It’s the second week of January and most New Year’s resolutions have already been abandoned, and, let’s face it, we’re not too upset by it.  Why is that?  Well, we’re comfortable, routines are hard to break, and we never wanted to give up carbs anyway.  However, there are some goals that we should cling to, especially in business.  Specifically, as technology continues to transform the market, we need to adjust our strategies and improve our tactics.  So, to help you improve your marketing efforts, we have selected five ways you could increase the effectiveness of your email campaigns.
1.  Best time and day for Email Campaigns– The most common answer to this question is also the most frustrating: it depends.  Everyone’s audience is slightly different.  However, this generic answer doesn’t help much, so we dug a little deeper.  According to CoSchedule, using statistics from 10 different studies, the most effective time to send an email campaign is 10am, followed by 8pm, 2pm and 6am.  CoSchedule also found Thursday to be the best day of the week to send your newsletters, with Tuesday coming in second and Wednesday following closely.  So, even though the overall statistics may not match perfectly with your audience, give these times and days a try to see if you can raise your open rate by a few points.
2.  Improve your subject line – It only takes a fraction of a second for most readers to decide whether to open your email, and it all hinges on the few words chosen for your subject line.  To improve it, consider the tips we offered in our previous blog, “5 ways to improve any subject line.”  Specifically, make sure they are short and concise, while inspiring your readers to act.  As well, relevant questions can catch your reader’s attention, and it’s always important to establish clear expectation.  For more details, view our post here.
3.  Send to Pertinent Subscribers – Your subscribers are all different.  The young couple looking for their first home have different needs than the baby boomers looking to downgrade. Their unique interests and diverse needs should be reflected in the newsletter they receive. Instead of sending every newsletter to your entire database, craft each newsletter with a particular segment of your database in mind.  The more targeted the newsletter, the more impact it will have.
4.  Add relevant content – Do you know why your readers continue to open your newsletter?  Because they see value in it.  Sometimes it’s your property listings, but most often it’s content that is pertinent to their situation.  They are looking for answers to their real estate questions, and they come to you because you are the expert.  So, give them what they want.  Add news, articles, blogs or other content that you would personally find helpful.  Offer tips and guidance that you have learned throughout the career, and they will appreciate the insights.
5.  Simplify your sends – Some people love scrolling through pages of listings to find properties that suit them, but most want you to do it for them.  You don’t need, and shouldn’t include, each current listing in every newsletter.  Following the suggestions above, simplify your sends so each newsletter is lean, punchy and pertains to each subscriber.  Instead of creating one massive email, try to break it up into smaller, more manageable sends.  That way your contacts won’t feel like they are on a treasure hunt with each email they open.  Instead, they will easily find the content that is most important and helpful.