Only 19% of people are reading your emails!

It might shock people to know the average email open rate in Australia is 19% with a click through rate of a worrying 2.7% while the national average for SMS open rates are 94%.

These are particularly concerning statistics if an agent’s main focus of prospecting is the email blasts to their database. It shows that 81% of your database, on average, isn't seeing you & you run the risk of not being seen.

With the new iOS 15 Update, you should expect changes to come. The update includes the release of Mail Privacy Protection for the Apple Mail app. This new feature will have a significant impact on email marketing campaign statistics.

Users will now have the “Protect Mail activity” option, the Apple Mail app downloads emails received when the app is opened. For a marketing email, this automatic download is counted in campaign statistics as an email being opened. These false positive results increase the following statistics:

• Opened email

• Open rate

• Recipients who opened your campaign

• Recipients that did not open your email statistics

A few key reasons agent emailing marketing is missing mark are:

1. Failure to separate individual needs - A blanket email to your database with a pre market listing may not be of interest to every single person in your list. CRMs have the great ability to segregate people based on their interests, so content you are pushing through is relevant.

2. Failure to be personable - People are more likely to open an email when it’s been addressed to them by their name.

3. Boring subject lines - For someone not in transactional mode, a “Just Listed” subject might not hit the mark. Think about how many emails you get on a daily basis, for many we simply see the person's name, check out the subject, and delete. Think of something catchy to entice the person to open the email.

4. Timing - The "old wives’ tales" such as always sending on Tuesdays and Thursdays after 1 p.m are no more. We can schedule email blasts through CRMs and understanding your time zone, marketplace and your audience will prove invaluable to ensure you don’t get lost in the mix. For us personally, we have found sending our emails to our database on a Sunday afternoon the most effective. Not many people are working, and it’s a great time to be seen.
   

Agents need to be seriously looking at the entire marketing strategy. For an agent with thousands of data points in their contact list, what are you doing with the 81% of people who aren’t looking at your eDMS.

This is where the beauty of social media & proptech really harness the power in today’s market.

As we begin the final leg of the year, take advantage of the platforms we have at our disposal. One of the biggest eye opening moments I see quite often, is when we mention to agents we can import their homeowners details into the back of a Facebook audience and create specific ads to hit that particular group.

The goal is to ensure we engage higher engagement. We have so many features available that we can nurture the relationships we have already started through social media, email, print & proptech, that there shouldn’t be any reason your engagement numbers aren’t higher.

When looking at prospects for new listings for 2022, my suggestions are to "throw everything at it". Leave no stone unturned. Email your database, SMS them, send them a letter and create strategic social media campaigns with valuable information.

Whatever you put out, you have to be adding value otherwise it will never work.

Written by Nic Fren