Sometimes it seems like agents are hungry machines, starving for one thing: leads. And it’s curious to explore why that is. Leads are new, sure, so they may seem more full of promise, or more excitement. It’s a metric by which many agents measure their performance.
But it’s a fool’s game.
Statistically, leads eat up valuable time and resources, with online sources delivering less ROI than the other critical resource you have in your arsenal: your database.
Right now, it’s the holiday season in the United States just like our native Australia. And even though the temperature is different, one thing is the same: it’s a busy time of year for real estate searches. Buyers and sellers are in a holiday frame of mind, thinking about the new year and wondering what the market can do for them.
But that doesn’t mean it’s the best time for new leads. Instead, it’s the ideal time to reach out to your database with customized, targeted content. Or even better, check in with them to make sure you have the right information on file for when opportunities come up.
“It’s a lead generator. They’re real, solid leads. Nothing airy-fairy, just high quality leads coming out of your existing database,” said Matthew Herbert, franchise owner of nine LJ Hooker offices in Australia.
Email marketing is your direct line to your database. And the market research firm Radicati has the research that validates the superior organic reach that email provides compared to social. They’ve shown that an email is 5x more likely to be seen than an advertising message delivered via Facebook and that 98% of top rating agents in the US (earners over USD $100,000) tout email as the best real estate marketing channel for converting leads.
These are some mind-blowing figures which are backed up by research coming out of the Digital Marketing Association, who’ve found that email has a whopping 66% conversion rate – far higher than social and direct marketing.
Of course, success with your database requires a fair amount of care and feeding for optimal results. Ensure you don’t have duplicate contacts, and that every contact is complete. Update your contacts’ preferences so you can deliver the content that applies to them right now, not just when they first became a contact. ActivePipe works by segmenting the customers in your CRM, by either an online survey or by identifying trends in their behavior and taking each user on their own journey through to the sale.
“Email is a tried-and-true marketing tool, even for this day and age. ActivePipe marries email technology with property listings. They’re specialized. They’ve taken email automation to the next level.” said Tom Flanagan, CTO of The Group Inc. Real Estate.
So should you completely abandon lead generation efforts? Absolutely not. But before you throw more money at new resources and portals, take a look at what you already have in hand. Your database is your greatest asset.