Home Builders: Grow Business Leads through Good Email Lists
February 11, 2020
Marketers love to talk email lists because good ones are the basis of effectively reaching your prospects and customers. But, if you’ve only ever purchased contacts or googled “free email list” to try to scrape together leads, you might not be as sold on email marketing as marketers say you should be.
Chances are you don’t feel like you’re getting a good ROI on your communications. And that’s because cold leads take far longer to come around, if they ever do, than people who’ve already started the home buying process and are looking to you for more information.
So, don’t pass up the opportunity to obtain more engaged business leads by growing your own email list. (Not convinced about the importance of emarketing? Yeah, we’ll let OptinMonster handle that.)
We’ve gathered the easiest ways to start growing a list today.
Add an email sign-up form to your website.
There’s a reason we included this as one of our website must-haves, and it’s because there’s no reason not to. It’s a passive way to collect contact information for use in future communications. Sure, some spam will come through, but that’s better than homebuyers hitting your website, wanting to learn more and then bouncing because you only list your phone number.
Email sign-ups can take a variety of forms, from a straight, “Sign up to hear news from us!” button on your homepage to a “Contact Us” form where they can opt in to email communications.
It makes sense to include a general “Contact Us” form on your company’s about page and on your home showcase pages. You’ll also see some companies make it a static feature within their website’s footer so users can access it from any page.
If you want to get fancy, you can also install a modal that pops up on your website asking visitors to sign up for your email list. While some companies have these modals pop up almost immediately, we’d suggest backing off and giving visitors a second or two to orient themselves. Otherwise, it can be off-putting and have the opposite effect of what you’d like.
If you have a blog, you can also ask users to sign up for your news feed and include an opt-in option for all email communications.
Without getting too technical, these forms will connect with your email marketing platform so that everyone’s contact info is automatically added to your email list. Refer to your platform's instructions on how to integrate the forms. (And if you don’t have an email marketing platform, consider your options, and then sign up for one.)
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Collect contact information at open houses and other events
Don’t limit collecting sign-ups to just your website. Always bring sign-up forms to open houses, industry events where you’re exhibiting and any events where you’ll have a table (like a community picnic you’re sponsoring).
Generally, offering an incentive like a special prize will encourage more people to leave their contact info. But we’ll let you be the judge of whether a bottle of wine, movie tickets or a free iPad (if only) will get the most sign-ups.
Keep in mind that when you add an incentive, though, you’re more likely to get sign-ups from people who don’t care about your company and just want the prize.
Set up social media and Google/Bing ads
This one will cost money, but it’ll also be the quickest way to get sign-ups.
Through social media and Google or Bing ads, you’ll be able to reach a larger segment of homebuyers than generally possible through organic searches and social media posts.
And luckily for you, you sell an end product that’s beautiful and aspirational — and something people love to get lost looking at. Designing a social media post centered around high-res photos of your best homes shouldn’t be too hard. Just remember, your ad should direct viewers to a landing page where they’ll be asked to sign up for your email communications.
Google ads aren’t visual in the same way, but they’re still highly effective, and again should be used to direct users to your email sign-up form.
Bonus: Use gated content to grow your leads list
Do you create guides for homebuyers or any other content that prospects would find worthwhile (note: nothing self-promotional in nature)?
Offer it as gated content — something they’ll need to exchange their contact info to receive.
Examples of good gated content:
- A checklist of what homebuyers should look for when touring a home.
- A tip sheet on the pros and cons of new vs. existing homes.
- A guide on how to navigate the homebuying process.
The point is that you’re providing useful information to potential customers that they’ll want to download. If someone downloads the content but they're not ready to purchase yet, you’ll still have their contact info to keep in touch.
TL;DR: Homegrown email lists are more likely to result in better leads, but it’s easy to get going.
So, start collecting today. We’ll let Convince and Convert have the last word.
