Condo Hotel Center

Challenge

For nearly 10 years, Condo Hotel Center had been sending out a bi-weekly newsletter, which it called a Property Alert. Each edition would promote a single property, offering a detailed description and multiple photos.

At the end of each Property Alert was a free offer to request a Data Sheet, which would provide additional details about the property being promoted, everything from pricing and square footage to expected taxes and maintenance costs. The Data Sheet was emailed to the prospect instantly along with a friendly cover letter from the salesperson handling that property.

The company had a mailing list of approximately 20,000 prospects who’d opted in over the past few years. Each time it sent out a Property Alert, approximately 20-50 people would request the Data Sheet, revealing that they had more than a passing interest in the property being offered. The challenge was to then get those people to agree to a phone call with a sales person for more information or to arrange an appointment to see the property in person.

The company was disappointed at how many people contacted them after receiving the Data Sheet. It wanted to boost conversions, as even a slight increase could mean the difference between a sale and no sale. With most properties costing upwards of $300,000 and paying 4%-6% commission, every sale represented a substantial potential reward.

Solution

Condo Hotel Center contracted real estate copywriter Susan Greene to write a follow-up letter that could be sent to prospects 24 hours after the Data Sheet had been mailed. The company did not want to appear as though it was pestering or pressuring the buyer. They simply wanted to politely remind the customer that even more information was available as well as the opportunity to tour the property.

They also wanted to plant the seed that if this particular property wasn’t right for them, Condo Hotel Center would be glad to help them find one that was a good fit.

Susan crafted the following email to be used by the company’s sales representatives.

Hello ____________,

It’s  Corey from Condo Hotel Center.

I’m reaching out to confirm that you received the Data Sheet I sent you yesterday regarding __________Condominiums. I hope you found it informative.

If you have any further questions or if you’d like to arrange a visit to the property, just let me know.

If you found that this property was not exactly what you were looking for, then please accept my invitation to reply  back with your specific needs, so that I may offer you other possibilities.

I have information on all local properties currently on the market as well as many others that are soon to be released. It’d be my pleasure to show you what’s available.

I hope to hear from you. Thanks, and have a nice day.

Sincerely,

Corey

Result

That simple email was extremely effective in starting a dialog with a customer. Condo Hotel Center immediately saw an uptick in responses to its Property Alerts/Data Sheets. While it’s difficult to quantify how many responses resulted in sales, the company was pleased with the increased engagement of its prospects and plans to create similar follow-up emails for its other marketing campaigns.

Here's what the client said about the copy: