A quick look at some of the mobile phone contracts that are on offer these days and you can see that most of them come with a package of ‘free’ texts.
There’s usually a set amount of ‘free’ call time minutes and possibly a download limit on data. I say ‘free’ because of course it’s not – it’s free with every £25-50 per month you commit to, depending on which phone and which contract you take.
I’m not here to moan about the industry definition of ‘free’ however (although it does bug me that some industries get away with this sort of terminology and others do not). In fairness, some retailers and one or two network providers now describe the call minutes, data download and text bundle as an ‘inclusive’ package rather than ‘free’, but not enough of them.
No, the purpose of highlighting this is to point out the obvious. Why do the networks/retailers offer these bundles?
Simply, because that’s indicative of how we use our phones and therefore what we as customers find attractive. We use them for calling, we use them for web browsing and we use them for text and email (as well checking the weather, playing games and a multitude of other services too numerous to mention here).
No doubt you will be using the call function of your customers’ phone as a primary communication medium. If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ll be well aware that I’m an advocate of taking advantage of your customers’ tendency to use smartphones for web browsing too (and the manner in which they browse). Are you taking full advantage of the text facility as a communication medium, though?
Going back to the ‘free’ text allowances in these contract offers and you’ll see that they typically offer around 500 texts per month. That’s between 16 and 17 texts per day. It’s fair to say we like to text. We’re all happy to receive a text too. I receive texts from many businesses. Some are welcome, some I act upon and some I do little or nothing with – none of them offend me or are intrusive, however.
Pizza delivery companies seem to have this off to a fine art (Pappa Jon’s and Domino’s send me a weekly offer and my son and I do quite well out of them!), as do the likes of Halfords (who send me a text a month before my MOT is due), Kwik Fit (who seem to know when I need a service), Barratt Homes and Taylor Wimpey.
The only texts that I find intrusive when I think about it are the ambulance chasers and the PPI claims companies. Why? Because I haven’t given them my number – they’ve bought it via a list. And there lies the key differentiator.
If a property hunter has at some point given you their contact details, it is not unreasonable for you to drop them a text every now and again to let them know of properties they may be interested in. If they’re no longer interested they will simply tell you by replying the word ‘stop’. They are unlikely to be offended.
The stats back this up too. Immediately you overcome some of the issues you have with emailing where many of your marketing emails are filtered out by spam filters. Most (95%) of the people who receive a marketing text message are reported to read it within 15 minutes. Look beyond the 15-minute point and 98% of all text messages are read.
The price of SMS text marketing is around 4-6p per SMS unit, which makes it extremely cost effective – certainly by comparison to direct mail. It’s more expensive than email but it generates better results in terms of response rates.
To get the most out of text marketing there are some easy tips to maximise your response rate.
1. Have a segregated customer database so that you’re only sending details of relevant properties to customers. If I’m looking for a two-bedroom flat I don’t want details of a five-bedroom house in the country.
2. Have a link in your text messages to mobile optimised content (such as your mobile website). This gives customers the chance to choose to see more information if they’re interested.
3. Use an SMS service that will manage your ‘stop’ (unsubscribes) for you.
4. Use a service that lets you see who has opened your message and who has opened the link to your mobile website. That gives you the ability to follow up genuine interest rather than waiting for them to contact you.
With points 3 and 4 there are a couple of options available to your business. You can use a specialist provider (your mobile website developer should have a solution here), or some of the data feed providers offer such a service.
At Intelligent Mobile we send around 250,000 texts each month on behalf of our property sector clients. As a general rule around 5% of those texts provoke some sort of positive response – typically the recipient opening up the link to the mobile website to view the property on your mobile website.
If you’ve read my previous blogs you’ll know that once a customer is browsing on a mobile site they are more likely to commit to an action (email for a viewing, call to speak to someone) because the functionality is there in their hand instantly. Text marketing puts the information in their hand rather than waiting for them to find it.
* Ian Laverty is director at Intelligent Mobile Ltd
Comments
Agents can increase the odds of gaining more instructions by through technology offering wider exposure to more buyers via subbing a clients property out.
Agents can unbalance the odds in their favour - it doesn't have to be a level playing field.
At INEA we are using technology to pool agents listings cross software platforms (known as MLS/multi-listing service). Agents who use this platform can increase fees for greater property exposure. Its the upsell that pays any sub agent intro. Why have 30 listings at 1% when collaborating could bring in access to another 100+ local listings.
By collaborating agents can also work with agents who use different portals to gain leads and thus increase online exposure, yet reduce online costs.
So I agree that smartphone, You Tube, FB and many other social media platforms are very important. But equally is the content to put in them. MLS and idx (information data exchange) fill this important void.
tmealham@aol.com
INEAmls idx
The Independent Network of Estate Agents