to lift a finger. Powered by a rich content production engine, several lead-capturing tools and an easy-to-use email marketing platform, your profile enables you to establish credibility, build trust and promote your brand effectively.

Real Estate Marketing Ideas

As mentioned above, getting a list of emails and contact is hard but achievable. However, mastering the art of nurturing these leads and turning them into clients may not come as easy.

According to the Content Marketing Institute:

91% of email users have unsubscribed from a company email they previously opted into.

That might sound scary but there are a few tips that can help you avoid mistakes and further improve your real estate marketing content. Email etiquette is what you should always have in mind and try to follow. Strategy is one thing but being professional is something else. 

Provide Value

Why does your audience have to do business with you or even read your email?  “What’s in it for me?” people are always asking this question before accepting a new offer. There must be something valuable inside. Something that your audience needs or is looking for. That’s value. Not a bunch of words for the sake of promoting yourself. 

Do NOT Make it All About You

The hard pill to swallow here is that people don’t care about you. They care about themselves. They don’t care what you think of yourself or what your achievements are. If you want them to follow your call to action you need to make the email about them! That’s marketing. you need to focus on your audience. Their needs, their problems. Not yours. 

Use Video

Let’s face it. Many people find reading long emails boring. that has a huge impact on the response rate of the videos. Sometimes it is hard to keep the email short, but there is a solution for that. That’s where we recommend you embed videos into your real estate email marketing content. Depending on the mail service you are using, you can embed your video from different sources right into the body of the email. 

Don’t Spam

You need to offer your services when asked. Sending emails without the consent of the recipient not only will not expand your business but it will also harm your reputation and you will look extremely unprofessional or even worse a spammer. Worst-case scenario, your website domain holder might black list your website. Ouch!

People don’t like to receive emails from the people they do not know specially marketers and even if someone needs real estate services, by sending unsolicited emails you won’t be getting any request for your services. 

Before hitting the send button make sure everybody on the list has voluntarily opted in to receive your emails and you have not cheated them to give in their contact information. 

Segment Your Audience

You have got yourself a big audience and that’s great, but considering all the people on the list the same is a huge mistake. People have all different preferences and are from different demographics, neighborhoods, budgets, family sizes, etc. You need to study these qualities in your audience and divide them into different segments.

Personalize Your Message

Generic messages are not welcome and don’t leave the best impression. This is the case everywhere in the online world where you send a message to anyone to do business. LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and emails are all the same in this matter. Generic messages tell people they are not special, they are one of many to receive the email.

If you want your audience to take the email seriously, you need to address them in the email. If possible, you need to tailor the content you sent in the email for their needs. This creates a better relationship with the audience and increases the chances of links being clicked on. Try to classify your audience into different interest categories and send the emails accordingly. 

Also, you might be tempted to use casual language in the email to make it even more personal but don’t forget that you are doing business and people do business with professionals. Using informal language too much will leave a negative impact. 

Encourage Action

You have done a great job on collecting contacts, categorizing them based on their need, designing and providing the best content but then there is nothing. Why? Because you gave them great content or you made some offers but you didn’t tell them exactly what to do. 

You can think of many forms of call-to-actions to choose from. Ask them to click on a link, ask you a question, book a meeting, whatever! Just make sure you ask them to do something, otherwise your email can be deleted in the blink of an eye.

Also, do not confuse your audience with multiple call-to-actions. There should be only one, single, clear and specific call-to-action on each one off your landing pages otherwise the audience will be confused and even might decide to take no action as they are not sure. 

Give Your Audience an Opt-Out Option

To comply with anti-spam laws always include a link to unsubscribe from your emails. Don’t make them put your address in their black list. Hopefully, if your emails are really there to help your audience with their problems, nobody will click on the unsubscribe button. 

Don’t go Too Far

According to the principles of content marketing it’s a must to be regular and consistent in producing content and providing your audience with what they need. However, that’s not permission to annoy them with a barrage of emails. Your audience will be expecting your emails every week, month etc. but don’t overload them with multiple emails a day even if your emails contain the best content they need.

Find the Best Time

People do not check their emails all day. There are times they are more active online and times when they are not. Do not send emails too early or too late as you will be decreasing your emails chances of being read and they might get lost among other later notifications they receive. 

You need to study your audience and find out as much information as possible. Who they are, what they do, where they are and then try to figure out the best time to send your emails to each segment. According to Constant Contact, as early  as 5 a.m. local time on Mondays is the best time to send your emails. Probably this way your email will be the first your audience sees in the morning.

Avoid Long Paragraphs & Confusing Words

In order not to confuse or bore your audience you need to use simple and clear to understand language. Try to keep your paragraphs short not exceeding three lines. Furthermore, a 3-line paragraph will be a 6-line one on mobile devices. People don’t like to start reading long paragraphs in emails. 

Also, avoid jargon and long words as these will confuse your audience and make them feel the email is not for them. Don’t try to sound professional by resorting to complicated language as it will backfire. 

Use the “slide”

In the field of copywriting, “the slide” is the kind of language you use to make sure the reader goes through the entire message.  For example, you can start off by using very short sentences, creating interest at the beginning of the email by asking questions and by using linking words and phrases like “How can you beat that?” “It gets better,” “Think about it,” “Here’s the deal,” and “Let’s face facts.”

Choose Your Subject Carefully

What’s the first thing people see in your email? That’s right: the subject line. Now what does that say about your email? You need to make the subject of your email interesting enough so that your audience will get the urge to read your message. Make sure you keep it under 40 characters to make it mobile friendly. Straightforward, direct and simple subjects will do just fine but you can toss in a little creativity and use some questions or teasers to improve your chances. After all, people receive lots of emails every day and it is easy to look boring and be pushed behind other emails in priority.

Review

One of the key actions to take in content production is this: review, review, review and edit. There is nothing like too much editing. Before sending your emails you need to read them aloud to yourself to make sure there is a smooth flow of the message and correct any mistakes and typos. The latter will significantly harm the impression you leave as you will look unprofessional.  Just read it out loud to see if it sounds smooth and authentic. 

Keep Track of Your Progress

Hoping for the best will not cut it in the real estate email marketing. You will need a decent customer resource management (CRM) system or an email marketing program to track your open and response rates to analyze the effectiveness of your campaign and make the necessary tweak accordingly. 

A/B Test Your From Line

According to Agent Inner Circle doing some A/B tests on what you use in the ‘From” line of the email has some significant impact on the open rate. There is no fixed formula to what performs best so you need to do the math yourself and try to see if “From: John” works better or “From: John the Realtor” or “From: John Doe Realtor”

Remember to Follow Up

Chances are the email you send will be competing with hundreds of other emails in your audience’s inbox. That could be why you may not be hearing from some of them. So you should know that you can reach all of your target audience with just one mail. As a result, it is wise to follow up the real estate email you sent with a second email. schedule follow-up emails for the recipients who did not read your message or read the message but didn’t respond. Leaving your target audience alone and hoping they will respond someday is a bad move. 

Create a Strategy for Your Email Marketing

Content marketing is all about knowing your business by heart and developing a strategy that fits it. Without a solid and researched strategy, you are just shooting in the dark. 

Most agents are masters of the art of collecting contact details. The problem arises afterwards; with what they do with their contact list. The ones who struggle are the ones who fail to nurture their hard-earned leads. They randomly try different tactics in email marketing and wonder what went wrong. 

In fact, getting the visitors to submit their email address is hard work, but nurturing these leads into clients is an art you need to master. The easiest place to start in this case is knowing what not to do.

Common Mistakes in Content Marketing

The result is obvious. They will simply stop opening your emails and turn to another agent. 

Signs of Bad Real Estate Email Marketing

Lack of strategy in producing content results only in producing content. Nothing more. Content that is not valuable or compelling, content that is not worth spending time on. Without a plan you risk being flagged as a nuisance. As little more than spam. Given the competitiveness of the real estate market, you don’t want that to happen. 

Signs of Effective Real Estate Email Marketing

How to Develop Real Estate Email Marketing Strategy

Now that you have realized the importance of having a strategy for real estate email marketing let’s see how you create one. The basic principles of real estate content marketing apply to all its different forms and emails are no exception. Content marketing is defined as:

Constant production of valuable and compelling content for a specifically defined audience

Break any component of the rule above and you are wasting your time.

Define Your Audience:

First you need to define your audience and understand who you are dealing with. You are not trying to send emails that appeal to everybody. You need to find out who exactly your audience is. How old they are. What they do for a living. Their biggest concerns in life. What keeps them awake at night? Once you answer these questions, you can classify your audience into different groups and target them one by one.

Define Your Message:

In the next step, you need to define your message for your niche. The people you are targeting. What to have to say and offer? How can your service meet their needs? If you make a mistake and provide content that doesn’t cater to your audience’s needs, you have got yourself a lot of spam. Your audience will stop opening your emails and you’re likely to be flagged.

Stick to A Timeline:

Then you need to develop a timeline for sending your emails. You need to make a habit of sending your content regularly to both set expectations and meet them.  Think of the social media channels you follow. If you don’t hear from them for a while you will unfollow them. Don’t let that happen to your emails.

Assess and Reflect:

Of course, as with all marketing campaigns, there should be a form of assessment where you define success or failure criteria for real estate email marketing. How do you know your email marketing efforts have been effective? You need these results to learn from your mistakes. To find out what you did wrong and make corrections in the next campaigns.

It is not possible to cover every topic of real estate email marketing here, but for further information, see the link below. 

Email Marketing Vs. Direct Mail

We have outlined the value of and provided details on how to enact effective real estate email marketing. There are still those more comfortable with direct mail. But switching over to an email marketing campaign is well worth the trip outside your comfort zone.  

A successful automated campaign delivers the best message to a tailored audience. To ensure we’ve been fully comprehensive of email marketing’s benefits let’s quickly go through the advantages of an email marketing campaign over direct mail: 

Time

Direct mail takes days to reach the recipient. Some mail gets tossed aside or doesn’t make it to the prospect. Some sits around collecting dust before the prospect gets around to reading it. Email marketing isn’t flawless but done properly you can expect it won’t have the problems associated with traditional direct mail.

Cost

Direct mail marketing is not cheap. You need to design, print and post these emails and the expenses can go up easily. Email marketing doesn’t have such problems and is pretty scalable with a very small increase in expenses. The ROI for email marketing surpasses that of direct mailing. 

Targeting

In direct mail marketing, marketers often purchase mail lists from relevant associations or publications. In contrast, in email marketing (if you are doing it the legal way) your audience has willingly opted in to receive your emails and there is a higher chance of reading them. What’s more, email marketing can be segmented by zip code, level of income, and other demographics plus the criteria of level of interest which is absent in direct marketing.  People choose to receive your emails. 

Measurement

Email marketing allows you a lot of opportunities for analysis. At the end of the day, you are able to see how many people received your email, read it, clicked on links or asked for more information. You can use such information to assess the effectiveness of your real estate mail marketing and refine your strategy for the next campaigns.

Read More: 9 Email Marketing Tips for Real Estate to Boost Your Campaign

Going Forward

Email marketing offers engagement, greater reach, and a powerful ROI. We hope that, with this guide, you’re now confident on the steps to building a strong email list comfortable starting your email marketing campaign. 

 

Does email marketing still work in 2020?

Real estate email marketing may seem like a thing of the past but it is not dead yet. It is still one of the most effective ways of marketing your services. So many leads prefer cyberspace. The process of buying homes involves acquiring a lot of information and data. It is much easier to browse online than invest that time in home visits. The leads you may miss on social media you can catch using email marketing as email is frequently checked and consistently used. 

↑
Exit mobile version