Targeted Bulk Email Overview
Email marketing is both art and science, and if done the right way, can generate tremendous results-- but if done the wrong way will lower engagement rates from your leads and reflect poorly on your brand, through high unsubscribe rates from leads, and lower open rates.
To help ensure that messages are meaningful, here are some strategies and best practices to keep in mind!
Targeted Bulk Email Best Practices
Create a Targeted List, Not a Big List
Before you hit send, think about what you want to achieve, what emails you'll need to send to achieve those results, and how often you'll send them.
From there, create a targeted list so messages will feel personalized. Here are a few examples of targeted campaigns:
Filter Lead Central by leads you've tagged as looking in certain areas, then send new listings or price drops in that area to those leads.
Click on your birthday segment and send well wishes to clients who have birthdays coming up in 7 days.
Use Advanced Lead Filters to narrow your leads down to those who marked they are looking to move in 3-6 months then send those leads a list of open houses happening this weekend.
Customize with Template Text
Address your leads by name!
Instead of composing an individual email each time you want to mass send, create templates that can be reused. In those templates, include the lead's first name in the body of the email by leveraging template text so leads think you sent an email just to them.
Template text can be utilized in subject lines too for added personalization!
Avoid Click Bait Subject Lines & Spam Triggers
When people receive emails, they typically focus on two things: the sender and the subject line.
If your leads don't have a personal connection to you yet, leverage a solid subject line to drive open rates up. Avoid click-bait subject lines, such as “Open Now”, “Must Open”, “Once in a Lifetime Chance”, “Unique Offer” and instead use a clear subject line that represents the content of your email.
"Check out this smokin' hot listing!!!" will likely end up in the trash folder, whereas "South of Broad Listing not yet posted on the MLS" will likely encourage your leads to keep reading. Certain words should also be avoided in subject lines to help keep emails out of spam filters.
Avoid words like "buy" "opportunity" "$$$" "cash" "money" "free" "bargain." Even words that relate to our industry like "mortgage" "investment" and "refinance" can be spam triggers, so tread with caution!
Monitor Engagement
Don't be afraid to try new things, but always study if adjustments drive more engagement.
The best way to monitor engagement is to review open rates, click-through rates, and reply rates after each bulk send.
You can review your team's bulk emails by clicking on Lead Central Email Reporting under the Marketing tab in the left-hand navigation panel.
Don't Forget to Include a Call to Action!
Don't see any click-throughs? Did you provide a link for your leads to click on?
Double-check that all your blast sends contain a call to action so you can monitor if leads are finding value in your sends. Wondering what link to include? Try sending leads over to a blog post on your BoomTown site, a featured community, a list of open houses for the weekend, or a listing that just hit the market or had a price reduction.
Sending Recurring Newsletters? Consider Utilizing an Email Marketing Tool
If your team routinely sends newsletters to all your leads, you might consider using an email marketing tool that specializes in mass emailing like Constant Contact or MailChimp. These tools offer advanced design templates that help you customize emails to your brand.
Additionally, as an added bonus, if leads should unsubscribe from your newsletters sent from another service, they're still opted into communications from your BoomTown CRM.
Consistency is Key when Sending Large Volumes
If you must send an email to large volumes of leads through BoomTown, break up your volume into consistent levels that are sent at a regular cadence. This helps tell Internet Service Providers that emails at this volume is a normal business practice for you vs. being interpreted as a spammer.
We recommend breaking large volume emails into groups and creating a schedule for large volume sends.
Avoid Holiday Blasts (Unless You're Offering Some Kind of Value)
Don't fall into the holiday trap! While it's a festive time of year, it's also a spammy time of year.
People are often overwhelmed by email volume at holiday time and often unsubscribe to emails that don't provide value. If you're set on sending a holiday message, offer some kind of value.
Providing a list of 10 Easter Egg Hunt locations around town and their times is much more valuable to your leads than a message that says "Hoppy Easter."
Targeted Bulk Texting Strategy Best Practices
Here are some best practices and our TCPA Resource Guidelines to review before sending your targeted bulk text!
Be sure to introduce yourself in your message so your lead knows who is reaching out and won't think it is spam.
Send something of value to avoid your message falling flat or seeming intrusive to the lead. Think carefully about how the message ties in the type of leads you’re sending it to
Be prepared for responses! Texting is seeing much higher response rates versus email, and people expect an answer faster via text. When you send a bulk text, make sure you have the proper time to follow up when leads respond with further questions/information.
Consider the messages you’re texting through Smart-Drip. For a better user experience, you don’t want to send the same message multiple times to the same lead.
If a lead asks to be opted out of text communication, be sure to do so right away by clicking on the text status icon located at the top of their lead profile and change it to "Cannot Be Texted". This will help with your text message reputation so your BoomTown Number isn't getting blocked, which would make phone providers flag your text messages as spam.
Effective Bulk Texting Scenarios
Open Houses and/or New Listings
Perform a Best-Fit Leads search for a property that’s new on the market or has an upcoming Open House scheduled. Be sure to use a filter to select only those leads with a fit score of 80 or above, to ensure you have high matches in your list. Select the top 25 leads and send a bulk text to them informing them of the new listing or upcoming Open House.
Considerations:
If you have leads in this list who have already been sent communication about the property, make sure to segment those out and tailor your message as a follow-up rather than a first announcement. Still, be sure to introduce yourself.
Have more information about the house in an email template prepared to send to leads who request more information to save you time.
After texting the leads, this is a great opportunity to follow through with a phone call to those who do not respond to your text. “Hi {VisitorFirstName}. This is {AgentFirstName} with {CompanyName}. I want to make sure you got my message about an Open House I’m hosting that I think really fits your needs.”
Reviving “Old” Leads
Trying to revive “old” leads sitting in your Archive or maybe even Watch categories? You can use bulk texting as an efficient way to reach out to a larger group at once. Use Lead Central to only show one category, like Archive. Then you can sort a column - Latest Communication or Last Visit are great ones for this example - to bring top opportunities for outreach to the top. Select a group of leads and send a “checking in” type of message.
EX: “Hi {VisitorFirstName}. This is {AgentFirstName} with {CompanyName}. I hope we haven’t been dropping the ball in serving you well during your search. How can I help you in the current phase of your home search?”
Considerations:
You can use Advanced Lead Filters to exclude leads who have received recent communication from you to avoid this text message seeming unfit for their situation.
If you’re sending texts to leads who are visiting your website frequently and have e-Alerts, consider asking “What changes can I make to your listing alerts that better fit your home search needs?” If they do not have e-Alerts and are visiting frequently, let them know you can customize listing alerts just for them.