In your real estate database of names (hopefully you are using a CRM with organized contact records) there are many types of home buyers. For example:
- first time home buyers,
- short sale seekers,
- retired or senior relocators.
Each of these segments should be nurtured differently, and marketing automation can make this task second nature. Most commonly these are referred to as drip campaigns for real estate marketing or nurture campaigns and they are executed through marketing automation sequences. I’ll outline these three examples with suggested follow-up steps. I expect that you’ll be able to take these steps and brand them correctly, tailor them to fit your niche and the contact’s lead source. Remember to offer value and not to SPAM your list. The acronym WIIFT (What’s In It For Them) should be leading each communication.
First Time Home Buyers
For my example, I’m going to assume that this contact came from a form on your website where they checked off a box to indicate they were first time home buyers. This type of buyer will typically need more coaching about the basics including financing and benefits of owning. Each email you send should have a clear call to action (CTA) too. You could follow this approach:
- Send an immediate thank you email for registering on your site and include content on the benefits of buying vs. renting. The subsequent emails could be scheduled to be sent daily or every other day. I personally wouldn’t schedule them weekly as there is too much time between emails for them to forget you and move onto the next agent.
- The next email may contain an outline of what to expect when shopping for a home. It may also include a general timeline as a guide.
- The third email could offer content on financing with a calculator for down payment and the benefits of pre-approval. If you work with a lender, you can provide that contact information now.
- Information on specific neighborhoods can be the subject of this next email. If you know their preferred neighborhood you can target that, otherwise focus on the area of your expertise. Include statistics on schools, resale values or area amenities.
- Hopefully at this point you also have reached out by phone or text to let them know you are a person and not just a program. They may have even agreed to work with you! But, if you haven’t had any response or if they committed to another agent, push their contact record into a longer term drip campaign to keep your name and offerings easily available to them.
Short Sale Seekers
For this example I’m going to assume that you have identified contacts in your CRM with an interest in short sales. Maybe selecting “interested in short sales” is an option when someone registers for your newsletter. This type of buyer may need to be educated on this long process. You could follow this approach:
- Email 1 should explain how a short sale is expected to work. You will need to do a bit of education here to set expectations properly.
- Email 2-6 could be a series of emails explaining mistakes to avoid:
- Skipping the inspection,
- Buying a fixer upper,
- Learning about the home without a disclosure statement,
- Expecting the sale to close in too short a time,
- Choosing an agent without knowledge in short sales.
To reiterate, have a clear CTA with each email. Maybe the CTA is to search your listings or to call to schedule a face to face meeting. Also include a way to unsubscribe from your email campaign. Not only is this the law, but it allows for you to dedicate your resources to individuals with more potential.
Retired or Senior Relocators
You may need to do a bit more segmenting of this group of contacts in your CRM to determine if they are planning on owning two homes, renting one and residing in the other, downsizing or simply moving for a change in climate. This is the perfect opportunity to use a drip campaign to direct this group down the right educational and purchasing path. Your approach may include:
- An introduction email with a link to a survey to understand their needs better.
If your marketing automation offers decision nodes you can then filter each contact into a different path based on their survey responses. If not you can treat all of them the same and offer individualized links to the proper content. - You may want to offer your second email with links to blog content that explains each of the segments above. Or,
- You can offer a series of emails with the advantages of each path they might chose.
Conclusion
There are many other automated marketing campaigns to take advantage of. Not only for different types of buyers, but for sellers, birthdays, purchase anniversary, reviving old leads or event promotion, to name a few.
I have outlined three examples of drip campaigns for common home buyers. Take these examples and incorporate your brand and your content. Spin your expertise (such as urban dwelling, lakeside homes or modern homes) to give your communications authority and to provide your contact with solutions to their problems.
If you are ready to redesign your website to include IDX or you need help setting up successful automated marketing sequences please reach out to Caffeine Interactive Technologies for your free 30 minute consultation.