In real estate, following up with leads and staying in touch is crucial. Real estate marketing automation helps realtors streamline lead management and free up time for networking and in-person interactions.
Real estate professionals face many challenges. You need to build a client base, find listings, and establish a reputation in a competitive market. Even in escrow, there’s no guarantee a deal will close. For a realtor, this means lots of time, effort, and potential income are all gone.
The good news is automation can help you keep leads from falling through the cracks.
Read on for insights on how real estate marketing automation can help you develop your network, follow up on leads, and ultimately grow your business. We’ll also recommend some software you can use to get started.
What does real estate marketing automation do?
Real estate marketing automation helps realtors carry out repetitive tasks like sending emails, updating prospect profiles, and tracking website activity.
At the same time, it’s used to move leads down the sales funnel. The best ways in which automation helps realtors connect with clients are:
- Sending lead nurturing campaigns
- Streamlining appointment scheduling
- Doing lead management
Automation supports the following core processes for real estate businesses.
Lead generation
Using automation, real estate professionals can capture leads from more sources, including websites, social media, and MLS listings. Lead capture forms, targeted landing pages, and chat history allow you to gather contacts into your database.
Lead nurturing
Automation helps nurture leads through workflows with a combination of timely and relevant communication.
Segment contacts into groups, such as “first-time buyers,” “referrals,” or “ready to buy” and automate content and tips just for them.
For example, send personalized emails to first-time buyers with realtor insider tips from past buyers, detailed information about listings, or even general market updates for the area.
Leads who aren’t in a hurry to buy can get email campaigns with property recommendations and market updates. Or, send them happy client testimonials to build your reputation.
Relevant and timely content keeps leads engaged and also builds trust in your services.
Time-consuming tasks
From scheduling appointments to sending follow-up reminders, automation helps real estate professionals win back time. This allows you to focus on what really matters — building relationships.
Meeting scheduling, follow-up messages, and reminder emails or text messages are all examples of tasks that automation workflows can take care of for you.
Related reading: Marketing Automation Software: 10 Best Tools for 2024
6 Real estate automation strategies
These strategies and use cases show how automation powers your marketing efforts and improves the customer experience.
1. Use email-marketing automation for lead nurturing
Email marketing is widely used and an effective way of staying in touch with prospects. It’s a staple in the real estate industry and a core part of real estate marketing strategy.
Real estate email marketing campaign
With email marketing, you can automate welcome emails, drip campaigns with monthly tips and insights, and other engaging content for your audiences.
You might send automated follow-up emails after open houses. Or, keep your leads in the loop with real-time market updates and property listings.
In short, it’s a key tool for staying in touch and encouraging conversion rates.
2. Automate lead generation with signup forms
Signup forms allow you to easily collect contact information online in exchange for information. To get someone’s email address or phone number, you might offer them weekly tips in an email newsletter.
Real estate lead generation signup form
You can put signup forms on your website, landing pages, or link in bio on social media. Use them to get information specific to your goals, like what neighborhood a buyer or seller is located in, or if they already have a real estate agent or not.
Further reading: How to Create a Signup Form in 6 Easy Steps
Once someone signs up, they automatically go into your contact database, usually a CRM.
3. Automate lead management with CRM software
CRMs are one of the top three most useful tools for finding high-quality leads. Customer relationship management (CRM) platforms give your team powerful automation features and come with plenty of integrations for tools you’re already using. They’re a must-have for real estate professionals.
Deal pipeline automation in a CRM
With a CRM, you can segment your leads into groups based on the needs and preferences they told you about on your signup form. From there, realtors can easily maintain segments with automation.
You can also use real estate automation to manage deal pipelines, email campaigns, and lead scoring models.
| Ready to take it further? Discover the 5 Best CRMs for Real Estate in 2024: Benefits, Tips, & Use Cases |
4. Use targeted ads on social media
Social media is a powerful way to share listings and widen your reach. In fact, 92% of realtors use Facebook.
Use real estate automation to launch targeted ads. With Brevo CRM, for example, you can make Facebook ads to retarget contacts you already have. You can also make ads for audiences that are similar to existing contact groups.
Facebook ad setup in Brevo
5. Automate scheduling
If you use a CRM, you most likely will be able to benefit from a meetings tool with a booking page. Booking pages sync automatically to your calendar so leads can see when you’re available.
Brevo’s customizable booking pages
Prospects can then book on their own, eliminating back and forth coordinating. Set up automated reminders so that your prospect never misses a video call.
6. Earn referrals with follow-up automation
Following up with clients after a purchase or a sale is just as important, if not more, than meeting new leads. Follow-up relationships are a chance to grow your network through referrals.
36% of sellers use a referred real estate agent, and automation can help you get those referrals. Just like regular lead-nurturing workflows, referral automation helps you turn past clients into future business.
For example, send a “thank you” (and congrats) email after a client does business with you. Then, follow up with a satisfaction survey. You can automatically segment satisfied clients into a contact group. Send that group a gentle request for them to recommend your business.
3 Best real estate automation platforms
If you’re still using spreadsheets and searching for past conversations in your email, you might miss messages or type in a formula wrong. Using automation software streamlines your lead management and communications so you never lose track of a potential lead.
Brevo
Drag and drop email campaign builder in Brevo
Brevo is a CRM suite complete with multichannel and email marketing, customizable automation workflows, as well as contact and deal management. It’s suitable for both solo realtors and teams.
Easily set up real estate marketing automation workflows and move prospects to a deal with triggered actions. Target audiences with Facebook ads, launch lead nurturing campaigns, and streamline your appointments and follow ups.
All of Brevo’s platforms (Marketing, Sales, Conversations) have a generous free version. Test out features and upgrade if you need to increase usage limits.
| Good to know: Contact storage is completely free with Brevo. |
Paid plans for Brevo’s Marketing Platform start at $25/month. You can set up automation workflows for 2,000 contacts and create email campaigns using the drag and drop template builder.
Jumpstart your Real Estate Marketing Automation with BrevoVisual workflow builder, if/then logic, multichannel steps, performance tracking and ready templates to use. Free for 2,000 contacts. |
Wise Agent
Wise agent is a beginner-friendly CRM. With it, you can track leads with a contact dashboard and set up lead management.
You can send SMS messages and create a couple of landing pages as add ons. Instead of creating automation workflows that leads enter automatically, you can go to each individual contact and assign a lead rule from there.
If all you need is a bit of an upgrade from a spreadsheet, Wise Agent will be an easy transition for you.
Prices start at $49/month for one account holder and four users.
HubSpot
HubSpot is a well-known CRM with features for sales, marketing, service platforms and more. You can build and design emails and landing pages to use in your automation workflows.
Like all CRMs, HubSpot equips you with a contact dashboard for easy reference. There you can assign tasks to your team and keep track of notes and upcoming actions for your leads.
HubSpot has various plans you can start with. The Marketing Hub Starter plan is $20/month for 1,000 contacts and 10 automated email actions. If you do plan to take advantage of multichannel automation, you’ll need to upgrade to the Professional Plan at $890/month.
Not sure? Check out more HubSpot alternatives.
Get started with real estate marketing automation
Automation can do wonders for real estate professionals. It’s the secret sauce for finding your high-quality leads, understanding their needs, and closing successful deals. When leads are nurtured with the right content at the right time, they’re more likely to convert.
Ready to get started?
