Is email dead? A fossil, a relic already? Maybe not six feet under, but it’s limping along. The cold, hard truth is fewer people are opening your emails, fewer still are reading them, and let’s not even talk about click-through rates. And if you’ve ever checked your spam folder, you’ll notice your emails are probably having a nice long vacation there. What went wrong?
For starters, we’re all on digital overload. Our inboxes are drowning in messages that scream for attention. And let’s be real, we’re not clicking through those emails. We’re deleting them, swiping left, or maybe marking them as spam. Sometimes, it's not even about how many you send—it’s the words you use. Some spam filters are so touchy that even an innocent phrase like "sale" can send your carefully crafted email to email purgatory.
So, if email is floundering, how do you get in front of people?
SMS marketing is a hot option right now—and unlike email, people actually open their texts. In fact, those little notification bubbles drive people nuts, and they read texts almost instantly, but the rules around that.... SUCK! And they’re not just guidelines like “use proper grammar” or “avoid annoying your audience.” The TCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act) is a legal framework governing how and when you can send texts, and in 2024, it’s stricter than ever.
You can't just bombard people with messages like you could spam their inboxes. You need explicit consent, and if you’re texting without permission, you’re in for some hefty fines. People must opt-in, and they must be able to opt out easily. It’s a delicate dance between getting your message across and not getting slapped with a lawsuit.
SMS marketing might seem like the wild west, but it’s actually more like a strict boarding school. So be careful, or you’ll find yourself paying more in fines than your SMS campaign was ever worth.
So is it fair to say we as an industry may be going back to "snail mail?" Yeah, you heard me—good old-fashioned paper in an envelope or a postcard to your farm area. Think about it, when was the last time you got something in your mailbox that wasn’t a bill, a random flyer, or a coupon booklet you immediately tossed? Exactly. Snail mail may seem outdated, but it stands out precisely because it’s so rare now.
People get so little actual mail that when something unique and personalized shows up, they’ll likely give it a second look—maybe even a third. It’s almost a novelty these days, like a throwback to a simpler time before inboxes and spam filters. You send something tangible, and there’s no digital filter to trap it. Of course, there are printing and mailing costs, but hey, it’s another arrow in your marketing quiver.
Time to get creative—or get ignored.
Need more tips for your real estate business? Let us know! We are here for you before you sell. Let's position you for more deals, more revenue and in the end a higher sales price when you are finally ready to sell.
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