In today's digital-first real estate market, successful agents rely on real estate CRM software to streamline their operations and grow their businesses. While customer relationship management (CRM) systems for real estate have numerous capabilities, one of their most powerful is email automation.
This guide will briefly summarize the role that automated email marketing can play in your business. Then we’ll show you how to create effective, automated email campaigns to nurture leads and build and maintain client relationships using your real estate CRM, as well as share optimization strategies and best practices.
Learn more about the 10 best practices for creating drip email campaigns →
What Email Marketing Can Do for Your Real Estate Business
Real estate email marketing is the practice of sending targeted, personalized emails to your buyer and seller leads and current and past clients to keep them engaged and informed, while ensuring you stay top of mind with them.
As you nurture relationships, you increase the likelihood your contacts will turn to you when they want to buy or sell a property, or recommend you to others — therefore driving more sales over time.
You can use the built-in tools in your real estate CRM software to set up and automate email marketing, enabling you to:
- Customize your messages to speak to the specific needs and preference of various segments of your contact list — such as first-time home buyers, downsizing seniors, or sellers with expired listings.
- Follow up and maintain consistent contact with your leads and clients without doing a lot of time-consuming, manual work.
- Track the performance of your email campaigns so you know which messages receive the most engagement and which do not, pointing you to key adjustments you can make in your email strategy.
Before You Get Started: A 3-Step Checklist
Before you get started setting up and automating your email campaigns, here are a few things to do initially to help you lay the foundation for optimum results:
1. Build a Solid Email List
Gather email addresses at every opportunity and input them into your real estate CRM’s database. For example, you can provide email signups at:
- Open houses
- Property viewings
- Community events you’re hosting or sponsoring
- Educational workshops or webinars you’re running
- Website forms and landing pages
- Other businesses in your professional network with which you have a referral agreement
Pro tip: Offer something valuable in return for the email address, such as a weekly newsletter or an exclusive property showing. Ensure the info you provide is always current and relevant.
2. Segment Your List
Within your real estate CRM software, segment your email list based on contacts with similar needs, interests, and preferences — so you can target each segment appropriately and avoid sending the same generic messages to everyone. There are many ways to categorize your contacts, but some examples are:
- Luxury vs. traditional property sellers
- Retiring seniors who want to downsize
- People who inherited a property and want to sell
- First-time home buyers
- Home sellers with significant equity ($200k or more)
- People relocating for a job who need to buy or sell quickly
- Sellers with expired listings
- For-Sale-by-Owner (FSBO) sellers
Pro tip: Use lead engagement platform Fello’s lead capture and data enrichment capabilities to fill in missing info — such as physical addresses and property info like MLS and loan data — to create more complete profiles and the most effective list segmentation. Fello integrates with top real estate CRM systems such as Follow Up Boss, Sierra Interactive, and others.
Learn more about the default segments Fello creates →
3. Understand the Different Types of Automated Emails
Just like there are many ways to segment your list, there are also many types of automated emails you can send. Familiarizing yourself with some of the most popular and useful can help you determine where you want to start (we’ll drill down into more specific automated campaigns below):
- Welcome emails: Introduce yourself as an agent to new leads and summarize your services.
- Property listings: Provide a weekly roundup of your property listings or feature one special property listing, and include quality images for visual appeal.
- Client success stories: Showcase clients who successfully purchased or sold a property, and share what was unique or interesting about the transaction — such as selling over the asking price or selling in record time.
- Newsletters: Provide industry news, insights, and market updates on a weekly, bi-monthly, or monthly basis.
- Drip campaigns: Gradually send emails at regular intervals that logically move a buyer or seller through each phase of their journey — sharing highly useful tips, guides, checklists, and links to resources that help them convert and take the next step.
- Local market updates: Zero in on a specific neighborhood or area where you specialize and give updates about median home prices, current inventory, and average days on market. Also spotlight unique or desirable features about a neighborhood, such as its schools, parks, shopping and retail, recreation opportunities, or job economy.
- Holiday and seasonal greetings: Send warm messages around major holidays, the start of a new season, or other special events to express your appreciation.
Pro tip: Use Fello’s pre-built, automated email campaigns with tested and optimized content specifically for sellers on topics like home valuation, cash offers, expired listings, tips for home preparation, and more that you can run for a month or as long as you need.
Learn more about the 10 best practices for creating drip email campaigns →
5 Email Automations Using Your Real Estate CRM Software
If you’re ready to jump in, here are several automated email sequences you can set up using your real estate CRM system’s database and tools:
1. Lead Capture and Initial Response Sequences
Set up these essential automation triggers when you capture a new lead:
Immediate Response:
- Welcome email introducing yourself as the agent and the services you provide
- Properties that match the lead’s initial criteria — such as price, number of bedrooms, neighborhoods, etc.
- Area guide for their target location — including schools, retail, parks, etc.
- Introduction to the team you work with (if applicable) and their contact information
- Calendar link for booking a consultation with you
First 30 Days:
- Day 3: Local market snapshot with the number of homes for sale, median price, and average days on market
- Day 7: Buyer or seller guide that walks leads step-by-step through the process
- Day 14: Your recent success stories and testimonials
- Day 21: Market report for a target neighborhood
- Day 30: Invitation to schedule a personal meeting
Add a text sequence to your communication with our Home Value Text Sequence →
2. Buyer Lead Nurturing
Create these sequences using your real estate CRM software based on the buyer’s journey:
Early Stage:
- Weekly new listing alerts
- Monthly market analysis reports
- Mortgage calculator resources
- First-time buyer education series
- Neighborhood comparison guides
- School district information
Active Search:
- Daily property matches
- Showing schedule confirmations
- Showing feedback requests
- Offer preparation guides
- Home inspection checklists
- Mortgage process updates
Under Contract:
- Contract milestone reminders
- Document submission requests
- Inspection scheduling assistance
- Appraisal updates
- Closing preparation checklist
- Moving timeline guides
3. Seller Lead Nurturing
Develop these automated sequences with your real estate CRM software for seller leads:
Pre-Listing:
Active Listing:
- Weekly marketing activity reports
- Showing feedback summaries
- Market position updates
- Price adjustment analysis
- Open house schedules
- Offer status updates
4. Transaction Management Automation
Implement these sequences with the help of your CRM software for Realtors® when you have active transactions:
Contract to Close:
- Due diligence period reminders
- Document collection prompts
- Inspection coordination
- Appraisal updates
- Title work status
- Closing preparation steps
Post-Closing:
- Move-in checklist
- Utility transfer reminders
- Home warranty information
- Property tax details
- Insurance recommendations
- Local service provider directory
5. Long-Term Nurture Campaigns
Create these sequences to stay engaged with past clients tagged in your real estate CRM software:
First Year:
- 30-day satisfaction check-in
- Quarterly home maintenance guides
- Seasonal property care tips
- Tax assessment information
- Home anniversary congratulations
- Local market updates
Ongoing Engagement:
- Monthly market snapshots
- Quarterly neighborhood reports
- Annual property value updates
- Refinance opportunity alerts
- Investment property insights
- Local development news
Learn more about the 10 best practices for creating drip email campaigns →
Optimizing Your Automation Strategy
As you get comfortable with email automation, here are several tips and ideas to take your strategy to the next level.
1. Personalization Techniques
Leverage your real estate CRM software’s data fields for:
- Property preferences
- Price range
- Target neighborhoods
- Timeline to buy/sell
- Family composition (number of children or additional family members in the home)
- Investment goals
2. Content Segmentation
Create targeted content for:
- First-time buyers
- Upsizing buyers
- Relocating buyers or sellers
- Inherited property sellers
- Luxury clients
- Empty nesters
- Downsizing sellers
- Neighborhood-specific buyers or sellers
Learn more about the default segments Fello creates →
3. Timing and Frequency
Optimize your automation schedule:
- Send welcome emails instantly.
- Schedule market updates monthly.
- Time property alerts daily.
- Space educational content weekly.
- Plan seasonal or quarterly check-ins.
- Set anniversary reminders for buyers and sellers.
Note that some of the tips mentioned here may not be applicable to your local market or specific business goals. That’s okay. Just incorporate what’s right for your business.
4 Best Practices for Email Automation Using Your Real Estate CRM
Finally, you can boost the success of your email automation even more when you follow these general best practices:
1. Database Management in Your Real Estate CRM Software
- Regularly clean and update your contact information — promptly remove bounced emails and unsubscribes to improve email deliverability.
- Implement detailed tagging systems to help you better segment and target your contacts
- Maintain a detailed record of your interaction history.
- Track communication preferences as well, so you know who prefers email, SMS, phone calls, etc.
2. Campaign Structure
- Create logical sequences — drip campaigns are excellent examples of emails that follow a logical flow of information and events.
- Set appropriate timing intervals — don’t overwhelm recipients with daily emails
- Include clear calls-to-action (CTAs).
- Personalize content using your real estate CRM software’s fields (as we discussed above).
Add a text sequence to your communication with our Home Value Text Sequence →
3. Content Strategy
- Lead with value — always provide highly relevant, useful, actionable content.
- Maintain consistent branding — include your logo and color scheme in your email design.
- Include market-specific information — inventory, home prices, average days on market, etc. in your specific market.
- Balance promotional and informational content.
4. Performance Optimization
- Track key engagement metrics — including opens, clicks, conversion rates, and unsubscribes.
- A/B test subject lines and email content.
- Adjust sequences based on the results.
- Conduct regular reviews and updates of your automated email campaigns to ensure the content is fresh and accurate.
Implement Email Automation with Your CRM Today
Together, real estate CRM software and email automation are essential for modern real estate professionals. With a robust real estate CRM system, you can utilize its email automation capabilities to create sophisticated, personalized, highly targeted communication strategies that help you build and nurture relationships with your leads while saving valuable time and effort.
The key to success is a well-managed database, a properly segmented contact list, and regular optimization of your email campaigns informed by performance metrics. Start with basic email automations, measure their effectiveness, and then gradually expand your capabilities as you become more comfortable.
Ready to transform your seller lead generation strategy? Schedule a demo to see how Fello’s tools can help uncover more leads, get more listing appointments, and close more deals.
Already a Fello user? These strategies can work for you too. And if you have questions about any of the Fello features and tools mentioned above, schedule a call with your CSM, or email success@hifello.com.