If you’re trying to get more leads for your real estate tech business, you know that it’s important to write effective emails.
Your prospects are, like you, very busy, so the quicker they can see what it is you’re offering and how it can benefit them, the faster they can click through (or hit delete) and get on with their day.
In fact, if you think about how you deal with your own jam-packed email, you’ll realize that your prospect is looking for any excuse to hit delete, so don’t make a poorly written subject line their justification for sending your email to the digital graveyard!
Fortunately, data minded individuals have collected a lot of information about what it takes to get someone to open an email – information that you can put to use for your own lead generation efforts.:
Well, not literally, of course!
You want your prospect to be so intrigued by your subject line that they have to open your email to find out what you’re sending them.
In fact, an effective email subject line is more important than ever:
- Researchers found that if a subject line doesn’t impress them, 69% of email recipients will mark the email as spam. Ouch! (Invesp 2021)
- If you’re able to capture their interest, however, 33% of them will open your email. (OptinMonster 2020)
- In another study, researchers found that 64% of people choose whether to open an email based on the subject line. (Barilliance, 2021)
- Yet another study found that the subject line could influence 33.90% of recipients to open an email. (SuperOffice, 2021)
Obviously, if you want a sizeable portion of your emails open (at the least), you want to get your email subject line right!
Here are some ways you can put this to work for you.
- Ask a question that makes your prospect think, and that will prompt a reply
- Share an unusual or surprising statistic
- Share something that reminds them of a problem they have (that your product or service can solve)
In short, your subject line (and of course, your email) has to speak to what is important to your prospect.
For example, real estate agents often struggle with business tasks, such as keeping track of receipts. If you can solve that problem, they will be interested in knowing more.
Help your reader decide whether or not to open your email by making it clear.
Business people don’t have time for clever subject lines that confuse them. A direct, straightforward subject line works best.
The business buyer is especially busy, and they have little time for cleverness. Before they open the email, they need to know what it is about.
Otherwise, they’ll hit delete and move on.
Give your email recipient something that they can use right away.
It doesn’t have to be a PDF download (although that is something you should do at some point). Share this fact right in the subject line, so they’ll open the email to discover what you’ve given them.
Don’t make this complicated.
It can be something as simple as information about a new feature, commonly asked questions or a brief tutorial on using your software.
If they find it useful, they will share what you’ve provided with their network, and may even feel obliged to sign up for your newsletter, visit your website, or whatever you’ve asked them to do, just because you’ve shared something beneficial to them.
There’s a reason numbered lists work so well – there’s power in numbers.
In fact, when you use facts and figures to convey information, it can increase your email’s opening rate.
Why?
Because in a sea of letters, numbers stand out. They communicate the benefit of opening an email that could deliver real value.
Keep in mind it’s important to be specific when using numbers. Generalizations can kill your credibility, whereas hard numbers can resonate with people who are interested in what your email could do for them.
Your reader will also know that you’re going to provide them with a set amount of information, and they’ll know that you’ll have shared the information in a format that’s easy to skim.
Note: If you use a case study or white paper (hint: you should) use the metric(s) that showcase the benefits customers got from using your product or service.
Yesware analyzed 115 million emails to learn more about what moves people to open and interact with them. Their data suggests that open and reply rates are impacted by subject lines that include a number!
Source: Yesware
Don’t make it complicated. A good subject line should convey a single idea. A common mistake I see is people trying to cram too much into their subject line.
For example, they’ll say “get a 30 day unlimited trial of our software PLUS, a case study of our most recent features and call our rep to place your order today”.
Yikes!
They think that stuffing a headline with a lot of benefits will get a click, but doing this only muddies up the water.
Consequently, when a businessperson is deciding which of the 50 unread emails to open next, they’ll skip over a subject line that’s unclear and uncompelling.
Bottom line, stay focused on ONE key benefit in your email subject line without sacrificing its twin; CLARITY.