Short message service (SMS), better known as texting, is an effective marketing tool for real estate investors. 73% of those top industries that use texting are involved in real estate, and 60% of consumers prefer to be texted because it is easy to use and fast.
SMS messages have a 45% response rate and a 36% click-through rate. If you do not use text already, now is the time to integrate it with your marketing outreach to increase lead conversion.
But how do you write a good SMS text campaign? In addition to my 6 Best SMS Tips for Real Estate Investors, I want to share these essential principles when writing effective SMS copy for a real estate investing text message campaign.
With every text message you write, there are three best practices you want to achieve:
1. Offer the Customer Value: Why should anyone answer a text if there is no obvious benefit to doing so? State the value you are offering your recipient – what will you do for them (that no one else can)?
2. Time Your Messages: How would you feel if you got a text from someone you didn’t know at 4:00 in the morning? What about at 10:00, in the heat of work? Or at 8:00 in the evening, when you’re winding down? You have to time your text messages, so that leads are more likely to respond and your campaign is compliant.
3. Send “Targeted” Messages: I will expand on this further below, but targeted messages have improved response rates. Would you answer a text that addresses you by name and shares information that is relevant to you? Probably.
Text messages often fail because they sound generic and lack a human connection. It’s obvious that it was generated by a computer and sent to hundreds of people. Recipients then consider these messages impersonal and can be ignored.
Be authentic with your SMS. Let your personality shine and be consistent, using the same tone and key message you employ across your website and emails.
Always include a call-to-action (CTA) in your text messages. It does not matter how good your offer sounds. If the recipient does not know what to do next, the outreach is a failure. Make it clear what you want them to do: do you want the lead to call you? Visit your website? Or fill out a form for an offer?
How do you get recipients to give you their full attention and follow up on your CTA? By inciting their curiosity. Curiosity stems from our need to gather information. Take a look at this message:
Hi Chris. This is Kenny Smith with EZ Real Estate. Are you selling your property at 47 East Avenue? I’ll pay cash and buy it “as-is.” To discuss a price, please call me at 123-456-7890.
What does it accomplish? It addresses the homeowner by name and offers him a value proposition (i.e., to sell the house without repairs for cash). It also ends with a call-to-action and teases the recipient to at least discover how much their property is worth.
Too often companies think using technical jargon and being creative with industry language will convince customers they are industry experts. Instead, it leaves recipients confused.
A lack of linguistic garnish will not lose you leads. Think about it: how often do you appreciate an ad that is easy to read and interpret? People tend to shy away from anything too complicated or daunting to read, so use plain language.
Most people read a text in 5 seconds. Your message should be short and to the point. The rule of thumb is not to exceed 160 characters (including spaces) for each text you send out.
I said I would expand on “targeted messages” more, so here we go: if you include information relevant to the recipient, they are more likely to consider and respond.
Address them by name and add details pertinent to them, like the physical address of their property and their motivation to sell. Maybe you got a list from the courthouse of those house owners who are going through probate or facing foreclosure. You can (gently) mention those keywords in your SMS message to grab the recipient’s attention.
To improve your character count, use branded short links. Too often a long link, with so many symbols and characters, is considered suspicious. Your link should have your company name to improve authenticity and brand awareness.
While the character limit requires tactful word choices, using abbreviations sacrifices clarity and professionalism. Abbreviations also raise a red flag for recipients who worry about a scam. Write out your words. If a word is too long, look for a shorter replacement.
This seems obvious, doesn’t it? You would be surprised though how many times a sender forgets to sign their message. Retail businesses can forgo this rule, but you and your real estate investing sales team are a small entity.
Chances are, whether it’s you or a member of your team sending the text, the lead will call the direct sender. Adding a signature makes recipients more comfortable to call and establishes a human connection.
We integrate SMS marketing techniques into our mobile marketing campaigns which include other channels like email, RVM, and PPC retargeting. The SMS copy is regularly optimized based on engagement and the number of reads and replies.
Our team of trained Internal Sales Associates (ISA) operate all SMS activities, providing customers with a real person to talk to. ISAs live answer all SMS responses, prequalify and schedule appointments.
Our SMS campaigns are 100% compliant and include cold outreach, nurture and follow-up campaigns. We contact sellers on our motivated homeowner list, which we build off our internal database, with over 150 million properties and hundreds of data points per property.
If you have questions or are curious to know more, request a free consultation below.