Your site is starting to really pull in some visitors, and you’re using a great IDX solution to start pulling in those registrations. Now what? Believe it or not, you’ve just earned your right to bat. Will you knock it out of the park?
Following up with your registrations is one of the most crucial segments of converting online leads. Systematic follow up is what you really need, but will any follow up suffice? Any type of follow up is good, but lets talk about what it takes to move you from good to great.
Lets Assume All Emails
With an online user registering to save their search or keep track of their favorite properties using an IDX like Wolfnet, nine times out of ten you’ll only be lucky enough to get an email address. If this is the only form of communication you’ll have with your lead, then we need to make it work great.
Personalization
My favorite kind of email to send my clients is an email that looks like it came from me directly. At first I was afraid of this; why would I trick my client into thinking I was personally sending them an email when I actually wasn’t?
I was flustered; especially after not being able to personally send an email to everyone right away because I was in a meeting, showing homes, or at a closing. I then realized that I wasn’t tricking them. Rather, I’m being proactive about conveying my value proposition to them.
I truly feel I can help my clients. Any delay in sending a “Welcome” email only shows that they’re not at the top of my priority list. It was then I decided that an automated email would help me convey this message to them in a much more practical manner.
Frequency Of Your Emails
The system I use below is split into two phases:
- Initial High-Touch Phase
- Second Weekly Phase
Initial High-Touch Phase (One Email Every 3 Days for 2 Weeks)
A user has just registered on your site, and now it’s time for you to show them that you’re here to help. The moment they register, configure your CMS (Top Producer, Act, etc.) to immediately send an email thanking them for registering. Here’s a sample email:
Hi [INSERT CLIENT FIRST NAME],
I just wanted to personally thank you for joining us at [INSERT WEB SITE]. I know that you’re probably just beginning your home search, but if I can ever answer any questions for you please do not hesitate to call me directly.I hope that the tools we have for you online are helpful, and that you think of us when you’re ready to buy or sell a home!
This email is a nice way of saying, “Thanks for sticking around and I’m here to help, not pressure you.” Initially, you don’t want to scare your visitors away or force them to immediately put you on their spammer list.
Focus on building a relationship with them first. After earning their trust, with each consecutive email slowly begin expressing the value proposition that you would bring to the table as their agent.
Three days later, send another personalized email but this time asking them a question that is non-confrontational:
Hi [INSERT CLIENT FIRST NAME],
Quick question: What kind of time frame are you looking at in regards to buying your next home? I was just curious on how you would like us to stay in touch with you. By the way, if you ever see a home at our website that you’d like to see, please don’t hesitate to call us to schedule a showing.
This is usually the email that I’ll get a good response to. Why? I believe it shows that I care about them and really gets across that I don’t want to pressure them. I stay into curiosity and encourage them to provide me with a time-table for a purchase.
For the next set of 3 emails in the first two week period, continue with this same kind of theme. Keep the emails personalized and always remember to stay into curiousity.
Another great way to encourage dialogue between you and those you’d like to help, are to offer something of value. Here are some great incentives to offer your clients.
- State of the Mortgage Market Report
- Housing Market Reports
- Free CMA for any Home
- Free No-Obligation Consultation for Buying A Home
- Monthly Newsletter
- Any Article You’ve Written For Your Clients (buying guides, etc.)
Second Weekly Phase (1 email a week for 6 Weeks)
I’ve hopefully gotten some kind of response from my clients in the first two weeks, but if not, I’ll continue to follow up on a weekly basis for another 6 weeks. In this stage, you can send reports just like before, but your chances of converting that lead really start to diminish.
If at the end of the 6 weeks you have not gotten a single response, I then move the client to receiving an email once a month containing my newsletter.
Ideally throughout this entire process, you’re really just trying to get a good phone number to reach them. Contacting your client by phone, in my opinion, will always give you the best shot at converting them into a transaction. Your tone, pace, excitement, and passion all come out much better on the phone; at least in my case.
I know this probably wasn’t the king of guides to following up with your online leads, but I hope this gave you some ideas on things to implement in your business. I’ve learned these tips through trial and error in the past years, so hopefully you can use some bits here and there and really make it your own!
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May 15th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Good post. Studies have shown that it takes an average of 7 to 8 contacts before a prospect even hears your message. By automating email followups, I believe that you improve your chances of reaching the client. It has even worked on me.
Kevin
May 17th, 2008 at 8:07 am
Your post is contrary to what I have heard from many others in terms of the frequency of automated emails. From what I have heard, weekly is better. However, my weekly drips haven’t produced much in the way of results. I think I will experiment for about a month using your strategy.
May 17th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
I tried weekly for quite a while. My main problem with that is that the program wasn’t enough to really convert the leads online.
I’m a major advocate of 8×8 programs in many other forms of marketing that are aimed at building relationships with my clients.
This one in particular is the exception in my business strategy.
May 24th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
interesting
what a nice article
thanks for sharing
May 28th, 2008 at 10:24 am
Why not just ask for a phone number up front?
May 28th, 2008 at 10:26 am
You could of course! But this is more along the lines of converting those leads where only an email and name is captured.
If you get a phone number, then it’s a no-brainer.
May 30th, 2008 at 9:09 pm
Great article! Sometimes I tend to lose interest in the ones that leave only emails, and the automated campaign might be a way to get over that hurdle.
June 4th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
Hey Steve,
Really good post. It’s amazing how lead follow-up is such a hot topic however no one seems to have really ‘packaged’ a solid, turn-key yet customizable system for IDX registrants and lead conversion.
One thing I like about your approach is front-loading some of the drip emails (or as you say, initial high touch). I really like your tact with the 2nd email which is friendly and engaging. Out of curiousity, when people respond to your 2nd email, do you keep them on “drip” or do you remove them from the new user campagin since you’ve succeeded in engaging them.
June 4th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
Great advice. I use TP and have some of the auto e-mail set up but based on what your article, I think I will shorten them some. I have not had a big problem with “unsubscribes”, but I think doing a short and simple call to action is the way to go. What I have now has too may WORDS, I don’t think people read them.
June 5th, 2008 at 7:59 am
San Fransisco Modern: Depending on the response I get, I will usually take them out of my initial action plan and move them into one that is more pertinent to their time frame.
The key is to build the relationship. This initial action plan will hopefully engage you and your prospective client in some form of communication.
The moment someone responds, you should switch to an action plan that aims to build a relationship, and this plan should also be tailored to their time frame (3-6 month action plan for someone looking to move in 5 months). Don’t forget to set a reminder as well to call them about 2 months in advance of the date they told you they might be ready.
Once you feel you’ve established a good working relationship with your lead, then it’s time to move them into a longer term (33-touch) campaign; which is 33 touches over 12 months. This will keep your name and number in front of them at all times, so that when they are ready to buy, you are the first person they call.
So as you can see, even if a client does not directly move to a transaction right away, my goal is to build a great working relationship with them and add them to my network and sphere.
For every 12 contacts you have with a great relationship (they know you; would do business with you), you can reasonably expect to receive 2 transactions (1 repeat and 1 referral) a year as long as you touch them 33 times a year. Sure 33 touches may be overkill, but then again, I’d rather overdo it.
June 9th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Awesome post. I’ve been working on my contact follow-up program and developing a system to follow-up. I agree that you need to make it personal, NO SPAM. I also sign every client up for a monthly newsletter. Its amazing that 1 year down the road you’ll get a call from someone that you’ve been sending e-mails to, but have never got a response. Follow-up on web leads is the future of generating real estate sales.
June 11th, 2008 at 6:53 am
Hi Steve, this is a good post. I especially like your second email. I am wondering what system you use for your campaigns, is it wolfnet? I have #1 and they had a bunch of canned stuff in there that I stopped. Now I only have an initial greeting and then I try to send something out once every week or so. I know I need to setup something automated, but don’t want them to view it as spam.
June 11th, 2008 at 10:50 am
The system I personally use to manage my follow up campaigns is Top Producer 8i. I’ve currently experimented with various other software, such as Act for Real Estate, Simplifi, and Outlook/Word.
Using TP8i seems to be the most user-friendly in my opinion. I’m currently considering becoming a trainer on that software as well, so I’ll let you know if I do with a new post on this blog.