Reach Unresponsive Leads With Text Messages

Text messages, while seemingly less personal than a phone call or in-person meeting, can be extremely effective. According to a marketing report by Dynmark, 98 percent of text messages are opened and 90 percent of those are read within three seconds. If you want to reach an unresponsive lead, a text message may be the way to go.

How to Write Your Message

When you’re ready to start texting, follow a few rules to increase your chances of success.

• Ask questions to increase your chance of a response.
• Keep the message personal. Use their name and make the message specific to their situation – buyer, seller, etc.
• Target your lead appropriately. Make sure you know how they last interacted with you or your website. This will help personalize your message.
• Sign your text messages so your lead knows who’s contacting them.
• Keep your language casual. You can even include emojis where appropriate.

Text Messages You Can Send

Now that you have an idea of how to put together your text message, it’s time to consider what kinds of messages you should send. The same lead could receive multiple messages from you – as long as you don’t send too many in a short amount of time. Make yourself a list of the types of messages you want to send. Here are a few ideas:

1. Offer valuable information. You might send a market report, a good blog post about financing or closing information for buyers, or a link to pricing, staging, and other information for sellers.
2. Send listings for new searches. When someone registers on your website to search for listings, send them a text message with either an offer to send the results or the results themselves.
3. Provide “good deals.” These can be anything from recent price reductions to foreclosures. Make sure you send properties they’re looking for. A price drop on a home that doesn’t fit their criteria is a waste.
4. Follow up with them on their recent activity. If they searched for properties or received an email with listings, ask if they’d like to view any of them. If they downloaded reports you offer, ask if they need more information.
5. Send open house information. Don’t send one message for every open house you want them to know about. Make sure you send a link that shows multiple open houses or target a specific home you know they’re interested in.
6. Check in with your leads. This can be as simple as a “Sorry we haven’t connected recently. Do you still need help buying/selling/leasing?” As long as it’s personalized and reads like a human wrote it, you may be surprised at the response you get.

Not everyone wants a text message from you. If you’re asked to remove their information or contact them in a different way, make sure to do what they ask. But if you’ve got a lead’s cell phone number and permission to contact them, text messages can be a great way to turn an unresponsive lead into a hot prospect.