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5 Ways Real Estate Agents Can Convert Leads with Texting

We’re living in an age where people are “busier” than ever. Whether or not we actually have more on our to-do lists than in the past, one thing is true: the best way to get in touch with someone is via text message.

Texting has quickly become a real estate agent’s best friend, for more reasons than one: it’s quick, easy and is perfect for quick conversations, making it a go-to follow-up tool.

Not convinced? Just take a look at these numbers:

  • Text messages have a 209% higher response rate than phone, email, or Facebook - Tech Jury
  • SMS messages have a 98% open rate - Finance Online
  • 90% of SMS messages are read within 3 minutes of being received - Finance Online
  • 59% of people say that a promotional SMS has led them to visit a store or go online to check out a brand. -Message Media
  • 64% of consumers think businesses should contact them via text messages more often. - Text Better
  • SMS boasts a click-through rate of 36%, while email has 3.4% - Finance Online

In short, including texting in your overall lead follow-up strategy is essential for real estate agents who want to increase conversions. But in order for your texting to be effective, it’s important to make sure that you are implementing the right techniques. 

Read on for 5 simple steps to a fool proof texting strategy 😎

Follow up Immediately

In today’s fast-paced environment, your leads are ready to engage when they’re on your website or interacting with one of your ads. If you wait too long to respond, they’ve most likely already moved on to their next errand or meeting.

According to a study by Hubspot, companies who reached out to leads within an hour were nearly seven times more likely to have meaningful conversations than those who waited even 60 minutes.

A similar report by the California Association or Realtors on response time found that over 94% of consumers expect an answer in 1 hour or less, however, only about 36% of real estate agents actually respond within 1 hour.

This is a major opportunity for real estate agents to gain a competitive advantage. Agents with a system that helps them respond to their leads in under an hour will be outperforming 64% of their competitors.

One of the best ways to ensure that you always respond to your new leads immediately is by using a platform like PropertySimple that immediately sends your lead a follow-up text message on your behalf. If you don't have a system in place to do this for you, it’s important to make sure you are monitoring your new leads and following up via phone call and text message as soon as you can.

a lead's response to PropertySimple's automated text message in a real estate agent's CRM

Keep it Concise

It’s tempting to want to send your lead a long, detailed message. However, the best SMS etiquette is to keep it short and sweet. Try to keep the majority of your texts around 2-3 sentences. Remember, texting is best for quick check-ins, reminders, and scheduling calls or a time to meet up. You’ll have time for a longer conversation later!

Use Short Links

No one wants to receive a long link that takes up a whole paragraph. Sending long urls both looks unprofessional and simply detracts from your message. Luckily it’s quick and easy to create short links. You can use a free service like bitly to copy and paste your link and create a shorter version in a few seconds.

Pro tip: when creating your short link, you can customize the text after the slash. Just type in the text you’d like to make your link more recognizable and improve your conversions! For example http://bit.ly/flathead-valley-homes is much more intuitive than https://bit.ly/3iRZ39t.

Include your Name

Most of your leads won’t have your number saved, so make sure you let them know who you are! It’s good practice to either start or end your text with your name and where you’re from.

Keep a Record of your Texts

One of the most important parts of a successful follow-up strategy is tracking your progress. While some leads will be ready to buy or sell immediately, the truth is that the majority of leads need to be nurtured for months, or even a year before they’re going to convert. 

Agents who understand this will have a solid plan for nurturing their leads, sending them valuable content and check-ins monthly or even weekly so that their leads know that they’re still there and willing to help.

Pro Tip: Use our texting scripts to nurture and convert your leads!

It's essential to make sure you are tracking and storing the all of the conversations and details that you have about your leads. Using a CRM like PropertySimple ensures that you have all of your text messages, lead details, phone calls, and notes at your fingertips when your lead is ready to buy or sell.

an overview of a real esate agent's view in the CRM of all their interactions with a lead

So there you have it! Following these 5 easy will have you well on your way to increasing your conversions with SMS.  button to get started for free with PropertySimple

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