Tips to make your email newsletter stand out

Audio version:

First up, we should answer the question:

Q. Why send an email newsletter?

If you've subscribed to Agent Monday, you probably understand the value of keeping in touch with your audience. But just in case you need some reminding, email newsletters are:

• Free to send (or at least very cost-effective)
• Helpful and informative for your audience (if done correctly)
• A great way to position yourself as the expert in your local area
• The best way to leverage your time to keep in touch with a large audience

You can only call so many people in a day. Email newsletters let you keep in touch with thousands of people, while you work closely with your clients who are making moves right now.  

Here are 5 tips to make your newsletters stand out and reduce unsubscribe rates.

1. You need to include more than just 'new listings'. You want homeowners to stay on your newsletter long after they have bought a home and got out of the market. Agent Monday provides you with homeowner-friendly articles every week that you can include in your email newsletter that aren't specific to buyers or sellers. On top of the article, try putting your own spin on the content - add a favourite recipe, quote, update on your local sports team, or a comment on your local market. If in doubt, people love hyper-local sales info!
2. Use a descriptive headline and change it every week. It's easy to ignore 'Latest listings from Joe' in your inbox. Much harder to ignore something like: 'Views to live for + 5 ways to add value to your home this weekend'.
3. Be consistent. Everyone has differing opinions on how often you should send email newsletters out. From my experience, weekly or fortnightly is ideal. You can get away with monthly too but if your business is ready for growth, I'd try to send something to everyone in your audience at least once a fortnight.
4. Don't worry about unsubscribes. I've met so many agents who get a few unsubscribes and start worrying that they are pissing people off. As a result, they stop sending emails altogether. This is an over-reaction. Unsubscribes are a normal part of the process. You should expect 5-10 unsubscribes for every 1,000 email recipients, every time you send out an email. If you haven't sent one out in a long time, your unsubscribe rate will be a lot higher too. If you feel like your unsubscribe rate is too high, then find ways to make your content more useful to your audience. What is it they actually want?
5. Perfection is the enemy of progress. Don't wait for the perfect html template or snazzy design. As a consumer, I'd prefer a consistent, weekly plain-text email with recent sales in my suburb over a sporadic, colourful fancy-pants email that comes through every month or two.

Whatever you do. Send something!