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Who else uses Express Commission?

In September 2010 Express Commission provides commission advance s to leading residential, commercial, and industrial real estate agencies and business brokers across Australia.

Our clients are based in every state of Australia and include both independent agencies and members of Australia’s most successful real estate groups including:

• Barry Plant
• Biggin & Scott
• Brock Harcourts
• Century 21 
• Coldwell Banker
• First National
• Harcourts
• Elders    
• Hocking Stuart
• irean independent agency network
• LJ Hooker
• Laing & Simmons
• Professionals
• Pro-Active Real Estate
• PRD Nationwide
• Raine & Horne
• Ray White
• Realway
• Re/ MAX
• Richardson & Wrench
• Stockdale & Leggo

Selected article shown below. See all articles for this issue.

Effective Email.

9 Methods to Increase Profits Using Effective Email Marketing Strategies.

Take a serious look at your business' e-mail inbox. You do not delete any messages for a week and then go back and see what is in there. Count how many of them are prospective leads, client communications, appointments, solicitations for business, jokes and junk.

Depending on how much you rely on e-mail for your business, you could be receiving anywhere from 50 to 500 e-mails each day. I am willing to bet, more than 80 percent of those e-mail fall into the junk category. And chances are, you will continue to receive those e-mail messages until you change your e-mail address or die.

This is because of the following circumstances. One: the sender has knowledge of e-mail but does not understand how to correctly send e-mail. Just because someone has the ability to buy a car, unless they have a license, it does not give them permission to drive. Two: the sender has bought a list or ripped your name from a Web site, and is now marketing to you for your hard earned dollars. Although this can be effective in reaching a large audience, it can be frustrating and uncomfortable to receive a marketing piece from someone you do not know.

If you have a product or service you are trying to sell through e-mail, there are some highly effective methods to increase the success rate of your marketing and contribute to your bottom line. After all, the average cost to send out one e-mail is $0.02 and the cost to send out a full color, laminated both sides including postage is $0.45. E-mail can be tracked from the time it is sent, according to released, bounced, opened, clicks, subscribes, forwards and links chosen from the e-mail. Postcards sent you sit at your desk and pray for the telephone to ring.

Below are eight proven methods you can quickly use in your business to increase profits using effective e-mail marketing strategies:

1. Ask for e-mail addresses. Some people will be hesitant to give out their phone number, because they know they will receive a solicitation call later.

2. Put your e-mail on your business card. People will want to e-mail you, so make yourself accessible.

3. Ask for permission to e-mail. We know who the spammers are, because they keep sending us e-mails we did not ask for or we do not know them. If we ask for permission, we will have a higher success rate of opens, clicks and forwards.

4. Create multiple e-mail signatures. This should not be overlooked. We may want to have one e-mail signature for every new e-mail sent out or another e-mail signature for every reply or forward. This can be done easily with your e-mail software on your computer.

5. Become a hyperlink junkie. Every chance you get, post a hyperlink from the e-mail message to your Web site, or a separate page on your Web site. This gives people options on the topics they may want information about. So, be sure to include as many hyperlinks as you can.

6. Learn how to create e-mails in plain text and HTML. Some e-mail servers or e-mail software programs may recognize HTML e-mail messages as spam because they contain too many hyperlinks or too many pictures. The way around this is to send the message as plain text. Your e-mail software should give you this ability, but it may take some practice to get it right.

7. Master auto-responders. An auto-responder is an e-mail message that provides static content on a predetermined schedule. If you sneeze, an auto-responder would say, "God bless you." That is an auto-responder. A series of auto-responders can be attached to a category of people to stay in touch more often and those e-mails can also be individual and personalized.

8. Create and track surveys. Consumer satisfaction is dependent on surveys. Researching to find out what people want can be measured through surveys. E-mail marketing software, such as, www.icontact.com, will help you send surveys to track your level of service.

9. Use video. Plain-Jane e-mails just don't cut it anymore. Pictures are great; video is better. Learn how to capture video using a Web cam or a digital camera, and then learn how to post them to an e-mail or your Web site. If you use www.YouTube.com to upload videos, then you can forward your video link through e-mail.

E-mail is filling your inbox everyday of junk and jewelry. Jewelry are the gems of useful information benefiting your consumers. As real estate professionals, we are competing for real estate even in peoples' inboxes. The more value you can add to your e-mails will result in more opened messages, clicks to your Web site, appointments set, forms filled, and dollars in your pocket.

 
About the Author: Doug Devitre e-PRO, ABR, GRI, PMN, CRS, Doug Devitre Speaker Series, www.RETechTraining.com

Do you have any feedback on this article or ideas for a topic that you would like us to cover in future editions?

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