Imagine you have an assistant that’s just great about getting your communications out the door. All you have to do is supply the content and your assistant knows just who to send your messages to and when to do it.  Imagine the benefits you’d gain if that same assistant could also tell you when your target audience members read your real estate email communications and then was able to follow-up with an appropriate, timely next communication.

Email automation works in much the same way as that ideal assistant might by enabling you to send out messages to your customers at designated times. As a commercial real estate professional, your job is to stay focused on your core business – real estate.  Sending out a new prospectus, following up on a lead or showing a hot new property shouldn’t have to compete with your email marketing efforts. Email automation, can actually enable you to work more efficiently. By pre-setting your communications in the email platform your messages are sent when customers take specific actions like filling out a form or clicking a link.

Email Automation Is Not Robotic
Although automation does imply actions that are “human disconnected”, when done properly by incorporating good, relevant rich content, it can actually create deeper more meaningful relationships with your clients and prospects. Think of it this way. Restaurants that are known for great service have waiters and waitresses that anticipate your needs and fill your water glass shortly after you’ve consumed the last drop. As a result of these actions by the wait staff, you’re more likely to return to the restaurant, tell friends about it or give it a favorable review on yelp.

Email marketing automation can do the same thing for your business. The system “reacting”, similar to how the waiter does, in response to an action taken by your target audience shows that you’re attentive and have thought of their needs. This type of responsiveness reinforces your branding and develops communication channels with your prospect.

The Benefits of Email Automation
There are lots of options to chose from for email marketing systems. More streamline programs include iContact or Constant Contact whereas complex enterprise class approaches are available from Hubspot and Pardot. We’ll talk more about these in our next blog.  Regardless of the system you chose though, email automation brings some real benefits.

Integration with Other Tactics – Email automation is designed to work in conjunction with other marketing tactics. Websites, digital brochures and newsletters can all be the “payout” from a link in your email or contain links that will trigger the system to send an email to an interested party. 

Lead generation – More than 90 percent of all U.S. consumers use email daily, and it’s still more than 40 times as social media for engaging real estate customers and prospects.

Efficient – Email marketing provides high engagement with minimal direct intervention by you. Think about how many more face-to-face meetings you can have without worrying that your email won’t get out.

Targeted – Because email automation is list driven you’re able to create more engaging emails for customer groups and segment messages by gender, age, location or other demographics.

Feedback – Email systems work by capturing the behavior of your audience.  If you audience is more apt to click because your call to action includes access to real estate templates, you’ll know this and be able to make sure you incorporate that approach into your next campaign.

Every business is sure to find their own workflow and benefits from email automation. What most marketers don’t realize is that implementation is often easier than you might think at first. A agency that specializes in real estate marketing can help you pick the system that will best fit your needs.