🏡 The Real Estate Marketing Update - Edition 21

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Welcome back.

Welcome to our latest edition, packed with valuable insights. We share one of our top strategies for boosting your email list with your website. We're also excited to introduce a new tool that's been a game-changer for our copywriting, and we’ll be unveiling some innovative messaging prod’ messaging products from Meta.

If you're new here, don't worry. We've got you covered. Our previous editions are a treasure trove of tips, tools, and news. Check them out to stay ahead of the game.

Or, if you’re caught up, let’s jump right in.

Ready for some actionable insights in store for you in this edition… 

• One actionable tip that can immediately boost your lead generation

• One handy tool that can simplify your tech stack management

• One essential news story

…and become at least 1% better at generating the right type of leads.

It’s Time to Rethink How You Collect Emails on Your Real Estate Website

Collecting email addresses is crucial for building a robust client base and nurturing leads. However, the traditional approach of using generic email signup popups on homepages often falls short. To enhance engagement and generate more qualified leads, you must rethink how, where, and when you ask for email addresses on your website. This article provides specific examples, detailed tips, and easy-to-understand language to help you optimize your email collection strategies.

Understanding the Importance of Strategic Email Collection

Before we delve into specific strategies, it’s crucial to grasp the significance of a strategic approach to email collection. Email marketing continues to be one of the most potent channels for nurturing leads and converting them into clients. However, the effectiveness of your email marketing campaigns hinges on the quality of your email list. By strategically collecting email addresses, you can ensure that you're building a list of engaged, interested prospects who are more likely to convert.

Common Pitfalls of Generic Email Signups

Generic email signup popups that appear on the homepage and interrupt the visitor experience often lead to low-quality signups and high bounce rates. These popups can be seen as intrusive; visitors may enter fake email addresses to close the popup. Additionally, these generic signups don’t capture the visitor’s interest at the right moment, resulting in a list of subscribers who may not be genuinely interested in your services.

Strategy 1: Contextual Opt-In Forms

Example:

Instead of a generic popup on the homepage, place opt-in forms at strategic points on your website where visitors are more likely to be interested in your services. For instance, include an opt-in form on property listing pages, prompting visitors to enter their email address to view additional photos or receive detailed property reports.

Steps to Implement:

1. Identify High-Interest Areas: Determine the pages on your website where visitors show the most interest, such as property listings, blog posts about buying/selling tips, and market reports.

2. Create Contextual Opt-In Forms: Design opt-in forms that offer value specific to the content on those pages. For example, “Enter your email to view exclusive property photos” or “Sign up to receive our comprehensive market report.”

3. Test and Optimize: Use A/B testing to compare different form placements, designs, and offers. Analyze the results to optimize for higher conversion rates.

Strategy 2: Content Upgrades

Example:

Offer content upgrades on your blog posts to capture email addresses. A content upgrade is valuable content related to the blog post visitors can access by entering their email addresses. For example, if you have a blog post about first-time home-buying tips, offer a downloadable checklist or eBook in exchange for their email.

Steps to Implement:

1. Identify Popular Blog Posts: Look at your website analytics for the most visited and engaged blog posts.

2. Create Valuable Content Upgrades: Develop checklists, eBooks, or detailed guides related to the blog post topic.

3. Embed Opt-In Forms: Add opt-in forms within the blog post offering the content upgrade. For example, “Download our First-Time Home Buyer Checklist by entering your email below.”

4. Promote the Upgrade: To encourage signups, mention the content upgrade in the introduction and throughout the blog post.

Strategy 3: Exit-Intent Popups

Example:

Implement exit-intent popups when a visitor is about to leave your website. These pop-ups can offer a last-minute value proposition to capture visitors' email addresses before they leave. For example, “Wait! Get our free guide to selling your home faster. Enter your email to download now.”

Steps to Implement:

1. Use Exit-Intent Technology: Utilize exit-intent technology to track when visitors are about to leave your site.

2. Design Compelling Popups: Create exit-intent popups with strong headlines and clear value propositions.

3. Offer Immediate Value: Ensure the popup offers something immediately valuable, like a downloadable guide, free consultation, or exclusive market insights.

4. Monitor and Adjust: Track the performance of exit-intent popups and adjust the offer, design, and timing based on user behavior and feedback.

Strategy 4: Gated Content for Exclusive Access

Example:

Provide exclusive access to gated content in exchange for an email address. This could include market reports, detailed neighborhood guides, or buying and selling real estate webinars. For instance, “Access our in-depth 2024 Real Estate Market Report by entering your email below.”

Steps to Implement:

1. Create Valuable Gated Content: Develop high-quality content your target audience finds valuable and willing to exchange their email for.

2. Set Up Gating: Use a content management system or email marketing platform to set up the gating of the content.

3. Promote Gated Content: Highlight gated content on your website and social media channels, emphasizing its value and exclusivity.

4. Follow-Up: After capturing the email address, follow up with a welcome email that provides the content and introduces your services.

Strategy 5: Interactive Quizzes and Surveys

Example:

Engage visitors with interactive quizzes or surveys that provide personalized results or recommendations. For example, “Find Out Which Neighborhood Is Best for You – Take Our Quiz!” At the end of the quiz, ask for their email address so that the results can be sent.

Steps to Implement:

1. Design Engaging Quizzes/Surveys: Create quizzes or surveys that are fun and provide value to the user.

2. Incorporate Email Capture: At the end of the quiz or survey, ask for the visitor’s email address to send their results or personalized recommendations.

3. Promote on Social Media: Share the quiz or survey to drive traffic and increase participation.

4. Analyze Results: Review the collected data to understand user preferences and tailor your follow-up emails accordingly.

Strategy 6: Limited-Time Offers and Discounts

Example:

Create urgency with limited-time offers or discounts in exchange for an email address. For instance, “Sign up today for a 10% discount on our real estate consultation services. Offer ends soon!”

Steps to Implement:

1. Develop Limited-Time Offers: Create attractive offers or discounts that encourage visitors to act quickly.

2. Display Prominently: Place the offer on high-traffic pages and use eye-catching designs to grab attention.

3. Highlight Urgency: Use countdown timers or clear messaging to emphasize the limited availability of the offer.

4. Follow-up: Send a confirmation email with the discount code or offer details and encourage further engagement.

Strategy 7: Webinars and Online Workshops

Example:

Host webinars or online workshops on topics relevant to your audience, such as “How to Prepare Your Home for Sale” or “Understanding the Real Estate Market Trends.” Require email registration to attend.

Steps to Implement:

1. Plan Informative Webinars: Choose topics that provide value and attract your target audience.

2. Set Up Registration: Use an email marketing platform to create a registration form that captures email addresses.

3. Promote Your Webinar: Advertise the webinar on your website, social media, and through email newsletters.

4. Engage During the Webinar: Interact with participants during the webinar to build rapport and trust.

5. Post-Webinar Follow-Up: Send follow-up emails with a recording of the webinar, additional resources, and a CTA to book a consultation or view properties.

Strategy 8: Personalized Email Capture Forms

Example:

Use personalized email capture forms that address visitors by their location or browsing behavior. For example, if a visitor is looking at properties in a specific neighborhood, display a form that says, “Interested in more homes in [Neighborhood]? Enter your email to receive updates.”

Steps to Implement:

1. Implement Personalization Tools: Use website personalization tools that track visitor behavior and tailor the email capture forms accordingly.

2. Design Custom Forms: Create forms that dynamically change based on the visitor’s location, browsing history, or other behaviors.

3. Test and Refine: Continuously test different personalization strategies to see which ones yield the highest conversion rates.

4. Monitor Performance: Analyze the data to understand the effectiveness of personalized forms and make necessary adjustments.

Mastering Strategic Email Collection

You must move beyond generic email signups and embrace strategic email collection methods that provide value to visitors and capture their interest at the right moments. You can build a high-quality email list of engaged prospects by implementing contextual opt-in forms, content upgrades, exit-intent popups, gated content, interactive quizzes, limited-time offers, webinars, and personalized forms. These strategies will increase your lead generation and enhance your website's overall user experience.

Are you still using one generic email signup pop-up on your site?

Now is the time to replace it with the tips we’ve outlined above. Once you do, let us know if you start to see better email growth and the quality of the subscribers.

We’re finding Spiral to be one of the best tools for quickly and consistently repurposing content we’ve already created into formats that we can use to expand our content distribution efforts.

What is the best piece of longer-form content that you’ve created?

Once you have your answer, take this article or video (or whatever it is) and let Spiral help you turn it into multiple other pieces of content. Now, go share those content pieces, driving people back to the original piece.

Meta Launches New Messaging Tools to Help Grow Your Real Estate Business

At the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Meta announced three products to help businesses grow:

• An AI chat feature for businesses on Messenger to make it easier for customers/followers to get customer support

• New messaging tools to create, organize, and send paid marketing messages on Messenger

• Launch of the Threads API to help businesses share content at scale

We want to focus on the second one, the ability for advertisers to send paid messages via Messenger.

Meta must be seeing fantastic engagement from users on Messenger and WhatsApp, or else they wouldn’t be looking to monetize those channels…at least not until engagement signs ticked up.

Sending paid messages via Messenger (already available via WhatsApp) is a great way to get content in front of your audience. Messages on WhatsApp and Messenger, akin to SMS messages, get high open rates and visibility, so these paid messages could be the missing piece in your listing promotion toolkit.

Like your email list, you should build and grow your audience on highly used messaging channels like Messages, Messenger, and WhatsApp.

Once you have this captive audience, communicate with them regularly…always providing value before bombarding your audience with ads or making any requests of them.

Are you using WhatsApp or Messenger to communicate with your audience?

Let us know! We’d love to see how these channels work for you, and we’d be happy to provide any feedback that could help you get even more out of them.

Thanks for reading.

See you next week.

The Real Estate Marketing Update Team @ imFORZA