Email marketing is very important for real estate marketers and agents to use in order to optimize their reach and maintain a strong relationship with clients. Though most marketers do engage in email marketing, many have neglected several key practices that would greatly improve their email campaign results and generate more sales leads. We will start by first looking at recent email marketing statistics to reiterate why email marketing is vital, then we will analyze several email marketing best practices and trends that all real estate marketers should be doing in 2019.
Statistics on email marketing:
- On average, email generates $38 for every dollar spent, which is a 3,800% return on investment. (Hubspot)
- 67% of real estate agents send marketing emails to their clients at least once a month. (Benchmark)
- Almost every report on email open rates concludes that mobile is responsible for at least 50% of all opens. (Campaign Monitor, 2018)
- Email marketing has the highest ROI of all digital marketing efforts. (VentureBeat)
- 72% of consumers say they prefer to receive content by email. (rezora)
Email Marketing Trends and Best Practices:
Segmentation:
What is email list segmentation? Segmenting data includes sorting useful data on your subscribers into specific categories for consumer behavior, preferences, and life-style. This practice is used to then choose the appropriate content that corresponds with each email list segment.
Email list segmentation and personalized emailing were the most effective email strategies of 2017, according to DMA, and the trend has continued to remain at the top of email marketing trends. But why? The proof is in the statistics. In the latest data, collected by MailChimp, it states that segmented email marketing campaigns get 14.64% more email opens and 59.99% more clicks compared to non-segmented campaigns. When email content is tailored to specific email list segments, your emails will yield better results because your audience will find the content relevant and interesting to read.
Key takeaway: If you haven’t already done so, start segmenting your contacts into email lists categorized by consumer preferences with the goal of optimizing the content sent to each specific contact type.
Promotional vs Informational Content:
Promotional emails are aimed to generate immediate sales traffic through discounts, product ads, incentives, etc. Although promotional emails do generate quick leads, it is much less effective at maintaining customers in the long run compared to content that is less about sales and more about providing your audience with a good virtual experience. For example, if your emails are continuously only about promotions, your audience will be less inclined to continue reading your emails.
“Email marketing was born to nurture customer relationships, but for most marketers today, it does little more than pitch one-off promotions to drive short- term sales.” -2017 Forrester Email Marketing Report
Informational emails provide your contacts within your segmented email lists with more interesting content allowing you to develop a more long-term customer relationship. According to the Experian Marketing Services study, personalized emails deliver 6x higher transaction rates showing that “nourishing your best customers” will improve your marketing results. In fact, personalized emails have open rates as much as 69% higher than regular email marketing campaigns.
Key takeaway: In this upcoming year, be sure to plan a certain number of personalized emails into your content schedule in order to maintain a better and long-term relationship with your clients.
Email as a Digital Experience:
Make email more than just another media platform.
Images
Including images in your emails will increase open rate, click-through-rate, and lead generation. This is true across most media platforms, however there is a point where including too many images can cause your email to look too cluttered and may overwhelm your reader. The key is to use images that will engage your reader so that the message you’re trying to send doesn’t get lost.
Video:
- Including video in an email can lead to open rate increases of 19% and a click-through rate increases upwards of 50 percent!
Marketing videos are a great way to spice up your email campaigns and may increase engagement. As technology improves, so will the consumption of video across all media platforms. To analyze the results for yourself, try including video in your next email campaign to see how your marketing data improves.
Templates:
Email marketing templates are an easy way to stay on brand while still being able to include a variety of content. There are thousands of different template options you can chose from or create to optimize your email campaigns and distribute content that best fits your list segments. Whether it is for a newsletter, listing promotion, or localized content, there are certain templates that will best suit certain types of emails.
Being creative with templates
Mizuno, a Japanese sports equipment and sportswear company worked with an agency called BrightWave to develop an email where users could build their own baseball glove and then buy or share it, directly from the email. This creative template idea is not only fun and interactive for Mizuno’s clients, but also gave the company a way to generate leads without spamming their clients.
Similarly, rezora connects to many apps, such as NiftyImages, that allow you to incorporate interactive features, such as a countdown clock, into your email campaigns as well.
Headlines:
Crafting the right headline can be tricky but there are key steps to follow that can make the process much easier. The first step is to start brainstorming trigger words to include in your email headlines. For example, using the word “video” in an email subject line boosts open rates by 19% and clickthrough rates by 65%. Secondly, there are also certain words you should avoid when crafting an email headline so that your emails don’t end up SPAM. For a complete list of these words to avoid check out The Ultimate List of Email SPAM Trigger Words.
Key takeaway: When you’re setting your 2019 digital marketing goals, be sure to explore the benefits of optimizing the content in your email campaigns whether it be including interesting video and images, being creative when selecting templates, or improving the quality of your headlines and copy.