Social media marketing is a difficult terrain to conquer, requiring you to compete with other brands and spending hefty amounts for paid advertising. An email newsletter is an effective way to stay connected with customers for brokers, property agents, and real estate managers alike. Sending out a regular update-filled newsletter can retain current clients and increase the number of future ones.
In this guide, we’ll go over 10 techniques to create a visually interesting and engaging newsletter. These tips should get more clients to engage with your emails and help your agency generate issues that provide actual value.
How Can You Promote Real Estate Newsletters?
Here are some methods that can help you create an engaging email newsletter series.
1. Offer Valuable Content
Being a real estate professional isn’t enough. You need to offer value to your clients so they subscribe. There’s two ways to go about this: solve a problem or provide beneficial information. Don’t just fill out headings with listings, create content that your audience would actually want to read. Here are some useful examples:
- Monthly housing market reports
- Mortgage rate updates
- Neighbourhood spotlights
- First-time buyer tips
- Investment property insights
- Local event calendars
A good way to balance educational and promotional content is by opting for an 80:20 ratio. Your newsletter should aim to be informative, rather than overly-promotion.
Pro tip: Make sure you address frequently asked questions in each newsletter issue. If you consistently answer pressing issues, you can position yourself as a credible expert in your locality.
2. Create An Impactful Welcome Email
Your subscriber’s first few days are when they’re the most active and willing to engage. By sending a welcome email, you can:
- Thank them for subscribing
- Explain what they’ll receive
- Introduce yourself or agency
- Highlight popular resources
- Invite them to reply with questions
If you’re new to email campaigns, worry not. You can use customizable real estate email templates to get started right away. You can also schedule send times, segment audiences, use AI features, and design email layouts from within the same editor.
Pro tip: Always include a quick ‘Start Here’ option in your welcome email. This should be a link that showcases important listicles such as a buying checklist, neighbourhood guide, or a mortgage calculation.
3. Add Newsletter Sign-Up Opportunities Everywhere
Don’t just tuck away your newsletter sign-up form on one single page of your website. Clients should find it quick and easy to subscribe to your email messages. Instead, promote it all across social media and email channels so you can reach a wide base of clients. Here are some places you can link your newsletter sign-up:
- Website homepage
- Blog articles or listicles
- Property landing pages
- Email signatures
- QR codes on business cards
- Open house flyers
- Social media bios
- Social media captions
Pro tip: Make sure you’re mentioning your newsletter during in-person interactions with potential clients. If you’re hosting an open house or meeting with an interested buyer, always invite them to your newsletter. This way, clients can stay connected to real-estate updates and you can form a lasting relationship with them.
4. Segment Subscribers For Relevant Content
Every email subscriber is different and has different priorities when it comes to real-estate. A common mistake even experienced marketers can make is drafting a generic email that reaches your entire email list. Instead, segment your audience based on:
- First-time buyers
- Luxury home buyers
- Investors
- Sellers
- Renters
- Commercial property clients
- Geographic location
- Architectural preferences
Segmented email campaigns perform better and result in better engagement rates. For example, send out rental yield reports to investors but send home-buying checklists to first-time buyers.
5. Share Local Market Insights
A differentiation factor that is actually persuasive is having real expertise. Your newsletter should contain important, useful, and new information such as:
- Average home prices in the area
- Inventory trends
- Days on market
- Interest rate updates
- New urban developments
- School district news
- Upcoming urban community projects
Aim to be the first agency to timely and accurately report on location-specific insights.
Pro tip: Instead of writing down statistics and numbers, explain what each one means for the client. For example, if inventory is rising, explain how buyers and sellers will be impacted by it.
6. Repurpose Your Newsletter
A singular newsletter can be the foundation for an entire week’s worth of content. Don’t limit yourself to email. Instead, repurpose these articles into:
- LinkedIn posts
- Instagram carousels
- Facebook updates or statuses
- Blog articles
- Short videos or Reels
- Infographics or posters
Pro tip: You can use simple announcement email templates and adapt them into multiple formats using PosterMyWall. This platform allows you to manage social media graphics and email campaigns from the same dashboard, offering cohesive branding and saving marketers time and money.
7. Personalize Emails
To keep subscribers engaged, content needs to be relevant and tailored. If you have customer data, put it to good use by personalizing emails on factors such as:
- Preferred neighbourhoods
- Property budgets
- Home type
- Buying timeline
- Previous inquiries
- Downloaded resources
Don’t just individually suggest every listing, sending properties that match what subscribers actually want.
Pro tip: Create ‘saved search’ style emails. These should include a new listing, and a follow-up notification if the property matches clients’ interests and preferred home features.
8. Test Different Layouts
Well-crafted newsletters can underperform due to a lack of testing. Here are some touchpoints to conduct regular A/B tests on:
- Subject lines
- Previous text copy
- CTA wording
- Main images
- Email layouts
- Send times
Keep an eye on important metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, unsubscribe rates, and forwarding rates.
Pro tip: Only test one variable at a time so your results are valid. Don’t change multiple elements at once during the testing period as that can confound what works for you and what doesn’t.
9. Make Sure Your Newsletter Is Mobile-Friendly
The majority of emails are opened on smartphones. Smaller devices can be used during commute and throughout the day. Hence, it’s important that your email newsletters cater to a large chunk of your audience. Here are some best practices for optimization:
- Using short paragraphs
- Adding adequate white space
- Choosing large and tappable buttons
- Compressing images for faster loading
- Using only readable font sizes
- Including only one primary CTA
Before publishing, run the email and preview it on different devices.
Pro tip: Most important information should be mentioned at the top of the email. Mobile users choose to read or ignore an email within seconds, which is why it’s important to catch their attention right away.
10. Turn Local Events Into Content For Your Newsletter
Make sure you shift your focus from selling properties to being an active part of the communities that people live in. By sharing local events on your newsletter, your emails can be a regular source of relevance even when subscribers aren’t planning on buying nor selling. Here’s what you can feature:
- Community festivals
- Farmers’ markets
- New restaurants
- Upcoming local businesses
- Parks, trails, and recreational spots
- Neighbourhood improvement projects
Pro tip: To increase the informational value of your newsletter, align local events with real estate insights. For example, explain how a new shopping center can affect the appeal, rates, and convenience of a particular neighbourhood.
