Email marketing is one of the most effective ways of speaking directly to your potential vendors, landlords, buyers and tenants. Unlike many other forms of marketing, email allows you to send specific, targeted messages directly to the inbox of your most valuable potential customers.

But how can you ensure that you are consistently growing your email marketing list?

Since GDPR was introduced in 2017, many estate agents find themselves more restricted in how they obtain data and want to know how to build their lists compliantly and safely.

We discuss some of the best ways to build an email marketing list for your estate agency.

Blogging to build an email list

While we’ve previously spoken about the benefits of blogging for your estate agency, creating valuable content is a great way to build your audience.

The key to getting this right is really ensuring that the blogs you are writing provide value to specific audiences. Think market updates, local area news, landlord compliance changes, etc. If your audience can expect regular news and views which are super relevant to them, they will be happy to sign up to ensure that they don’t miss out.  

Adding a call to action to the bottom of each of your blogs inviting users to sign up to get regular content can be a great way to build out a compliant estate agency email list.

Create a “lead magnet”

Many marketers talk about lead magnets, but what are they?

Simply put, a lead magnet is designed to be a piece of content which is valuable enough to get someone in your target market to provide their email address in return for that content. It tends to sit as “gated” content – meaning that a user cannot gain access to it (or the results) without providing their contact details.

The possibilities for a lead magnet are endless, and it’s worth considering different lead magnets for different audiences.

Here are some examples of types of lead magnet that you can introduce to your agency:

Types of lead magnet for an estate agent

eBook

E-books or white paper downloads can be a great way to get someone onto your mailing list. The key here is to ensure that you are offering something original, comprehensive and that people really want.

Think a full guide to a regulation change, an in-depth look at schools in a local area, or a topic that is likely to really appeal to who you are looking to garner addresses for.

Online valuation tool

If you already use an online valuation tool, no doubt you follow up your leads to see if they want to book a valuation. However, online tools can also help you to move your leads from cold to warm – familiarising them with your agency.

If you have other audiences you are looking to reach, such as landlords, or buyers, it can also be worth looking at other tools, and checklists which add value.

Webinar

If you specialise in a specific asset class, consider whether a webinar would suit your audience. This is a great way to both build your email audience, but also to establish yourselves as leaders in the industry.

Other inventive lead magnets include quizzes, free training, and interactive forms. Just be sure to keep it original and of value to your audience.

How Brief Your Market helps you to nurture your email list

Building a great email list really is just the start. With Brief Your Market, you can make sure that you are fully engaging with that list, providing valuable, timely content that will make sure that, when they are ready to sell, buy or let, you are at the top of mind.

Find out more about our email marketing services.

Get in touch

To request a call-back from a member of the team, please enter your details below.

There’s no doubt that email marketing is still one of the most effective tools for estate agents who want to reach their objectives. Whether that’s gaining new instructions, promoting an open day for a specific property, or simply raising brand awareness – the beauty of email marketing is that it provides you with the opportunity to put your message straight into your prospective customers inbox.

To really track the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns, it is important to then measure the return on investment (ROI) of each email sent.

Put very simply, return on investment is measured by dividing the amount earned on your campaign by the cost of your campaign.

We’ve taken a look at the best ways for estate agents to measure the ROI of their email campaigns…

Consider your goals

Not all email campaigns will have the same objectives. Therefore, when putting together your email marketing strategy, it’s important to consider what you want to achieve with each campaign.

Let’s look at some of the most likely goals you may have as an estate agency:

·       Brand awareness

Familiarising your audience with your brand sits at the top of what is known as the sales funnel. This is where you can talk more about your agency and what makes it unique. You would generally measure the number of opens of your email, the numbers reached and the click through rates.

·       New valuations

Often you will be interested in gaining new instructions through your email marketing. This can be relatively simple to measure. You just need to link your campaigns to your website to track who fills in a valuation form and ideally to your CRM to follow the contact through the process.

Here’s a great example of what measuring your campaign ROI allows you to see; from a single email campaign, Ben Charles booked 7 market appraisals and converted 2 of them into instructions.

·       Lead nurturing

Email marketing also provides you the opportunity to nurture your leads. From providing your landlords with market updates to following up market appraisals, sending targeted nurture emails helps to get customers over the line. It also keeps you at the fore front of their mind when they may think about selling in the future.

Typical email marketing measurements

Open rates

This is the number of people who opened your email. While the number of opens will vary, according to benchmarks, the industry average for real estate emails is 19%.

Click through rate (CTR)

This is the number of people who clicked on a link once they had opened your email. The average click through rate according to the same benchmark is 1.77%.

Unsubscribes                                                     

It is also important to measure how many people unsubscribe from your email campaigns. This helps you to understand what content may not be as relevant to your audience. On average, estate agency unsubscribes per campaign sit at 0.27%.

Conversions

To track conversions, you must first agree on what a conversion is based on your goals. For example, if you are running a campaign to get more valuations – a conversion might be a new valuation request, or you might say it doesn’t count until that request has been booked or taken place.  

How BriefYourMarket can help make the most of your email campaigns

As experts in email marketing for estate agents, BriefYourMarket has a world of data at its fingertips.  We know what works well, how to drive conversions and the types of campaign that are likely to be the most successful.

By integrating with your existing CRM, not only are you able to campaign to your archive database but you can track success from email sent to instruction signed.

We take all guesswork out of measuring ROI and put you in control.

Get in touch

To request a call-back from a member of the team, please enter your details below.

It’s the local app that’s been taking the UK by storm over the past few years, but what is Nextdoor, and how can it help your estate agency?

What is Nextdoor?

Put simply, Nextdoor is a social networking app aimed at offering neighbours a place to come together and connect. The app blends some of the best bits of discussion forums, Facebook groups and buy and sell platforms to provide a great space for locals to talk about what’s important to them, local issues and ask for recommendation.

When a new user joins the site, they add their address and postcode in order to allow them to connect with people living in their local area.

Usage of the app has hugely increased since 2020, as neighbours came together on the app throughout the various lockdowns to provide support to others.

Why should estate agents care about Nextdoor?

The benefit of Nextdoor for estate agents is that it’s so localised. It’s also a platform that is still relatively underutilised by businesses. As a local agency, you can get involved both as an individual – providing value in discussions – or set up a business profile and create groups too.

Setting up a business on Nextdoor

Like Facebook, LinkedIn and the other social platforms, you can set up a business profile for free on Nextdoor and it’s really easy to boot. This allows you to be found by people in your local area who are looking for estate agency services. Perfect.

Your business page displays basic information about your agency and adding your business information on Nextdoor allows neighbours to easily find you when they’re searching for goods, services, or recommendations. With your business page, you can see recommendations for your business by neighbours, advertise local deals and post as long as your business is verified.

Advertising on Nextdoor

Naturally, like most social media apps, Nextdoor also has an advertising option for businesses to promote their services in their local area, or even at a national level.

There are several options for advertising including promoting “local deals” and also being a local sponsor.

Local deals give you the opportunity to promote a specific offer that may be of interest to those in the local area. Local sponsorship is, to some degree, the online equivalent of billboards in your local area. The costs will vary, but with prices from as little as £30 per month – it’s still a very cheap alternative to advertising on platforms such as Facebook or Google. And another for you to test its return on investment.

For estate agents, Nextdoor offers a wealth of ways in which to truly get to the heart of what matters in their local communities. From offering advice to selling services, it’s a great, untapped space that allows them to stay front of mind when locals are looking to make their next move.

Get in touch

To request a call-back from a member of the team, please enter your details below.

Every business wants to generate more business of course, and estate agencies are no different. However, in a highly competitive market and with a limited number of instructions, agencies are increasingly having to consider other ways to boost their revenue.

So, how can you increase your agency’s turnover?

Consider your existing revenue streams

Firstly, take a look at how you currently bring income into your business. Do you already offer a full agency service including lettings and management, for example? Property management provides a fairly safe recurring income that can be capitalised upon.

Also look at your sales portfolio. Do you tend to operate at a certain end of the market? Be clear on your value proposition. If you deal with higher end properties, your fees should reflect that. If you operate closer to the lower end of the market, your focus will be on volume. Be clear about your offering in all of your marketing to ensure you attract the right clients.

Reactivate your archive database

When times are good, it’s easy to just focus on new enquiries coming in. That strategy leaves a lot of money on the table when it comes to potential vendors and landlords already in your database, though.

Communicate with those that you have been in touch with over the years. Keep in touch. Let them know you’re still there if they need you. After all, the average person moves house every seven years or so. How old are some of the contacts in your database? There’s real value in there, guaranteed.

Compete on value, not on cost

This can be one of the biggest hurdles for estate agents. Fees are important to vendors and landlords but if you can compete on the value and experience you add, you’ll no longer be in a race to the lowest price.

The truth is that, for many sellers, they care more about reputation and experience than they might realise. Particularly if they have had a bad experience in the past, they will be far more likely to want the reassurance they are using an expert agency.

You’re selling their most valuable asset for them and with a chain likely involved too, paying that bit more should not be a concern. You just need to show why you’re worth that bit more.

This is where your marketing is key to your success. By consistently demonstrating that you have knowledge, expertise and a deep understanding of the local market, you can command higher fees without feeling the need to haggle to win instructions.

Consider referrals

Your sales and lettings services aren’t the only way in which to earn an income into your estate agency. Carefully selecting partners to refer to can help to add an extra way of bringing money as well.

Many utility providers and insurance brokers offer partnership schemes whereby you receive a fee or percentage of their income for anyone you refer to them. Examples include Sky, Virgin and HomeLet.

It’s also worth looking at potential partnerships with local companies such as removal firms or interior designers who may be willing to come to an arrangement for referrals with you.

Be selective though, as your partnership choice may well affect the reputation of your business.

By thinking clearly about how you increase revenue, you can make a plan to ensure that your estate agency always thrives, whatever the market conditions.

Get in touch

To request a call-back from a member of the team, please enter your details below.

With instructions in many locations now dwindling, but competition still fierce, it’s now more important than ever for estate agencies to understand how they can stand out from the crowd.

When it comes to winning business, it’s often the case that potential vendors and landlords select the estate agency that’s considered to be the best in their location. But how can you establish yourself as that “go to agency” in your local area?

We discuss how you can become a local leader and make your estate agency stand out…

Being visible

Being seen by the local community now goes far beyond simply having a branch in a high street location. The reality, of course, is that most searches for an estate agent start online. Having a good presence on the search engines such as Google and Bing is therefore key to getting found by your potential customers.

Local Facebook groups, the Nextdoor app and a number of online forums all provide you with the opportunity to speak to your “neighbours” right where they are, rather than waiting for them to come to you. Adding value to your audience is the name of the game here. Think sharing your knowledge of the local area, being helpful when people are looking for recommendations and offering advice rather than only ever trying to actively “sell”.

Showcase your local knowledge

One of the biggest bugbears for vendors is when it’s clear that an agent valuing or selling their house knows little about their home or the local area. By showing that you have an in-depth knowledge of your locations at a micro level, you engender trust in your estate agency.

This can be done through placing appropriate blogs and content on your website, pushing out interesting facts and figures through your social media channels, and by providing great local information through your email campaigns.

By showing publicly that you understand your village, town or city you help to build a reputation as a leader in your location.

Show you care about your community

Getting involved with your local community helps to embed your agency into the consciousness of those who may become a customer now or even years later.

Lots of estate agents are involved in local initiatives – anything from sponsoring their town’s youth football team, to donating their time to a neighbourhood charity. However, it’s often the case that no one except those directly involved in those initiatives are aware.

If you are involved in local initiatives, make sure as many people as possible are aware by showcasing it through your website and your communications. This also helps to build awareness of the charity or group you are involved with too.

Providing emails locals care about

BriefYourMarket helps you to push out content that is of interest to your local area. Our innovative services allow you to get the right message, right in front of your ideal customer. From written emails to video communications, we can even create and send campaigns showcasing you as the local leader on your behalf.

To learn more simply get in touch below.

Get in touch

To request a call-back from a member of the team, please enter your details below.