As a marketer, you probably know what it’s like to send out an email with the hope of converting its recipients into leads. (The agony of waiting, am I right?) The role in which email marketing plays in your overall strategy is ultimately up to you, but before you hit send once more, we think it’s best to go back to the basics — why email marketing is important, what schedule works best, and who exactly to send your emails to. 

Sit back, relax, and take in this valuable information that we’ve put together from years of industry experience and marketing success; we can assure you that none of it’s spam…

Why email marketing keeps prospects engaged:

Simply put, email marketing is an inexpensive way for you to stay top of mind with your prospects and engage with those who have shown interest in you and your product. By signing up to your email list (or submitting an online form), prospects essentially say that they want to hear from you — so now it’s your job to give them the messaging and content that they’re looking for.

Simply put, every email you send out should have a clear intention. Whether it’s to highlight your inventory homes, offer a resource, or announce a new incentive or event, your emails should be purposeful. As you know, you always have something to say in a blog; and now you also know there’s always something worth emailing your list about to keep them engaged.

We’ll use you as an example: you’re probably reading this because you saw a snippet of this blog in one of our email campaigns. Now that you’ve come to our blog page from our email, think about how we were able to get you here. You opened the email, saw the snippet, read it (maybe…), were intrigued by it, and clicked on it… and now we’re all here!

Have an email marketing plan/schedule:

Of course, we know that you have many (many) other pieces of the marketing puzzle to worry about on a daily basis, but when your email strategy is planned out properly, you’ll certainly see a difference in open- and click-through rates — which ultimately means leads and sales.

We recommend sending out “mass” emails to your entire database (or a specific segment of your list) twice a month. By sending two emails a month with content that prospects are genuinely interested in, you’ll stay “fresh” without overwhelming anyone or causing annoyance. 

When you do that, your name and unique brand promise remains top of mind as their mentality about purchasing a home changes. Don’t be afraid to lead with product or move-in-ready homes; after all, you are a builder and that’s the type of content prospects expect to see from you.

Who you should send your emails to:

The question is not “to send or not to send,” it’s “who to send to and who not to send to…” Let’s start with realtors. Whether you realize it or not, your realtors are also your prospects. The continued business that they do with you is invaluable to your success, which means that they need to be engaged like you engage a prospective homeowner — after all, they see your messaging as well. 

When it comes to your prospects, you’ll see your best results by sending emails to your organic list (the one that they’ve personally signed up for). If you don’t have a strong list at the moment, don’t fret — there are ways you can send out paid email campaigns to lists that you don’t own, but still include your target demographics. Although you won’t see the same results with this list than you would with an organic list, doing something is better than doing nothing.

The most crucial thing to keep in mind is that if you utilize a paid list, you’re essentially venturing into an area where you’ve never built before, and where you don’t have a presence. Be careful. Don’t oversaturate your list with content, especially considering that the recipients did not specifically sign up to receive it.

CC’ing you on this conclusion:

Now that you’ve been exposed to a few of the most important basics of email marketing, stay tuned for what’s to come… In our next blog, we’ll discuss specific email tactics and best practices to ensure success, including how to increase open and click rates, and how to properly measure the amount of email traffic coming back into your website for re-engagement. Signing off for now!