Nurturing Client Relationships in Luxury Real Estate with Email Marketing

Nurturing client relationships in the luxury real estate space has taken on a few extra layers with the rise of digital marketing. Most agents are naturals at networking and nurturing clients in person, but when it comes to taking that relationship online, it can be difficult to know what works and what doesn’t. At this point, the vast majority of real estate agents have been told to “grow their email list”, but simply collecting email addresses doesn’t translate into real estate success. It’s what you do with those emails that actually makes a difference.  The problem is that between zipping to and from open houses, client appointments, in-person networking, making sure that social media accounts are updated, and the many other tasks that fill up an agent’s day, effective email marketing usually takes a backseat. However, effective email marketing can be a powerful tool to grow your luxury real estate practice. Recent studies have shown that when used correctly, email marketing can yield up to $38 for every $1 spent! On top of that, 99% of consumers (our clients) check their email at least once a day.  Here are a few ways to level up your email marketing to make sure you’re getting the most out of your email list.

Segment Your List

If you have an email list for your clients and network that you’re using regularly to stay connected, you’re already ahead of the game. However, if you’re sending out the same newsletter to everyone on your list, chances are that most people on your list aren’t getting relevant information or feeling any sort of personal connection with what you’re sending out. Segmenting your list entails separating your email contacts into different categories. To keep it simple, these are a few of the categories you may want to consider:

• Cold leads
• Warm leads
• Past clients
• Vendors
• Other agents

Looking at those categories separately, it seems clear that one blanket newsletter full of market reports and new listings wouldn’t nurture those relationships very effectively, which of course, is the key to real estate success. While this is a bit more work than sending out one newsletter to all of your contacts (including past clients), the long-term benefits will outweigh the extra hour or two that it takes to write content that gives all of your clients value, not just the ones that are looking to buy or sell at the moment. Which leads us to the next tip…

Provide Real Value

When it comes to email marketing, the same rule for real estate success applies: make it your first priority to give incredible value to your list! We all have those emails we get every day that we open as soon as we see them. Why is that? It’s because those emails are actually providing us with information that is new, useful, and valuable. When you’re email marketing for luxury real estate success, put yourself in your audience’s shoes. If you’re sending out a weekly newsletter to existing clients, they may not be interested in seeing new listings every week. Instead, your newsletter has more chances of being well-received if it’s full of community-related information, like upcoming events, showcasing a quick interview you did with a local business owner, local market reports, or even links to special promotions in your area if you know of them.  Sprinkling a few new listings or a bit of self-promotion is okay, but shouldn’t be the main focus of every single email, as people may lose interest. since that’s a sure way to lose people’s interest.

Keep In Touch Regularly, But Not Too Much

Simply emailing your list more won’t make you an overnight real estate success story, but consistently touching base with your clients, prospects, and network through email is just as important as face-to-face and phone communication.  One reason regular email communication is important is because email allows for a visual element in your conversation. You can describe a new home over the phone or in a meeting, but through email, you can include the actual images of a home for people to see immediately.  The only stipulation is that there is such a thing as too much information.  As important as real estate is, the majority of your list doesn’t want to hear from their real estate agent or potential real estate agent every day.  An email once a week is likely enough for your existing clients, although you may have success with up to two emails per week with prospects and your network to stay top of mind.

Want More Help With Email Marketing?

When you become a CLHMS Certified Member, you get access to WE Prospecting, a custom mailing list of precisely targeted and qualified affluent prospects, based on the criteria you choose. Click here to learn more about how earning your CLHMS designation can put your luxury real estate career on the fast track!