4 Tips for Improving Real Estate Email Open Rates
Buying a house is a big investment with a long decision-making period, and as a realtor, you want to be right there beside your customer every step of the way. But what can you do if your subscriber doesn’t even open your emails? Do you just give up on their business?
Absolutely not. This is the time to re-think your email marketing strategy. Today you will learn 4 valuable tips for improving your real estate email open rates, which will help you acquire more clients.
#1 Segment your audience
If you are sending the same emails to everyone on your list, it’s time to change it up. This can singlehandedly be the reason why you are getting low open rates: some subscribers just don’t find your emails useful. Since each client is going through their own journey of buying a house, they are also looking for different information from you.
For instance, someone at the beginning of the customer journey will most likely be interested in resources on how to find the right home for their needs or even a guide on how to sift through listings with ease. However, someone who has already attended a few open houses will rather be looking for new listings and real estate events in their target neighborhoods instead.
The way to get the right emails to the right people is by segmenting your list. Connecting your CRM to your email marketing platform is the easiest and most efficient way to do this.
#2 Write attractive subject lines
Let’s say that you already sent the right email campaigns to the right people, but you still see no improvements in your open rate. Then the culprit must be your subject line. While your text of 60 characters or less might be an accurate summary of the content that’s inside the email, a dull phrasing will make your subscribers scroll right past it.
In our day and age, we are fighting for attention before fighting for clients. In a sea with dozens of other daily emails, a basic subject line won’t cut it. An effective way to improve your subject lines without spending thousands of dollars on copywriting lessons is to think about enticing curiosity. Think about what makes your email interesting and try to convey it in the subject line.
An extra tip when writing up subject lines is to steer away from using excessive spam trigger words such as “free,” “risk-free,” or “buy now.” These can drive subscribers to report you as spam and even ruin your email sender reputation score.
#3 Use personalization to your advantage
According to a study featured on the Marketing Dive, personalized email subject lines increase open rates by 50%. Even if this statistic doesn’t target the real estate industry directly, it’s clear to see how a personalized email will make your subscribers feel more connected with your company. Name tags are usually added at the beginning of an email, but you can even insert them in your subject line to grab the readers’ attention.
You don’t have to overly complicate it as long as you catch their interest with relevant content. Something as simple as “[Name], have you seen our new listings in Pasadena?” can go a long way with the right reader.
#4 Analyze results to constantly improve
A marketer’s best friend is data. Check the analytics platform from your email marketing provider regularly and see if you notice an improvement. Take note of which emails have the highest open rate and think about what is the reason.
Did people open that email because it had an interesting subject line or an enticing offer? Generally, the average email open rate can be anything from 15% to 25%. These insights will help you identify what works best for your audience. Then, you will be able to modify your strategy to fit their needs and increase open rates even further.
If you don’t have a large enough list to be sure that your insights are correct, then you can test your hypotheses through A/B testing. Using this tool, you can test out which types of subject lines attract more opens, what content your subscribers are most interested in, and even if personalization truly matters for them. Make sure to test out one element at a time and analyze the results constantly to understand your list’s preferences better.
While these tips will help you enhance your emails, never forget that marketing is about connecting with your customers. Always have their best interest at heart, and results will naturally follow.