Email Marketing for Real Estate Developers
An effective email marketing strategy is very important for home developers looking to sell lots and fill developments quickly. Email marketing functions for developers in two ways: 1) you can let consumers know about your development before you even break ground, making the selling process much smoother for you, and 2) it allows you to hold on to consumers who may not have been ready to purchase a home in one development, but who may be perfect buyers for the next.
When done properly, email marketing has wonderful potential to get your company in front of the right consumers, at the right time. It's a wonderful addition to any inbound or outbound marketing strategy because it speaks directly to your target buyer. Here are a few key things to know about starting an email marketing campaign for your real estate development company:
Know Who Your Ideal Buyer Is
The first and best way to email your subscriber list effectively is to know who they are. It sounds basic, but you'd be surprised at the number of weird spammy emails the average consumer gets in a day. Know a little something about who you plan on sending that newsletter to, and you'll see better results all around.
- Create buyer personas. For most real estate developments, buyer personas are actually pretty easy to pin down. You already know most of the information: the average income of your typical buyer, the average age, marital status, etc. Pool all of that information into two or three buyer personas, and then segment your email lists accordingly. That way you're always sending out relevant content to the right buyer persona. That will help keep your number of "unsubscribes" low.
- Remember that you can't make everyone happy. When you start sending newsletters out to a list of email addresses, you're bound to get a few "unsubscribes", and that's okay. Not everyone is a perfect fit for your real estate development, and your goal should be to keep the ones who are a perfect fit on your email list. If you're selling a real estate development for empty nesters, you shouldn't be upset about a 20-30 year old unsubscribing. They weren't a good fit anyway. Instead, focus on creating emails that speak directly to those empty nesters your community is built for.
Speak Solutions, Not Services
Email marketing campaigns that get ignored often have almost nothing to do with the buyer. If you're just talking about how wonderful your development is, most consumers are going to hit the delete button before they even make it through the headline.
Successful email marketing campaigns are ones that consumers actually want to read, and choose to stay subscribed to.
Yes, you build wonderful homes, and your developments are gorgeous and highly exclusive, but think of that from your buyer's perspective. Why would they want to move into your development? What problems do they have that your developments solve? Do you offer maintenance-free living? A community center? Close proximity to a golf course, lake, etc?
Instead of talking about your development directly, think about the problems your development solves for the people who live in it. Put those solutions in your email campaigns, and you'll start to see better subscription and bounce rates.
Though your email marketing campaigns are meant to convert people to make a purchase, you have to talk about something more than the homes you have for sale if you want to convince people. Your homes might be beautiful, but so are a lot of others — what makes your development or community stand out for the residents? How do your homes improve their quality of life?
Keep it Low-Key
Don't email too much, and don't email too often. Keep emails short, sweet, and helpful. Play your email campaign casual. It's no surprise that the decision time for purchasing a new home is long, and for most consumers, no manner of persuasion will get them to buy a new house before they actually have the money to do it. Instead, keep yourself on their radar by continuously providing helpful content that they actually care about, in a way that's not pushy.
Definitely keep your CTA at the end of every email and newsletter you send out, but try not to send out more than one email a week to regular subscribers. If you're following up on a lead, that might warrant a few extra emails a week, but if they decide they're not ready to buy, don't continue to harass them.
Instead, add them to your regular newsletter, where they will occasionally receive delightful content about choosing the right home, decorating a new home, or knowing when it's time to purchase a new home. When they do decide to buy a home, you'll be the first person they call, because your name will be fresh in their minds from your consistent, but casual, emails — emails they genuinely liked!
In the end, an effective email campaign is all about being pleasantly persistent, but not pushy. Keep offering up content that your buyers genuinely want to hear, and they'll know that you're truly there to help them — rather than just sell them something.
