Drip... Drip... Drip...
Automating E-mail Contact
Maintaining regular contact with Internet prospects just got a whole lot easier.
Dear Mr. Internet:
I'm receiving plenty of inquiries from my Web site, but many prospects aren’t ready to buy or sell for several months. How do I keep their interest until then?
Frank Tierney
RE/MAX Homes Northwest
Lake Zurich, Ill.
Dear Frank:
The vast majority of online leads may be months away from taking action. It used to be very difficult and time consuming to keep these folks interested during their "information gathering" stage. But now, thanks to the advent of e-mail "drip-marketing" systems, the entire process of staying in touch and even growing the relationship with online prospects can be completely automated.
An e-mail drip-marketing system consists of one or more targeted "campaigns,” each containing a series of e-mail messages that are automatically sent to a designated prospect or client. For example, suppose a first-time buyer prospects stop by your site and requests more information.You could offer to include them into your free series of educational e-mails (your “First-Time Buyer” campaign) about the entire purchase process. The following table gives you an idea on how this particular campaign might be structured:
| Day Number |
Message Sent |
| 0 |
Introduction: A brief overview of what they will learn over the course
of
the campaign.
|
| 7 |
Needs Assessment: How to realistically determine what they really need
and want in their first home. |
| 14 |
Financing: A review of the complete financing and pre-qualification process. |
| 21 |
Home Search: How to search for homes that meet their requirements and
what
to look for.
|
| 28 |
The Offer: How to structure well-priced offers sellers will accept. |
| 35 |
Post-Offer: a checklist of things that need to be completed prior to
close.
|
| 32 |
The Closing: Do's and don'ts of the closing process. |
| 49 |
Hire a Professional: The advantages of using a REALTOR. |
| 54 |
Homeownership: Helpful hints on maintaining their newest investment. |
The beauty is that you can have can have campaigns with different messages and different time schedules for any number of target markets or situations--FSBOs, condo buyers, buyers after closing, relocation, etc. Once set up, this kind of a dynamic, interactive program will start converting prospects to clients like clockwork.
Although there are drip-marketing systems available on disk, three Web-based options are worth mentioning, each with their respective advantages and disadvantages.
· iPersonalservice--For the beginner, this option is the simplest of the three, but also the least flexible. It offers essentially only one pre-created campaign for to use; however you can modify the pre-written messages to some extent.
· Intersend--If you’re an intermediate user, you can create as many campaigns as you want, using 16 prewritten campaigns you can modify or your own originals. Because the messages are constructed using templates, you have limited ability to adjust the look and feel of the messages that go out.
· Proautoresponder--For the advanced user, this is by far the most powerful e-mail drip marketing engine I've ever come across. It allows for an unlimited number of campaigns, and messages can be sent in both text and HTML formats simultaneously. Also, it automatically senses AOL recipients and will adjust any links in their messages to be "clickable." For even greater impact, you can attach your voice message that will automatically start playing the moment recipients view their messages.
Note: You can now save 33 percent on when you sign up for Proautoresponder, thanks to the Mr. Internet e-Bate program. Just enter Mr. Internet into the value code line when ordering. Note that neither Mr. Internet nor Realtormag Online receive any compensation from this offer.
Once you have the mechanics of your campaigns in place, it’s time to focus on your content. Here're a few tips to consider:
· Value, Value, Value: It's critical that each campaign message offer real value relative to the campaign topic.
· Focus on the Recipient: Your campaigns must avoid the temptation of including blatant self-promotions that might alienate your prospects.
· Engage the Recipients: Your campaign messages should use a conversational style that continues to build relationship with the contact.
· Allow an Opt-Out: Every message should allow the contact to discontinue the campaign at any time.
I could write an entire book on the powerful business-generating possibilities of e-mail drip marketing. Once you’ve implemented it, you’ll quickly begin harvesting a steady stream of new clients from those slow-moving online prospects.
Tip of the Month
You can get two marketing tools for the price of one, by using ProAutoresponder as a simple autoresponder to one-time requests for information. Just create a one-message campaign for each "autoresponder" you need. Because each campaign has a unique e-mail address, it will trigger the appropriate message to be sent automatically when a prospect sends a message to it.
ProAutoresponder can also be set to notify you whenever request information as well as tracking when the message was opened and what links users clicked on. You can see this for yourself by sending a blank e-mail to chester@epowertips.com.(Don't put anything in the subject line). This will trigger a special sample autoresponder I set up for Judy McCutchin, one of the most successful online marketers in the business.
If you are currently using one or more autoresponders in your business now, chances are you are paying too much for too little. Many auto responders don’t allow tracking and can charge up to 10 times more than ProAutoresponder. If you have yet to use an autoresponder, this is the easiest, most powerful and affordable way I know to get started! |
