Email marketing is incredibility effective if you know how to utilize it, so keep reading!
Why aren’t my emails being read?
Fun stat: Only 21% of consumers reported that they received a memorable promotional email in the past two months. People rely less on email because they have other modes of communication such as Slack and basecamp, as well as other sources of communication that do not require email.
Today, some software like Gmail and others route emails into folders based on the email owner’s habits. In addition, some email providers have become savvy enough to filter out common sales words, causing the emails to be re-routed to the infamous spam folder. People are even using ‘junk’ email addresses to sign up and receive information.
Be sure to share meaningful and actionable information because no one wants to receive a ‘just checking in’ email nowadays. This includes inviting both your residents AND prospects to events. Typically, your happiest residents will actually attend events, so they make great people to expose your prospects to.
Subject Lines and Preview Text
The average attention span for emails is 8.25 seconds. This means it is very important to have eye catching and interesting subject lines. You should set the email sender to state an actual person’s name, not ‘leasing office’ or ‘manager’. This will better entice the recipient to open it.
Make sure your preview text and subject line flow well together. The preview text should be a continuation of the email thought, not a repeat of the subject line. Your subject lines should be creative, clear and concise and it is also important to personalize it. You should ‘human-ize’ the subject and preview, making them seem as it if they are coming from a real person versus automated system. Additionally, the subject line should be related to the actual topic of the email and not be a bait and switch.
How to write a good email.
You can make a bigger impact by saying less, not more. You do not need to put everything about your community in the first email. When you say less, you are leaving room for conversation.
Tip #1: Revisit the previous conversation.
In addition to collecting general information about your prospects, try to gather information about who they are and their preferences.
Tip #2 Why should the prospect read your email?
Get creative and review your notes about the prospect. Personalizing an email can start with using their name, but it goes well beyond that. By adding personalized information such as their preferences, the specific apartment unit they were looking for, and more, the prospect will be encouraged to open and read your emails.
Tip #3 What’s new?
Has your availability changed? What questions did your prospect ask last time you spoke that you are following up on? Is there a new amenity or feature being added that you are excited to tell them about? Is a new, cool restaurant being added down the street? Share something your prospect would be excited to know or learn more about. Just a side note, everyone likes to know about price decreases!
Tip #4 What’s your ask?
What are you asking your prospect to do next? What do they need to do to help you move this relationship forward?What needs to be completed by each of you to move them to sign a lease?
Tip #5 Be prepared for objections and questions.
Make a list of possible objections and questions and gather your thoughts on possible responses. Remember, no canned responses; make it personal to your prospects.
How do I connect with prospects?
Build a real relationship, both online and offline. This will encourage the prospect to be more responsive to your efforts and also creates an emotional tie for them to engage with your emails and phone calls.
Create valuable content that your prospects will actually want to read on all channels. It is not just email or phone; remember that you can use blogging and audio as well. This allows you, as a leasing staff, to stop selling and start connecting with your ideal prospects. Your selling will be easier once you have spent time creating a connection.
Overall, the ability to personalize your emails rather than using canned scripts will help you stand out above your competition. Customer service is very important to the viability of your apartment complex. Ellis Company has many tools to help you learn more about your prospects and current residents. When you understand your residents and prospects better, it will become easier to secure leases and retain your residents for years to come.