Looking for an effective tool to cultivate and build long-lasting business relationships? An email drip campaign could be your answer.  Here's how.

The name – email drip – derives from the fact that these targeted, scheduled emails are “dripped” out on a regular basis to past, present and future clients from your database who have opted to receive mailings from you.

Email drip campaigns build top-of-mind awareness, which is crucial in relationship-based industries such as real estate. When someone in your area is ready to buy or sell their home, you want to be the first person they think of, right? That’s top-of-mind (TOM) awareness and it is achieved by regular reminders that you’re in business. One of the most effective ways to maintain TOM is through email marketing, and more specifically, through email drip campaigns. And the best part is that email drip marketing is low cost, quick, easy to maintain, measurable and has a relatively high response rate.

Consistent contact is the key. Ideally, the first email should be followed by four weekly emails. Then a little less frequently after that to, perhaps, once or twice a month for X number of months.

How to increase your response rate

You can significantly increase the response rate of your campaigns by targeting your email, keeping the messages short and specific and providing value to the recipient.

Target the message to a specific market

Most real estate-specific contact management programs have built-in email drip campaigns. However, it is preferable to customize these to better target your specific audience. So, instead of sending generic buyer and seller campaigns, why not be more specific? Develop highly targeted emails to such niches as move-up buyers, FSBO sellers, empty nesters, etc.

What makes you decide to open an email?

Think about what makes you want to open a particular email. Is it an interesting Subject line? Is it from someone you know? Does it ask a question and you just have to know the answer? Incorporate these kinds of things in your email campaign to get better open and response rates.

Because we’re inundated by un-requested emails (Spam) every day, email marketers need to catch the recipient’s attention with an appealing, interesting headline. I recommend putting the headline in the Subject line and keeping it short (less than eight words long). What’s more, because people are curious, if you ask a question, they are likely to read the message to find the answer. Good examples include “which of these …”, “why …”, “who else …”, “when …”, “where …” and so on.

Be sure to avoid spam triggers that include words in all caps, excessive punctuation and certain words/terms such as “free,” “guarantee,” “great offer,” “amazing,” “click here,” and more. These are trigger words that Spam filters look for.

Keep it short

A helpful hint for getting better open rates is to avoid long blocks of copy by using numbered or bulleted lists so the reader is better able to focus on the message without spending a lot of time. Another great tip is to put your most valuable content first so they get the more important message right away.

Jeri Winkler of The Secret Assistant is a Top Producer expert. She says, “Using Top Producer is an excellent choice when it comes to managing your incoming leads and the follow-up via an email drip campaign. If you are already using Top Producer as your contact management system then you already have the “bones” in place for a very comprehensive and thorough email drip campaign system. Top Producer has provided you with several prewritten campaigns. I suggest that you edit these to suit your area and personality or create your own content. Other tips to making the most of Top Producer and their email drip capabilities include:

• Creating different contact types for each different lead source so that you can track your marketing successes

• Creating different drip campaigns based on the different contact types

• Assigning your leads to appropriate email drip campaigns based on their contact type

• Placing each lead in the drip campaign as soon as they contact you or as they enter your system.

• Assigning the emails to deliver automatically or placing them in your daily to-do list and sending them out manually.

• Tracking leads as the drip campaign ends. Follow up with a personal email or phone call and then place on a second campaign if appropriate.

• The emails do not have to be bland, text-only messages. Top Producer allows you to format text, insert graphics, and hyperlinks to make the message very appealing to the recipient.

• The drip campaigns from Top Producer comply with all current laws by having an unsubscribe feature on each message.

• Have a virtual assistant manage the campaigns remotely.

If you have a Top Producer website, an Advance Access website, a Realtor.com account or a Z57 site, then leads can feed right into your Top Producer account and can be automatically assigned to a drip campaign. If you do not have one of these sites, or have a custom-built site, you can also create a custom form to that will do the same.”

Jeri also notes that, “The new Outlook Connector does not work with action plans in Top Producer and email drip campaigns are considered action plans. Outlook Connector is designed to be used for single emails only so do not design your emails with this in mind.”

Optimize the tools you may already have

There are several companies that sell real estate-specific tools for drip email campaigns including Intersend, Sharper Agent and the Gooder Group’s Rainmaker eCentral. No matter which system you use, be sure these features are included:

• has tracking

• is customizable

• is able to be personalized

• can be scheduled

• is multi-format (can be sent in both HTML and plain text)

Vickie Smith at executiveva@assistingyoursuccess.com,  uses Sharper Agent and recommends that a campaign “be set up by ‘days between’ so that a contact starts the beginning of a campaign when they’re entered.” Catherine Schooling of VirtualSalesAssistance.com says, “If you use Point2Agent or Advanced Access and you don’t have another drip campaign, activate the campaigns in these products. They can be set up to automatically be sent out without any tasks for the agent to do and they will keep in touch with the lead.”

Strategic tips to help your campaigns

1. Scheduling emails to arrive at strategic times will prove to be more effective in open rates. For instance, emails that arrive first thing in the morning or at lunchtime are read more often than at other times of the day.

2. Be sure your email drip system tracks the emails sent. It should give you reports on how many recipients opened your email, clicked on a link, unsubscribed, forwarded it and more. And keep your lists up-to-date so people are not getting emails once they unsubscribe.

3. I recommend personalizing the Subject line with the recipient’s name to get a better open rate.

4. A well-designed HTML email campaign will have a higher response rate than plain text messages. And the multi-format email is even better.

5. When considering what kind of information to include in your email campaigns, you can do things like promote your website, explain what differentiates you from your competition, promote your blog, etc.

When designing email drip campaigns for my clients at Brochures by Design, I recommend that they provide clear instructions to make it simple for recipients to opt-out of any campaign. There’s no better way to alienate a client than to keep sending them email they don’t want. I also recommend a double opt-in request. This means that if they sign up for your email through, say your website, they will then receive an email requesting them to verify that they asked to be added to your database. This makes it very clear that they are the ones who signed up for the email campaign.

Creating attention-getting emails will go a long way in getting people to notice, then read, your email drip campaigns. By consistently providing targeted, useful information you’ll be providing a service to your clients and, at the same time, maintaining top-of-mind awareness which is essential in a relationship-based business such as real estate.

Evy Williams is our VA QUICK TIPS columnist. She specializes in designing marketing materials to sell homes through her company, BrochuresByDesign.com. She holds a Master’s degree in Administration and is a certified Master Virtual Assistant, Military Spouse Virtual Assistant, Professional Real Estate Virtual Assistant, Real Estate Support Specialist and is EthicsChecked. Contact her at Evy@BrochuresByDesign.com.

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