When I established Worthington Realty about 1.5 years ago, I wanted to always be experimenting with what I could do to convert leads to closed sales. So I set out to have the best email drip campaigns as well as the best snail mail campaigns. I have had much more success from a snail mail campaign than I have had from an email drip campaign. I often question myself…what I am doing right and what I am doing wrong!?!
The snail mail has a thick stock cotton style envelope. Inside is a high definition business card, high definition tri-fold resume & a typed letter about me on one side & how I can help on the other side. I feel the presentation even though I’m not in person and doing this by snail mail is so powerful that customers call; about 2 out of 100 mailers to be exact. Generally speaking, I usually list and sell the property. I ask myself the question, what if I implemented a follow up snail mail campaign after the initial mailing? I will report back with my results in a future post. Can I close more snail mail sales as opposed to just one mailer, why not 3 or 4 snail mailers, especially on quality listings?
The email drips seem to have less response than a snail mail campaign. Surely I have closed leads off of my website and then referred from those sales. BUT, my conversion rate is far less than 2% like the snail mail.
My take is simply this. Email drips do work, but are easily forgettable to consumers. Snail mails are more expensive but since the consumers are physically touching quality materials, they are not easily forgettable as apposed to emails. Your thoughts? So much for my quest to go paperless…
Thomas Johnson says:
Robert: Thank you for this. BHB is a great forum for those of us who are trying to improve our praxis.
Tracking your old school snail mail effort vs your email camapigns totally rocks.
This is the most valuable post at BHB today: Hardcore skill set improvement is why BloodhoundBlog.com is indispensable.
December 20, 2009 — 3:22 pm
Robert Worthington says:
Hey Thomas, thanks for the kind comment. Since I am an independent Broker it’s always nice to hear what others have to say and try new ideas. Brad Inman might think differently about being indispensable. 🙂
December 20, 2009 — 4:04 pm
Thomas Johnson says:
Brad Inman keeps the proprietor of this establishment entertained.
December 20, 2009 — 5:40 pm
Greg Swann says:
> Brad Inman keeps the proprietor of this establishment entertained.
You, sir, are a treasure to me every day!
December 20, 2009 — 6:45 pm
Ashlee says:
I have seen that snail mail gets more response also but it seems like drip mails are the new snail mails!
December 20, 2009 — 7:29 pm
Russell Shaw says:
The comments for this thread have me laughing out loud. Still.
December 20, 2009 — 11:59 pm
Brad Officer says:
I’ve had good success with snail mail that points recipients to my website. The key has been niche recipients and niche website content.
December 22, 2009 — 6:28 am
Sean Purcell says:
Robert, am I understanding you correctly? You’re saying that you generate two listings from ONE, hundred count mailing? Your conversion is 2% on a single mailing? That’s a Return On Investment approaching 10,000%. What the heck is in those letters!?!?
December 22, 2009 — 2:03 pm
Teri Lussier says:
What Sean said.
December 23, 2009 — 7:02 am
Robert Worthington says:
Yes Sean, for everyone ONE HUNDRED letters I send I am getting 2-3 phone calls. Sometimes I only get one listing, sometimes I get all 3. My market is small, so the average home value is $115k. Plus I only get about 60-70 expired properties per month. I would be happy to post my two-sided letter that I send out on BHB. I can say, the last batch of letters I sent out was about 40 letters at once, because it was the end of the month and lots of expired. I received one phone call of the 40 letters. I listed it and closed it in under 60 days. My commission was $6k after I paid the co-broke. My initial mailing is costing me about $1.50. Expired’s are getting to be a fun topic…it’s all in the name of making money for my family!
December 23, 2009 — 7:03 am