How did we arrive at “return on investment” numbers for InboundREM?

Return on Investment means HOW MUCH DID I SPEND vs. HOW MUCH DID I MAKE.

It is challenging to find a client prepared to have the time to track lead generation and sales generation from a source. I have a handful of clients generating leads from InboundREM, but only a small portion of them sorts our leads from InboundREM vs. other lead sources. And only two of them are tracking the sale’s origin. Because we manage almost a hundred websites' lead and traffic generation, I sometimes make educated guesses on conversion rates.

After 3.5 years, a client of mine finally tracked his conversion rate on our website. Starting from the time the website was launched online until we reached my standard length of SEO and lead conversion agreements (18 months).

Additional factors that impacted THIS case study on ROI

Our client is a second home market shortly impacted by COVID 19. In this study, we did not include listings under contract and were waiting for confirmation. This means ROI results may actually be higher than what we provide. WHAT WE INCLUDED are listings that were sold in the first 18 months. An additional consideration is that this ROI equation would be 20-40% higher without the drop from the COVID-19 pandemic. Another thing is that by hiring us the client ELIMINATED $8400 in costs from other marketing campaigns. Due to the tremendously good results our client experienced, he was more than happy to share his results with us and with our audience.

Check out our original blog post at https://inboundrem.com/ or you can watch our video reports here:

How much TRAFFIC did the InboundREM website generate in the first 18 months?

DIRECT ADVERTISING is a must when launching a website. It helps you gain organic ranking from Google’s generated user behavior signals. Our client used PPC for the first 10 months with their budget being reduced over time as organic traffic ramped up. Their current budget now is $0 and our client wants to keep it as it is since the website is generating sufficient leads for their two-person team.

Check out our original blog post at https://inboundrem.com/

How many LEADS did the website generate?

Five Primary Services we offer our Clients

• Create the best possible SEO optimized real estate website that you own.
• Drive traffic into your website via a combination of organic content marketing and paid PPC campaigns.
• Ensure that traffic follows the proper sales funnel to be converted into quality leads.
• Integrate CRMS and leaf follow up tools so leads are used correctly.
• One-on-one consultation with our client on an ongoing basis to create a highly personalized website that serves their audience and target market

The client we used as a reference for this study spent two to three hours a week to ensure the five services we offer are properly utilized to ensure successful results for his campaign. The image down below is the overall performance of his website during the said 18-month period.

How much did the client SPEND vs. How much did they MAKE?

To achieve the best outcome as quickly as possible, this client decided to get all the SEO work done in advance. These figures mirror 18 months of service.

• The client’s entire SEO and website investment for 18 months, excluding hosting or IDX, was $12,000.
• Their final earned income was a little over $36,000.
• What was the 18-month InboundREM return on investment?
  • $3 profit to $1 spent was the 18-month return on investment.
• What is the expected 36-month InboundREM return on Investment?
  • This client’s CURRENT figures will be used to extrapolate the next phase’s traffic, lead generation, and rate of conversion.
  • There is a 10-15% traffic rise in the website each month, and there are no current lead registration triggers on this platform. Conversion of traffic lead with no lead registration triggers is 1/4 of 1%. 10% will be used for succeeding modeling.
• Assuming that COVID interference did not happen, the predicted performance would be:
  • 48,000 Visitors
  • 150 leads
  • 15 Property tours
  • 13 offers
  • 1.8 – 2.5 million in sales
  • $60k in additional revenue earned off original investment
• There should be a $12 profit per $1 spent on the project at that point.

Additional ROI factors not mentioned above.

At $5800.00, there was a PPC budget estimating a client’s cost. Take note that this client likes to spend money on PPC. The former AD budget was $20.00 a day, which is $84000.00 each year. They halted from keeping that budget after 5 months then took it back again. Then about 14 months after the website has been launched, they finally ended it.

The majority of my clients have registration triggers but not this client. Over 150 of our resent and previous clients, 1-2%, is my website’s average conversion rate. Meaning, several of the figures articulated in this case study are distant from below average. Since this client does not ask for registration, almost every lead gathered is great. 

COVID caused a significant drop in leads during its peak. If not, these figures could go 2-3 times higher, and if the client chooses to sell the website after acquiring it about the 2-3 year mark, they can get a one year earned commissions (minimum) from the generated sales. Presently, that should be around $45k.

About the 2-3 year mark, the $12,000 Investment will have earned them $126,000.

No other lead generation company offers a similar ROI projection during a 3-5 year-end phase in the real estate industry. However, a major issue for those interested in this prospect would be the steep cost of buying into the project. If you're looking to invest in a long term marketing project that's designed to make you money consistently, then I can confidently say that we're one of the top digital marketing service providers that realtors can consider for their business.

Check out our original blog post at https://inboundrem.com/

ROI of InboundREM compared to Sierra Interactive, Real Estate Webmasters, and Real Geeks

Sierra Interactive Return on Investment

• $300 Set up
• $499.00 Monthly without marketing but includes CRM and IDX
• Advertising estimate at $1000.00
• mediocre registrations from the commoditized search experience
• About 2% Traffic lead conversion
• Estimated visitor cost at .50 cents
• It takes between 40-60 registrations to equal a sale
• I will NOT factor in tools time or other resource expenses to follow up with that many low-quality leads.
• TOTAL FIRST YEAR COST – $19,100
• TOTAL FIRST YEAR LEADS = 480
• TOTAL FIRST YEAR SALES = $2.5 Million
• TOTAL FIRST YEAR GCI = $75,000
• TOTAL FIRST YEAR ROI = 4 to 1
• TOTAL SECOND YEAR ROI = 4.5 to 1
• TOTAL THIRD YEAR ROI = 5 to 1

TOTAL INVESTED OVER THREE YEARS = $56,100

SUM OVER THREE YEARS OBTAINED = $240,000

Real Estate Webmasters Return on Investment

• $3000 Set-Up
• $499 Monthly without marketing but includes CRM and IDX
• Advertising estimate at $1000.00
• Mediocre registrations from the commoditized search experience
• About 1.5% Traffic to lead conversion
• Estimated visitor cost at .50 cents
• It takes between 40-60 registrations to equal a sale
• I will NOT factor in tools time or other resource expenses to follow up with that many low-quality leads.
• TOTAL FIRST YEAR COST – $21,000
• TOTALFIRST YEAR LEADS = 360
• TOTAL FIRST YEAR SALES = $1.8 million
• TOTAL FIRST YEAR GCI = $53,000
• TOTAL FIRST YEAR ROI = 2.5 to 1
• TOTAL SECOND YEAR ROI = 3 to 1
• TOTAL THIRD YEAR ROI = 3.5 to 1

TOTAL INVESTED OVER THREE YEARS = $58,000

SUM OVER THREE YEARS OBTAINED = $174,000

InboundREM Return on Investment

• $3500 Set-Up
• $1000 Monthly including marketing CRM and IDX are additional but = around 2k each year to integrate both.
• Advertising is included however in several cases, additional PPC is spent and included since the client DID spend extra. The client did NOT keep spending the $1000 in SEO OR PPC past year one however so in fairness we get to remove that from the study.
• High-quality registrations from tons of additional information on the website about the area being served AND no FORCED registration which all other examples in the study have. We do both had written research as well as integrate statistical info from numerous sources making our pages one-stop destinations for research and creating high-quality registrations.
• Traffic to lead conversion is 1/4 of 1% in our case study far less than our competitors
• 10-15 registrations to equal a sale
• Not nearly as much time is spent reaching out to or dealing with these leads through an email campaign is suggested.
• TOTAL FIRST YEAR COST – $12,000 (discount provided for advance payment)
• TOTAL FIRST YEAR LEADS = 90
• TOTAL FIRST YEAR SALES = $1 million
• TOTAL FIRST YEAR GCI = $30,000
• TOTAL FIRST YEAR ROI = 2.5 to 1
• TOTAL SECOND YEAR ROI = 8.75 to 1
• TOTAL THIRD YEAR ROI = 12 to 1

TOTAL INVESTED OVER THREE YEARS (PPC, IDX, CRM, and $100 a month hosting and servicing the website included) = $28,210

SUM OVER THREE YEARS OBTAINED = $180,000

Real Geeks Return on Investment

• $700 Set-Up
• $249 Monthly without marketing but includes CRM and IDX
• Advertising estimate at $1000.00
• Mediocre registrations from the commoditized search experience
• Traffic to lead conversion is roughly 1% while good these platforms provide the smallest amount of information among Search/IDX driven websites.
• Estimated visitor cost at .50 cents
• It takes between 40-60 registrations to equal a sale
• I will NOT factor in tools time or other resource expenses to follow up with that many low-quality leads.
• TOTAL FIRST YEAR COST – $15,700
• TOTAL FIRST YEAR LEADS = 240
• TOTAL FIRST YEAR SALES = $1,200,000
• TOTAL FIRST YEAR GCI = $30,600
• TOTAL FIRST YEAR ROI = 2.5 to 1
• TOTAL SECOND YEAR ROI = 3 to 1
• TOTAL THIRD YEAR ROI = 3.5 to 1

TOTAL INVESTED OVER THREE YEARS = $45,700

SUM OVER THREE YEARS OBTAINED = $135,000

The ROI used by InboundREM in this study is 100% factual data from our client. Figures articulated for competitors are calculated from my talks with realtors utilizing these services in 2018-2020. In 3-5 years, ROI and overall profits continue to rise, although this client seems to re-invest in another SEO campaign that should make traffic and lead quality better and improve their overall numbers.

Closing thoughts on ROI and using InboundREM

I am passionate about the services we give to our clients. By using the same approaches, I have made a profit that exceeds a million dollars for InboundREM, and for years of working, I have gotten a 100 to 1 return on investment. The foremost case study I have EVER witnessed was a client spending 50k a decade ago, and she has been earning more than $300,000 since then in commission from her website. She has never spent more than a few thousand upgrades and modified the basic information we added to her site years ago. The point is, you ought to devote an hour each week to improve your platform, or if you hire us, then we make sure that it contains the necessary information for your clients. Invest your time working on supplying your clients with better answers to their questions. If your goal is to improve your digital marketing results and you are ready to build a website to reach your goals, then this is the part where we walk in. You should definitely have a talk with us in InboundREM.

Check out our original blog post at https://inboundrem.com/