Real estate text messaging is the next trend in the field of realty. Promoting through this method is an awesome idea, and it is perfect for attracting and fostering leads. In this piece, we will discuss the fundamentals of text messaging for real estate businesses and strategies for text-based marketing in the real estate industry.
Automated Text Marketing
Using automated text messages to further develop your real estate business is what automated text marketing is all about. These texts provide users with up-to-date information that is tailored for them and is exactly what they need when they are out and about.
Real estate professionals can take advantage of real estate text messaging immediately to attract new leads and keep in contact with them. Real estate messaging is not complete without the presence of automated responses and progressive promotion campaigns for real estate.
Autoresponders
Real-time text messages are now possible with autoresponders! These enable you to react to immediate texts from intrigued customers immediately.
Autoresponders can be very useful if you need to get information out quickly. Autoresponders are useful for a variety of real estate operations such as arranging viewings with potential customers and supplying images of properties for sale.
Drip Campaigns
Drip campaigns are considered to be one of the most sophisticated forms of automated text message advertising. They let you construct plans and communicate messages related to real estate activities, such as when your customers search for open properties with the keywords you chose beforehand.
Realtors can configure drip campaigns for real estate to allow for automated follow-up messages to be sent at designated intervals.
Automated text marketing can be a great help to real estate professionals who have busy lives. Many people favor texting more than using phone calls or emails, making text messaging a great way to reach any desired demographic.
It is a fact that the vast majority of individuals check a text message received within three minutes of it being sent. With automated text messaging, you can improve your communication with current and potential clients by:
- Following up with new leads quickly.
- Organizing phone calls, viewings, or other meetings.
- Automatically sending new social media leads a text message.
- Placing a keyword that customers can text to a number to receive more information on a specific property.
The Benefits of Real Estate Text Message Marketing
The realty business is one of the most competitive fields in the U.S., especially in the last few years due to an elevated requirement and deficiency of residential properties in the majority of major cities.
Phone calls go unanswered, emails unopened. Yet text messages have a 98% open rate, which benefits Realtors in the following ways:
- lead nurturing by staying in front of clients
- improved response rates to campaigns
- more leads
- find buyers faster
Only 5% of existing real estate agents exchange messages through texting, providing a great chance to be ahead of other competitors, please customers and be a leader in your field!
Getting Started with Real Estate Text Marketing
Utilizing text marketing is simple since some platforms are easy to manage. No filters, no algorithms, just you and your contacts.
1. Pick a Platform and Get Familiar
To begin a real estate text marketing initiative, the initial step is to select a text messaging platform.
Lots of options exist, so the choice you make will hinge on both how much money you’re willing to spend and your own individual taste. It would be a good idea to look into some various programs like EZTexting, slyText, and Textedly.
2. Upload Contacts
No matter which text messaging program you opt for, the next step is to tie it with your CRM or upload your contacts to the system.
You can organize your contacts into different groups depending on if they are active customers, earlier customers, buyers, sellers, investors, etc. using some text message marketing tools. Make sure that your contacts are accurately labeled and divided up in order for your campaign strategies to get the most successful response.
3. Choose Keywords
Most text message marketing programs require you to select a special word to identify your campaign. This is the term or expression that potential customers in the realty industry will say to sign up for your SMS marketing database. Keep it simple.
You should not choose a keyword that is excessively lengthy or prone to spelling errors.
Once a keyword is selected, you must convey it to your customers. Advertise your keyword by sharing on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram with a “Text to Join” image or announcement.
You should guarantee that your customers can register for your text message campaigns on your website. Send an email blast to your contacts, and give a verbal explanation of this new choice to your customers.
4. Create Message Templates
Once you have prepared your message templates, consider what you would like your customers to view when they answer your texts. Do you want them to be able to respond to your messages?
To provide more information regarding your services, make sure to include a connection to your website. Or, would you rather they call you directly? You may wish to add a contact number at the conclusion of your text message.
5. Set Up Automation
Now that everything necessary for your text messaging campaigns is prepared–specifically, your keywords, target audience, and message outlines–it’s time to kick off the automation process.
You are able to use the majority of messaging platforms to produce pre-programmed messages that are sent to your customers automatically, for instance, “A property in your vicinity has recently been sold!” or “It has been half a year since we talked last!” or “Do you still need to find a house?”
Keeping your real estate leads in the know of your business and delivering helpful advice can keep your name in the first position in their minds.
With real estate text marketing, timing is everything. Clients who didn’t take advantage of looking for a house could consider selling their own home after ten months; therefore, swift communication is essential to real estate lead generation strategies.
Effective Real Estate Text Message Marketing Strategies
You don’t have to throw out existing campaigns or begin again from the beginning since your text messaging should go with the other marketing plans you already have.
Begin by analyzing your current lead generation and marketing plans to find out how text messages could be used to contribute to, or bolster, your existing strategies.
While there are many methods you can use to incorporate text message marketing into your plans, here are a few simple ideas and providers to help ease into the use of SMS marketing:
1. Set Appointments and Reminders
You can also utilize SMS texts for quick and efficient booking of meetings, in addition to scheduling them through in-person, phone call, or email communication.
Utilize a platform like Calendly to generate a link to your calendar and forward it to customers for booking phone conversations, property viewings, and sales pitches. Calendly even gives you the ability to automatically send out notifications so clients can verify, terminate, or reschedule their appointment if something happens that changes what is planned.
2. Provide Listing Information
It is essential for your potential and existing customers to stay informed about the latest properties for sale in their region, fluctuations in prices, previewing events, and recently closed sales. One method to achieve this goal is to program automatic messages to be sent to your connections to notify them of potential residences that might be of interest.
Textedly provides agents with the means to distribute property listings to targeted groups, as well as analyze the data to fine-tune their approach to satisfy the requirements of their customers.
3. Use Short Codes
People may use five- or six-digit phone numbers to send a text message in which they request information about a certain property. Incorporate these abbreviated codes into any print promotional materials, such as open house signs, leaflets, and housing catalogs, so leads can get in touch with you to acquire info about your properties.
4. Promote Open Houses With Pictures
You have the option to not only send a text with text but also include images that could draw in potential customers. Create a text that looks like an open house flyer complete with a stunning photo and open house details like time, date, address, and listing price.
TextMagic can be used to appended a picture to your message, thus generating more intrigue from potential customers and raising the number of people who will attend your open house.
5. Send Invitations to Events
Organizing a real estate event includes arranging food and beverages, determining the venue, and distributing promotional materials. You must also dispatch specific invitations and monitor the replies.
Instead of struggling to search for the email addresses of those you are inviting, why not take advantage of Evite’s texting abilities to send out messages outlining the details of your event?
Evite offers the facility to tailor invitations, send out reminder notifications for your happening automatically, and maintain a register of responses, thereby helping you easily prepare for your real estate event.
In order to produce the greatest impact via SMS, you should begin by selecting the appropriate service. EZTexting is an all-encompassing texting program that works in tandem with real estate programs like HubSpot and Squarespace, permitting the transmission of listings details, following communication, and dispatching meeting reminders.
Best Practices for Real Estate Text Message Structure
Now that you are aware of some effective tactics to include texting in your marketing plan, it is necessary to learn how to write a real estate text that will lead to an improved level of reactions. If you send text messages impulsively, they will have no desired effect, and the results will be unpredictable.
Take these content and structure tips into consideration as best practices for your real estate texts:
- Keep it short: Text messages should be under 160 characters.
- Make texts clear and concise: Make sure you have a clear message and purpose in mind, and don’t beat around the bush.
- Use proper grammar, but avoid real estate jargon: Text messages are a more laid-back platform, so don’t use highly technical or professional language. However, it’s also important not to use slang or abbreviations to keep a balance of professionalism.
- Add a personal customized touch: The key to getting the best results by text is to customize each message as much as possible so it feels like a personal conversation.
- Segmented by audience: In marketing, personalization is the key to success. Eighty-two percent of marketers see increased open rates when they segment and personalize their email marketing strategy based on lead type, and the same concept applies to texting.
- Include a clear next step: Don’t leave text messages open-ended. Give recipients a clear path forward, which could be a call to action, a link to your website, or a specific question.
Text Message Marketing Mistakes to Avoid
It may be easier to learn how to construct successful marketing messages in text form since they’re usually only a handful of lines long, as opposed to other forms of marketing media, which can require more effort to create.
However, it’s common to make mistakes in the beginning. It’s possible that you are used to sending emails to potential customers and people you do business with, and only using text messages with the people closest to you.
Rather than considering an SMS marketing approach to be the same as a text to a close acquaintance, it can be more helpful to view it as an abbreviated email. As you keep composing text messages, it will become obvious to you what people react positively to, and what fails to engage them.
Here are some of the most common texting mistakes to avoid:
- Sending long or unclear messages: Texts are all about efficiency, and you will only get blocked or ignored by sending confusing or long messages.
- Lacking a clear next step: If you don’t prompt your audience to do something, they won’t do anything. Make sure every text has a clear goal.
- Overgeneralized messages: Write your texts with each of your leads or clients in mind; don’t draft one message for every person on your contact list.
- Sending messages without permission: SMS compliance laws prevent you from texting numbers without their consent. Ignoring this could lead to a hefty fine.
- Using the same call to action (CTA) in every text: You wouldn’t end every text with your friend the same way, so you shouldn’t do it with your audience. Keep changing your call to action and the questions you ask.
- Using slang or abbreviations: Even though text generally calls for a more laid-back language, going too far will feel extremely unprofessional.
- Passive language: Avoid using phrases like “I was just wondering” or “let me know.” Instead, use direct language like “Let’s set a time to meet!” or ask more specific questions.
This new form of communication can be more quickly understood by using it in combination with the marketing resources you already have. Sensible Agent is a widely used real estate consumer partnership administrator (CRM) that makes it effortless for you to incorporate SMS advertising to your promotional approach.
It is simple to incorporate text messages into your current campaigns, or you can upload fresh campaigns and make the most of the extended marketing and analysis features offered by the software.
Tips for a Higher Response Rate
- Make sure you always include a call to action in your real estate text marketing message; for example, ask them explicitly to reply with their contact information (or lack thereof) or tell you what they’re looking for in a realtor.
- Make your real estate text messages valuable; don’t just send real estate updates without giving your realtor leads something of value, whether it’s local housing market information or new listings that might interest them.
- Give real estate leads an incentive to reply to your texts with their contact information. Some real estate text message marketing platforms allow realtors to offer real estate discounts or new listing alerts upon opting into the realtor’s SMS campaign.
- Always include your real estate text marketing keyword in your real estate lead generation messages. Remember, realtors’ clients use that keyword phrase to opt-in to Realtor text chatter.
