Never Let Leads Fall Through the Cracks

The life of a real estate professional is a hectic one. You’ve got showings, closings, open houses and more to deal with daily. On top of that, you’ve got to be responsive to clients 24/7. Where do you find the time to nurture your leads so that they don't fall through the cracks? A drip campaign can help. Here are seven best practices to follow when crafting your lead nurture drip campaign.

1. Maintain good records. In order to accurately target your drip emails, you’ll need a robust CRM system. Look for a CRM system for real estate agents that can import leads from sources outside your own website, such as Zillow, Trulia or Realtor.com. TORCHx integrates email marketing and drip campaigns right into its CRM.

2. Segment your leads. You can slice and dice the information about your leads in many ways. However, some common ways to segment leads include:

• Where the lead came from (your website, online ad, listing portal)
• Action the lead has taken (download e-guide, search listings, etc.)
• Timeline (ready to sell/buy now or in six months)
• Stage in sales funnel
• Home seller or home buyer
• Location/s
• Type of home (first-time homebuyer, luxury, condo, etc.)

By segmenting leads, you can create personalized emails targeted to their interests and goals. TORCHx has filters to help you segment leads in your CRM so you can reach the right leads with the right message at the right time.

3. Determine your goals. You’ll have different goals for your drip campaign depending on the lead segment. For example, your initial goal with a new lead who just perused listings on your site might be getting them to set up a phone call. Further down the funnel, you’ll want to set up an in-person meeting.

4. Create templates. You’ll need a wide variety of email templates you can use for different lead segments. TORCHx has templates you can use for all different types of situations, from introducing yourself to offering to show the lead some properties. Simply customize them with your information to give the emails a personal touch.

5. Automate SMS to support your email messaging. The point of drip campaigns is to nurture leads along the pipeline as efficiently as possible. While email is often the best method for eliciting direct responses from your leads, it may take multiple or many sends before your lead reads and responds. Sending automated text messages for extra touchpoints is a great way to ensure your communication efforts are being maximized – and your time spent on sending correspondence is minimized. TORCHx enables you to automate SMS to leads, saving you the time usually spent on crafting a new message for every new lead.

6. Time it right. Responding to new leads right away is critical — ideally, your first response should go out within five minutes. After that, the frequency of your drip campaign will vary depending on the lead. For example, if someone is very active on your website, you’ll want to use an aggressive cadence of messaging. For prospects that engage less often, fewer emails spaced further apart will work better.

7. Know when to “go live.” Automated drip campaigns can eliminate a lot of the grunt work involved in nurturing real estate leads. However, knowing when to pick up the phone or send a personal email can make all the difference. For example, if someone who seemed like a hot lead suddenly stops engaging, reach out to learn why.