In this article you’ll learn everything you need to know to launch a successful real estate email marketing campaign. You’ll learn the 5 real estate email templates every agent should use, how to build and maintain a healthy email list, and how email marketing software can help you automate your email outreach and track your performance to ensure success. Then we’ll wrap up with real estate email marketing tips from the pros.

In order to convert people on your email list into leads, you need to reach them with the right message, at the right time. A referral focused CRM like Contactually uses automation to help you convert more leads. That’s why we named Contactually the best real estate CRM of 2017.

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5 Free Real Estate Email Templates

In order to get more business from real estate email marketing you need to send the right message, to the right lead, at the right time. In order to do that, you need to know what to send them. All you need to do is copy and paste these emails, add images or listings, and plug them into a referral-focused CRM like Contactually to drip out to your leads and former clients. To get you started, here are the five real estate email templates that every agent needs to master to get more buyer and seller leads.

1. The Welcome Email – Introduce Yourself

The first email any lead will receive is called a welcome email. This a short, friendly yet professional message to thank them for signing up for your email list, or ordering a free competitive market analysis from your landing page. You should also tell them what to expect from future emails and from you as an agent.

When writing your welcome email, you should focus on answering these two questions for your leads:

1. What kinds of emails will you send them?
2. Why are you the best agent to work with?

You Only Get One Chance to Make a First Impression

Since competition for buyers and sellers is fierce, getting your welcome email just right is crucial for any successful email campaign. Think of it as your elevator pitch. You need to grab their attention and prove your value quickly.

Make it Actionable

Like all good marketing messages, welcome emails should end with a prominent call to action(CTA). Your call to action can be an offer to schedule a phone call or in-person meeting, an invitation to connect on Linkedin or other social media, or an invitation to add you to their address book so further newsletter emails don’t wind up in their spam folder or “promotional” tab on gmail.

Whatever CTA you decide to use, remember to make it prominent at the end of your message. A button is a great way to encourage people to click your CTA. They may never call or click to set up a meeting, but it reminds them there is a real person behind your emails that they can talk to when they’re ready. Remember, your goal of any real estate email marketing campaign is to get them off email and into your office.

Example Real Estate Welcome Email Template

Here is an example of a welcome email that you’re free to copy and tweak for your email campaign.

Subject Line: You’re One Step Closer to Buying/Selling Nirvana

Buying or selling a home can be a daunting experience, so I started this list back in ______ in order to give my clients the competitive edge that only many years of real estate experience can give you. You can take a deep breath and relax now. You’re in good hands.

Having worked in __________ for the past ___ years, I’ve not only gotten to know this city better than I ever imagined possible, but I also stumbled across the best methods for finding and selling homes here without the usual frustration.

What You Can Expect From My Emails

These weekly emails will teach you everything you need to know about our unique real estate market here in ____________. You’ll also get curated reviews of new restaurants, and local news and gossip that can affect the market.

You’ll also get sneak previews of hot new listings before they even hit the market.

Anyway, welcome aboard and if you’re ever near _______ drop me a line and we can grab a coffee and bagel at __________ on me.

Thanks!

-Your signature and headshot

2. The Newsletter – Educate, Entertain, and Sell

Besides an interview, there is no better way to tell your lead that you’re a local market expert and someone they want to spend time with than an email newsletter. Email newsletters are a great way to educate, entertain, and sell to your leads until they’re ready to hire you. They’re also the perfect way to stay top of mind with your best source of new leads; former clients who refer you to friends.

After the welcome email, your newsletter emails should focus on educating, entertaining, and selling to your lead in that order. Try to keep these emails short enough to read or skim in a few minutes, and only send relevant, engaging, and shareable content. You can include market reports, interesting articles, or sneak previews of new listings. 2-4 topics or articles per email are more than enough.

Educate

To help educate your lead, you can post content like infographics highlighting market data (Use a free service like Venngage to create eye catching and shareable infographics), links to interesting news articles about your local market, home improvement tips, recent sales or new listings, open house invites, or mortgage news and advice. If you do decide to post articles, remember to always include a quick summary to explain why it matters to your audience. Always focus on their needs and interests, not yours.

Entertain

For people who don’t work in the industry, a newsletter about interest rates and median price per square foot can get dull pretty quickly, so be sure to spice up your newsletter with fun local events, holiday greetings, or reviews of new local restaurants. You can also include charities or other local events you participate in. This is a great way to warm them up by showing what you’re passionate about.

Sell

A word of advice on selling: There is no quicker way to end up in someone’s spam folder than constantly pushing for a sale in your newsletter. No one likes to be thought of as a dollar sign. You can and should include invitations to open houses, and new and recently sold listings, but try to keep the main focus of your newsletter on educating and entertaining first, and leave selling as an afterthought.

Example Real Estate Newsletter Email Template

Here’s a quick example I did for a thanksgiving newsletter. Feel free to copy and tweak for your clients.

Subject Line: Summer is Finally Here!!

Welp, it’s that time of year again. Your big wool coat is not collecting dust in the back of your closet (where it belongs) and playing hooky from work for a day trip to Coney Island is starting to sound more and more realistic.

There’s only one problem. Where are all the coolest concerts and events happening this summer? Don’t worry. We did all the research for you and came up this list of the top 25 must see events you need to know about.

Here’s our list of the hottest events of the summer:

{list of fun local events}

See you on the beach!

-Your signature and headshot

3. Buyer Lead Emails – From Your Email List to Your Car

Unlike most of the subscribers to your newsletter, buyer leads primarily want to see new listings. If they sign up to receive listing alerts through your IDX enabled website right away, great, that means they may be ready to buy. If not, then you need to nurture them until they are.

Example Buyer Lead Email Template

Here’s an example of an email you might want to send to buyer leads after they sign up to receive listing alerts or join a drip campaign you set up for buyers.

Subject Line: Here are the Listings Your Requested

Hi there!

Just wanted to send you a quick message to update you on all the crazy sales activity in the neighborhood this month. Think of these emails as your inside scoop on the local market.

Below you’ll find 10 notable sales in the past month as well as a few hand picked listings that we think you’ll love. As always, if you want to grab a coffee to talk about the local market, call me on my cell; 555-555-5555.

{list of notable sales along with pictures and descriptions}

{new listings that match your lead’s search criteria}

-Best regards,

-Your signature and headshot

4. Seller Lead Emails – Those Who List, Last

Whether seller leads find you through your home valuation page, an open house sign in sheet, or referral, potential home sellers are primarily interested in only two things; learning how much their home is worth, and figuring out if you’re the person they want to hire to sell it. That’s pretty much it. With a series of strategically written emails sent at the right time, you can give them the right answer to both questions.

The Competition is Stronger Than Ever

According to NAR, 70% of home sellers only interview one agent, and only 4% of them find that agent through a website. This means getting them to your landing page and converting them might be an uphill battle. Even more than with buyer leads, standing out from the crowd and getting a face to face meeting should be your primary goal at every stage of your seller lead email campaign.

If they are contacting you from your web site offering a free comparative market analysis (CMA), then explain to them you are working on it and when to expect it. Since your end goal here is a face to face meeting, be sure to remind them that your CMA will be far more accurate after an in home assessment.

Example Seller Lead Email Template

Here’s an example of a seller lead email that you’re free to modify and use.

Subject Line: Your Competitive Market Analysis is on it’s Way

You’re One Step Closer to Finding Out the True Market Value of Your Home.

I just wanted to reach out to tell you that our team of market experts is crunching the numbers for your personal comparative market analysis as we speak. Once they’re done, you’ll have an excellent insider’s assessment of what your home can bring on the market today with the right marketing strategy.

Even though we have ___ years of combined market expertise, our valuation of your home will be much more precise if we had a chance to see it in person.

I know you’re busy, but can you make time next week for our agent Paul to come assess your home and talk with you about its value? Our appointment only needs to be around 15 minutes, and there is no need to prepare anything since we already have a good idea of what your property is worth, we just need to tweak our assessment a bit.

Please give me a call at {555=555-5555} to set up an appointment. Out schedule fills up quickly this time of year, so please try and call as soon as possible to ensure you get an appointment time that works for your schedule.

Best regards,

-Your signature and headshot

5. Former Client Emails – Stay Top of Mind to Get More Referrals

Let’s face it, our best new clients always come from referrals. According to NAR 40% of buyers and 38% of sellers chose to work with a Realtor referred by a friend, relative or neighbor. In my own career, I’ve found that my closing ratio for referrals is at least twice as good as leads from any other source. That means staying top of mind with former clients should be a large part of your email marketing efforts.

Think Facebook Instead of LinkedIn

The last thing most people who have just closed on a home want to read about is the real estate market, so avoid sending former clients your regular newsletter or buyer/seller emails. Instead, you can send more personal emails spread much farther apart to stay top of mind.

Reaching out for the anniversary of their move to see how things are working out, or sending holiday or birthday greetings will all remind your former client that they were more than just a paycheck for you.

Example Former Client Email Template

Here’s an example of a good former client email template you can copy and edit to send to your sphere.

Subject Line: Season’s Greetings!

Hi ______,

Just wanted to send some holiday cheer to you and your family. Did you ever get a chance to go sleigh riding last week with _____ and ____? I know they were excited about trying out the hill behind ______.

How is everything with your new home? Did the new hot water heater give you any trouble? We went tankless last year and it changed our lives. If you need a great plumber to install a tankless system, I can send ___ over your way for an estimate. He’s does great work and still hasn’t raised his hourly rate.

We’ve been very busy this year. We hired 3 new agents and closed 50 deals last year. It’s been very exciting and I am so happy that we were able to help you find a home you love.

As always, if you or anyone you know ever needs real estate related advice please don’t hesitate to call my cell; ______________.

Best regards,

-Your signature and headshot

Real Estate Email Marketing Tips From the Pros for 2017

Now that you have a better idea of what to send your leads and some example real estate email templates to work with, here are some insightful real estate email marketing tips.

Send Your Leads Listing Updates from Your MLS

Steven Seigel, Florida Realtor The Luxury Team

“The most successful email strategy I’ve implemented is through setting up saved searches for buyers and sellers. These saved searches alert clients of new listings or price changes for properties that meet their selling or buying criteria. For example if I have a potential buyer looking for an oceanfront condo with 3 bedroom and 2 bedrooms in Fort Lauderdale I will save that search through my multiple listing service and the client will get an automated email with any new properties that are listed that meet their specific purchasing criteria. From my experience buyers see more value in these types of email updates vs generic home buying emails. The same can be done for sellers. I set up saved searches for properties similar to a potential sellers property. This strategy allows me to stay in contact with buyers and sellers while adding insight and value to their home buying or selling experience.”

Send Weekly Emails + New Listing Alerts

Matt Morgus, San Francisco Realtor Compass

“I’ve had major success with Mailchimp over the last couple of years. My email campaign is pretty simple. 1 email per week. This email usually includes a link to a piece of interesting news from the SF Chronicle, new blog posts / new podcast episodes I’m promoting. I describe my layout as Modern 2017. Second, I send 1 email for every new listing and 1 email for every just sold listing. I have around 1500 people on my email list.”

Send Targeted Emails to Your Website Visitors

Jeff Miller, Maryland Realtor AE Home Group

“Closing a buyer lead through email is all about targeted content.We use an effective email marketing strategy that leverages logged-in visitor tracking. When a potential client visits our website we use google analytics to track which properties he or she have looked at and for how long. We then automatically send them follow up emails about the properties that they spent the most time researching. These targeted emails have been highly effective at converting potential buyers into current clients.”

Shorter Articles Work Better than Longer Articles

Janice B. Leis, Philadelphia Broker, Berkshire Hathaway

“I found that being too frequent was too much. I write the Newsletter (Leis Letters) myself and always add photos. I keep it to one major article (not too long…..readers are busy with short attention spans! Many are responsive or in conversations they will ‘refer back’ to an article I wrote. I also have links to articles or radio programs I have participated in. My open rate is approximately 58%.”

 

Set Aside Time Everyday to Build Your Email List

Open house sign in sheets, your website lead capture page, or links from social media can all be great places to encourage people to sign up for your email list. You can even run real estate Facebook ads to encourage people to sign up. Even better, reach out to your sphere regularly and encourage them to sign up for your email list to get up-to-the-minute market news and advice.

No matter how you choose to build out your email list, just remember that you need to do it regularly. Try and set aside a few minutes every day to work on getting more contacts and leads on your email list.

Edit Your Email List Regularly

Keeping a healthy list is crucial to any successful email marketing effort. By using email marketing software, you can keep track of who is opening and engaging with your emails. People who never open your emails should be removed from your list, or at least sent an email asking if they still want to stay on the list.

Master the Subject Line With A/B Testing

Since it’s the first (and sometimes only) part of your email your audience reads, you need to work hard on writing catchy, engaging headlines that make people want to open your email. How do you tell which subject lines your audience is more likely to open.

Email Marketing Software – Automate Your Outreach

In today’s market, relying on excel sheets and Gmail for your real estate emails is a losing strategy. Competition in the real estate software industry means you can get affordable or even free software that will put your email marketing on steroids.

Here’s Rochester New York Realtor Kyle Hiscock on his software of choice:

“I personally use LionDesk for my drip campaign. LionDesk allows me to setup as many drip campaigns as I’d like and also allows me to incorporate texting and video into them. In addition, LionDesk is able to be connected to my website so when a lead comes in, it can be automatically be routed into LionDesk and placed onto a drip campaign immediately! This allows me to have extremely fast response times and also ensures I’m able to continually stay in front of clients and prospects!”

To learn more about choosing the right email marketing software, check out our in-depth buyer’s guide comparing MailChimp, ConstantContact and AWeber here.

Real Estate CRMs

If you want to step up your email marketing game, then you need to get a powerful real estate CRM like Contactually. Contactually lets you organize your leads into buckets and design custom tailored drip campaigns to ensure you reach the right lead, with the right message, at the right time. For example, you can create a bucket that puts all your buyer leads on one drip campaign, and another for sellers.

Real Estate Lead Generation Websites Often Include CRMs or Integrate Email Marketing

Or, for the cost of your morning latte, you can sign up with an all-in-one real estate lead generation website like Placester, Real Geeks, or Zurple who offer email drip campaigns, your own responsive IDX web site, Google and Facebook advertising, and lead management all for around $150 per month.

If you’re not happy with the email marketing capabilities that come with your lead generation website’s CRM, they also offer integration with popular email marketing software like Constant Contact, Aweber, and Mailchimp.

Bottom Line on Real Estate Email Marketing

Due to its unbeatable ROI and overwhelming preference among buyers and sellers, effective real estate email marketing should be at the center of every realtor’s marketing strategy. Take the time to write great real estate email templates or just copy and tweak ours. A real estate CRM such as Contactually will be an excellent tool for keeping track of your clients–click here for a free trial.

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