Hey Abbotsford REALTORS®, this post is for those of you who email their new (and old) listings to others REALTORS® on regular basis. Email can be great marketing tool if you are using is properly. I use Google apps for my email and recently I have noticed that most of your "listings blasts" are landing in the junk mail folder. Google has some of the smartest junk mail filters available and if Google is starting to filter your emails as junk you can imagine whats happening at other mail exchange servers like 1and1, GoDaddy, Shaw & Telus etc.

Now I'll move your e-mail addresses to my safe list because I don't want to loose your emails if we are doing a deal together or if there is any other important e-mail coming from you guys. But is everyone else out there going to do the same thing for you?

Once your domain name or email address is "blacklisted" at major ISPs you'll have tough time delivering emails to other REALTORS® or even clients. So be careful how many mass e-mails you send from your e-mail address. If you are using email based on your domain name (IE: listings@MyAbbotsfordListings.Com) your domain name will be seen as the culprit by the junk mail filters. Changing email address to something like NewMail@MyAbbotsfordListings.Com will not work.

I usually delete your listing promoting e-mail without opening it if I am receiving 1-2 emails a day from your office, because I know there is nothing special about this email (you know who you are). If you are one of those who send out listing emails once in a while because there is something special to announce about your listing, there is better chance that I'll open it and there is minimal chance of getting blacklisted at internet service providers.

You should also track you emails to see if they are being opened by the recipients. Point2, MLXjet and other software allow you to do that. By using these easy to use programs you can easily tell if your email campaign is working or you are wasting your time.

Here is a screen shot of my junk mail folder:

junk mail

 

Abbotsford Real Estate | Abbotsford Homes | Abbotsford Condos | Surrey Real Estate | Maple Ridge Real Estate | Mission Homes

 

4 Comments on So you wanna be an email marketer?

AUG
21
2009
420,620 Points 13 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog

Thanks for posting this.  I hate to unsubscribe to some agents because they are such good agents, but they go overboard in emailing to a point I had to unsubscribe them.  I am a bit more conservative in theory with the thought of 1 email per week as a maximum; but that is merely one point of view.
4:34pm • #1
260,844 Points Outside Blog

Good information Raj. I don't bulk email for those reasons and if I did I would pay an outside source like Constant Contact or others, for example. I get lots of agent info from there and it is safe for the sender. Thank you.
4:37pm • #2
Outside Blog

I agree.  I have not been one to email everyone listings.  (That's what the MLS is for!)  Once you are known for that, your emails may not be looked at if it is actually something important.  Pretty easy to hit that delete as you are going down the list.  That being said, an occasional email to ask for a specific thing (like a rental...ugh) or to invite to an agent open house I don't believe is overdoing it...
5:30pm • #3

Tim - If someone offers the option to unsubscribe, you can choose not to receive their listing promos but if they keep on sending mass emails they will get blocked by ISPs at some point.

David - I have blocked constant contact many times but they still get to my inbox sometimes. I think thats because constant contact emails are coming from a different email address each time. Don't they still use your email address as senders id? I am not sure how exactly they do send your emails..

Tristan - Thats exactly right. we have the MLS to share listings. I don't mind the odd email which actually has some information which is urgent or otherwise not available on the MLS.
7:52pm • #4


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