Thriving REI businesses rely on data lead sources and a solid marketing strategy that optimizes their data to consistently create new opportunities to close deals.
Gaining a deeper understanding of the benefits of SMS Engagement vs. Email Marketing is a necessary first step. Possessing this knowledge helps maximize marketing budgets to avoid the perils of ineffective marketingthat novice investors make.
The emergence of real estate technology companies, such as Zillow and Redfin have laid the groundwork for the future of real estate transactions. A 2018 Realtor report found that 76% of all buyers searched for their new homes on a mobile device. For this reason, REIs must adapt to advances in digital marketing to reach this growing segment of the marketplace.
Open and Response Rates
The open and response rates of SMS are 98% and 45%, respectively — in stark contrast to corresponding figures of 20% and 6% for email. Studies also show that of text messages are read within 3-minutes, and 70% of smartphone users respond to their messages in under 5-minutes. This means, if we are to weigh the two based on research, REIs are more likely to reach homeowners through SMS engagement – and in a shorter period of time.
Two-Way Communication
While email does offer the ability to facilitate two-way communication, it’s neither timely nor instantaneous. Text marketing, on the other hand, allows for instant two-way communication. This reduces the overall timeframe to get deals under contract. With text marketing, you can speak with property owners to establish their timelines and set-up meetings in as little as one day. The ability to drive more engagement and fast-track deal flow lowers your average cost per deal – maximizing your marketing budget.
CRM Integration
Another tool REIs rely on to manage daily business operations are real estate CRMs – the most popular being Podio and Forefront. These CRMs have unique deal flow tracking and analytics features designed for REIs. Using a regular CRM just wouldn’t make sense. Launch Control’s SMS engagement platform easily integrates with any CRM – and it has all the tracking and analytics tools you need to automate your deal flow in one place. If you prefer to save time (by not having to manage multiple tools) and keep marketing costs down, again SMS engagement outweighs email marketing.
Tracking and Analytics
The ability to track and analyze the performance of marketing campaigns is what determines the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. Therefore, investing in marketing strategies that integrate KPI tools will help you make informed decisions – by allocating marketing dollars to channels with the highest lead conversion rates. Both SMS engagement and email marketing platforms use tracking tools to monitor the performance of campaigns. However, SMS engagement moves rapidly – yielding a continuous stream of data that can be leveraged to optimize campaigns and scale your business.
Quick Responses
The real estate business is a highly competitive industry – and timing is everything. When it comes to buying and selling real property, the expectation is that when homeowners are ready to sell deals will move quickly. Depending on your buy-box, knowing which properties to target isn’t enough. To optimize data lead sources, REIs should consider the fact that SMS engagement is the fastest communication channel compared to email marketing.
Do I Need SMS Engagement?
The benefits of SMS engagement vs. email marketing are many – better open and response rates, swift two-way communication, CRM integration, and quick turn-around of KPIs for rapid scalability. Many REIs combine SMS engagement and email marketing. But, for those with smaller marketing budgets it’s certainly not necessary. Having one simple, easy-to-use, all-in-one solution is all you need to optimize your deal flow and increase your RIO.
