My apologies to anyone who sees themselves in my rant, but this really bothers me.
A drip campaign can be one of the most effective ways to maintain top of mind awareness with both past clients and future clients, but I'm seeing so many people doing it wrong that I just have to speak out. Instead of creating a feeling of good-will and making prospects believe that "this might be the agent to use," these campaigns are making the agents look like people who don't care enough to pay attention to detail.
So let's start at the beginning...
On a real estate website people generally get on your list via one of four methods:
- They say yes to a special report
- They do a search for a home
- They use the automated “what’s my home worth” form
- They send an e-mail through your contact me form
When they do this, they give you important information about themselves, and unless you use this information to be choosy about what you send them, your drip campaign can serve to annoy rather than impress.
As a real estate copywriter I have occasion to visit a large number of real estate websites. As a form of market research, I occasionally I leave my name, just to see what people are sending.
And what I’ve found lately isn’t pretty. 
On one site I used the contact form to write the agent with a question. I never got an answer to the question, but I’ve been getting a flood of emails that are targeted to – no one. Some are about selling, some are about buying, and none tell me why I might want to choose this agent.
Last night one of his four (Yep, four) messages carried a subject line: “How’s Married Life?”
Huh? The message was all about now that I’m married I need to buy a home. Guess he’s just a few years too late on that one.
Another site sends me short, 2-sentence e-mails telling me that if I’m still looking for a house, I should call.
Another one sends a message each week telling me there are no matches for my search. What search? I signed up to get his real estate ezine.
While the purpose of the autoresponder is to make me think I’m getting special attention from the agent, and to reinforce the idea that this agent is THE one to call, these messages convey the opposite feeling.
So what should you do instead?
First, take the time to set up a separate autoresponder campaign for each type of buyer or seller. Let them opt in to get a special report, and when you mail to them, keep to that topic.
If they’ve asked for information about doing a short sale, don’t send them tips on finding a mortgage broker to handle their new home purchase or talk to them about making a list of “must have” features before they search for that home.
If they’ve asked for information about the First Time Buyer Credit, don’t send them information related to listing and selling.
What if you don’t want to set up separate campaigns?
If you want to send messages that will be appropriate for a general audience, including your past clients and sphere of influence, then choose topics of general interest. Almost everyone wants to know how the market is doing with regard to price and the number of homes being sold. Most are interested in information about the government programs such as HAMP and the new HAFA program. If there’s a new development in your community that will affect home values, they’d like to know that, too.
The bottom line is … send something of value and interest when you write.
Those messages that say nothing but “I’m here, use me” are a waste of time for you and your prospects.They're really nothing more than spam.
Yes, it does take a little extra effort to set up targeted campaigns. And yes, you do have to write or buy good messages to load into your autoresponders. That takes either a little money or some focused time. But the results will be worth the effort.
Finally, if someone sends an inquiry via your contact form, that’s not an invitation for you to send them information they haven’t asked for. That’s a request for you to send a personal response to a specific question. You should answer that mail.
If you're looking for letters for First Time Buyers, FSBO's, Expired Listings, or Short Sale prospects, visit me at Copy by Marte. The letters you need are already written, waiting for you to load into your TARGETED autoresponders.
Prosperity to all...
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