Real Estate Marketing Ideas, Real Estate Lead Generation, Real Estate Tips

How to Effectively Build a Real Estate Email List

By Gretchen Gales Last Updated November 17, 2022 4 min read

Connecting with your audience is essential to your real estate business, and email marketing is one of the most effective marketing strategies you can use. 

Building your real estate email list organically helps you make authentic connections and build leads that can turn into sales. Let us show you how to make your email list one that works as hard as you do.

In this post, we’ll detail the three ways to build a real estate email list and why it’s important. 

What is a real estate email list?

Real estate agent email lists are a collection of email contact information for current and potential clients.

Email is one of the most important tools we have in marketing. With 4.6 billion email users projected by 2025, email is more important than ever.

Real estate email marketing is no different. It is one of the most effective ways to build your brand, even through an ever-changing market

Why do real estate agents need an email list?

Whether you send newsletters, offers, or updates, email lists give agents a network of existing and potential clients in their circle.

By sending out regularly scheduled emails, you create a routine your followers look forward to and find valuable. Additionally, you can establish yourself as a local expert on market trends

How to build a real estate email list

Now that you know why it’s important to have an email list, here are the three steps to actually build your list:

Make a goal

Having a manageable goal makes building your list a lot easier. Aim to gain a certain amount of subscribers per month. Keep track of which methods gain you the most subscribers—for example, in-person events, referrals, or social media. 

Have people opt-in on a landing page

While it seems easy, you can’t just find people’s emails and add them to your list without a proper opt-in.

Do it correctly by creating a landing page with an opt-in form. You’ll also need the option to unsubscribe at any time to avoid being labeled as spam. 

A landing page gives direct info on what you can offer subscribers if they opt into your email list. Include a headline and a short description of what you have to offer. Do you give free home valuations? Tips and tricks on how to stage and sell a house? Throw it in your description, but make it quick and snappy. Images and videos related to your services can also draw in more subscribers. 

Before collecting information, remember to set up an email service provider or another program. These programs can help you track who is opting in, opening your emails, and opting out. 

Create great content

New subscribers should receive a welcome email. From that point forward, segment your real estate emails into who is interested in what. Create different content for those interested in buying versus selling or those looking for more reports about real estate statistics. 

Email ideas

Many real estate agents have built email lists but may notice a lack of engagement with their content. Common problems include:

  • High unsubscribe rates
  • Decreasing or low open rates
  • Low click-through rates
  • Low conversions

Building an authentic email list can help you create new connections and strengthen existing ones. Don’t make another average real estate email. Try increasing engagement with these real estate email ideas:

Newsletter

Newsletters that are personable, consistent, and keep your clients updated on your business help people see you as a person. You’re not just another salesperson, so prove it! 

Include upcoming events, tips, and tricks for home maintenance, birthday messages, and more ways to connect with your clients.  

Blog posts 

Give your subscribers content they can really use. Create emails to clients containing excerpts of blogs with meaningful advice for their home-searching, home-selling, or home-owning journey. 

Depending on your client base, curate your content for their needs. If you mostly serve families with children and pets, include information on how to “baby-proof” their home. Targeting first-time buyers? Include information on how to get pre-qualified and how mortgages work

Event invites

Open houses and other special events can be e-blasted to your mailing list. While you shouldn’t forget to post on social media, direct e-vites can make your clients feel special (because they are). Remember to include appealing listing information to attract more people to the event. 

Informational reports

We don’t mean the dense, technical reports that no one reads. You only have a person’s attention on an email for a limited time, so make it count.

Take the information you know about the market and turn it into visually-appealing infographics or bulleted statistics. Bite-sized information is better than long reports. Include information such as:

  • Value and price reports
  • Government programs and initiatives for buyers, like tax breaks
  • Local statistics on job creation, unemployment, and local home sales 

Make Virtuance part of your real estate mailing lists

Since 2010, we’ve been helping real estate agents get the upper hand in real estate visual marketing at an affordable price. Make Virtuance part of your email campaigns and see what our customers have known for over 10 years: we’re committed to gorgeous real estate pictures that grab more clients’ attention than the average photo. 

FAQ

A real estate email list helps agents connect with past, current, and future clients. It can also translate into valuable leads.

Buying contact information is always an option, but growing your list organically can ensure you have real contacts interested in your content. Plus, sending mass emails to random accounts can look spammy and violate the CAN-SPAM Act.