Do you want to make your email marketing more effective?

Of course, you do. But how do you do it?

I’ve put together this simple three-step checklist to help you get your emails opened.

number 3 letterbox image via shutterstock

Step #1

Do you know the most important thing in getting people to open your emails?

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It’s not some fancy-schmancy subject line.

It’s “Who” the email is FROM.

Take a look at your email provider. Where does the “From” show up?

What I know, is that with Gmail and Yahoo mail (2 of the most popular email providers), the “From” is on the far left. This makes it the first thing the email reader sees because we read left to right.

Many people are looking at emails on their mobile devices or tablets. In fact, Nielsen Research states that 41.6% of mobile Internet time is spent on email.

On the iPhone and iPad, the “From” is on the top, in BOLD — making it absolutely stand out above everything else. Take a look for yourself.

Action: Make sure the reader knows the email is from you. Did they sign up on a website? Are they expecting emails from a “Company” or a “Team Name” or a “brand”?

Make sure they know who is sending the email and be consistent.

Step #2

Gotta get the subject line right. That’s obvious right?

Run your subject line thru this quick “The 4-U’s” formula, from copywriters Bob Bly and Michael Masterson:

• Is it Urgent?

• Is it Unique?

• Is it Ultra-specific?

• Is it Useful?

By the way, it can’t just be one of these. It should be at least 2, if not 3, out of the 4 U’s.

Let’s put the headline of this post through “The 4-U’s” formula.

The headline is “Here Is Your Three Step Email Marketing Checklist — Get Your Emails Opened”.

• Is it urgent? Not really. Maybe if you are having a super-frustrating time getting your emails opened, it might feel urgent to you.

• Is it unique? Kinda. How many subject lines do you see giving you a 3-step checklist for email marketing that gets your emails opened?

• Is it ultra-specific? Yup. 3 Steps. Emails. Checklist. Opened. Those all scream specific.

• Is it Useful? You bet. This will help you.

Action: Spend more time on your subject lines and use the “4 U’s Formula”.

Stop using “Your June Market Update” or “Your Real Estate Monthly Report”.

Step #3

Your first sentence needs to be compelling.

The first sentence is so important for 2 main reasons.

#1 You know how important the “From” is. You know you need a great subject line.

The job of the subject line is to get the email reader to read the first sentence. The job of the first sentence is to get people to continue reading.

You are fighting for the email reader’s attention. Don’t get lazy after coming up with a great subject line.

#2 With certain email providers like Gmail, or mobile devices like the iPhone and iPad, the first sentence of the email body actually shows up!

Even if the Reader is comfortable with who the email is “from” and the subject line catches their eye, the first sentence needs to be compelling enough to get them to open the email and continue to read.

Action: Invest some time creating a compelling first sentence that grabs your reader by the throat and makes them NEED to read your entire message.

Rarely have foreclosed homes impacted the real estate market as they do currently. Unless you’ve been on another planet over the past decade, the real estate market hit an astoundingly high-ceiling ‘market value’ in the mid-2000’s. This remarkable condition, where buyers could get mortgages without having to provide sufficient documentation that they could actually afford the home, contributed to the onslaught of foreclosures and short sales we have today.

Without entering a discussion as to how this could happen, people in the market for a home today have a great opportunity because of the abundance of foreclosures and reduced prices. But before embarking on the path to purchase a foreclosed home, consider the following:

1. Do your homework. Real estate websites often list foreclosed homes for sale. Trulia and Zillow are two familiar ones, but there are others. While areas like Sacramento, CA, Las Vegas, NV, Miami, and Atlanta are often cited as being hit the hardest with foreclosures, other areas have been affected as well. If your plans don’t include moving to one of these regions where foreclosures are plentiful, search for foreclosures in places you plan to live. There are some in many neighborhoods in most every state.
2. Buyer beware. If you decide to pursue a foreclosure through an auction company, make certain you get a home inspection before submitting a bid. Most sales are final, and it’s too late to discover the plumbing needs an overhaul, or the septic system is not working, after the fact. Even if you don’t go the auction route, a home inspection is highly recommended.
3. Get an appraisal. Most home buyers need some kind of financing help, unless they are fortunate enough to have cash. Lenders require an appraisal on a home they expect to finance. Cash buyers are not hampered by such a requirement. Sometimes auction companies have had an appraisal done before the auction, so be sure to ask. They don’t have to tell you what it is, but ask anyway. Having an appraisal is worth the few hundred dollars if you want validation as to what the home’s value is. You can also check the tax record to see its assessed value, although these values are for tax purposes and have been at odds with current market conditions.
4. Consult a real estate agent. While websites may feature foreclosed homes for sale, real estate agents pay a fee to subscribe to a multiple listing service, providing a more comprehensive view of the market. They can quickly identify foreclosed homes in your areas of interest and help you with your research. If you find a property you would like to pursue, they can do a comparison of similar properties (CMA) to show you what properties have recently sold for. This provides an overview of what a ‘reasonable’ offer price might be. And the service is free, since agents are paid a commission by the seller, not the buyer in most cases.
5. Bottom line. Lenders are in the business of making money, or at least losing the least amount of investment as possible. As a result, lenders have already ‘done the math’ as to the price they want as their ‘bottom line.’ While that doesn’t mean you should offer the ‘list price,’ it may give you some idea as to the price the lender is willing to consider. Again, a real estate agent is a valuable resource for helping you determine a ‘reasonable’ offer. Lenders rarely want to enter into ‘negotiating’ a price, which is often expected as part of the home buying process between buyers and sellers.

Credit rating agency Moody’s warns that residential property prices in Ireland could plummet by a further 20% from today’s levels before the market finally bottoms out.

If accurate, this would bring the aggregate peak-to-trough fall to 60%, potentially leaving Ireland’s rate of mortgage arrears as high as 13.99%.

“The steep decline in house prices since 2007 has placed the majority of borrowers deep into negative equity,” the agency explained.

The Irish property market’s prospect for recovery has not been helped by Moody’s decision to lower its growth estimate for the Irish economy in 2012 to just +0.2%.

“In this weak economic recovery, it will be difficult for distressed borrowers to significantly increase their debt servicing capabilities and so arrears are likely to continue increasing,” it said.

The collapse in Irish property values is attracting a growing number of potential purchasers, with residential property viewing figures up 400% in Q1 2012 compared to the final quarter of 2011, according to Savills.

The property consultant says that its latest viewing data suggests that homebuyers are returning to the Irish property market, particularly in the greater Dublin area, where the number of homes for sale is at its lowest level for five years

Millionaires around the world cried out when Larry Ellison purchased the island of Lanai.

The Oracle co-founder, whose personal wealth totals $36 billion, spent an estimated $500 million on the Hawaiian island this week. 98 per cent of the “pineapple island”, which spans 141 square miles, now belongs to Ellison.

“The Nation’s Most Avid Trophy-Home Buyer” (the Wall Street Journal) officially owns 88,000 acres of land, two golf courses, several houses and commercial properties and 3,200 residents to go with his other million-dollar US estates, fighter jet and yacht racing team.

Lanai has belonged to fellow billionaire David Murdock since 1985, but after years of reportedly losing millions of dollars each year on the island, he put it up for sale this year, prompting a million-dollar dash from the world’s richest tycoons. The race ended on Wednesday, the island governor officially announced, when Larry Ellison beat Bill Gates to buy the place.

What can the Microsoft founder do now? TheMoveChannel.com sent its scouts across the globe to round up the best private islands on the market.

Here are 6 islands in search of a millionaire:

 

Young Island, St. Vincent

Cost: $10 million

 “Johnny Depp retreated here while filming Pirates of the Caribbean,” claims Young Island’s listing. “Instead of renting a cottage on this private island, why not buy the entire island?” The 35-acre island’s 29 cottages, lush foliage (ranging from ginger to hibiscus) and copious mango trees are a short boat ride away from St. Vincent on the island’s 24-hour scenic ferry. Most importantly for ambitious investors, there are no restrictions regarding the future use of the island.

All that for $10,000,000? Bill Gates may be putting on his pirate costume this very minute.

 

James Island, Canada

Cost: $75 million

Photo credit Sotheby’s / SFGate.com

Craig McCaw is a wireless magnate from Seattle who distinguishes himself from his fellow residents in two ways: 1. He is ranked number 804 on Forbes Billionaire’s List. 2. He owns the second-largest privately-owned Gulf Island in British Colombia.

Located on the west coast of Canada, James Island has six cottages, a manager’s residence, an airstrip and an 18-hole golf course. But all that comes at a high price: 75 million dollars, to be exact. Not Canadian.

  

Celine Dion’s House, Canada

Cost: $29.3m

Photo credit: Sotheby’s Canada

A singer with her own private island home? Celine Dion’s 24,000 square feet property is one Titanic piece of real estate. Located 15 minutes from Montreal is styled after a French Normandy castle and can only be accessed by a gated bridge. If home is where the heart is, Celina’s heart will go on and on and on…

 

Isla de Coco, Pear Archipelago

Cost: $695k

One for the budget billionaires out there, Isla de Coco is one of the cheaper islands on the market at the moment. Located in the middle of the Pearl Archipelago, the 24.8 acre beauty is rumoured to contain the buried Treasure of Lima. Only 10 minutes from the Isla Del Rey airport with beaches, caves and tropical views, Isla de Coco offers wealthy buyers more than just a sweet name.

 

House Island, Portland

Cost: $4.85m

Photo credit: Steve Rubicam / PressHerald.com

House Island is perfectly named for a billionaire in search of a new private abode. The 24-acre island, which contains five beaches, two piers and three cottages has been owned by the Cushing family since 1954, reports the Portland Press Herald. Known as the “Ellis Island of the North” after its use as a quarantine station for immigrants in the early 1900s, House Island is a no-brainer for investors. On the down side, it costs $4.85 million. On the plus side, it has its own 19^th century fort.

Can’t afford your own private island?

Browse our listings of houses, apartments and other overseas property:

http://www.themovechannel.com/property/all

Asian buyers are spending billions to scoop up luxury properties across the U.S., including some of New York City’s priciest addresses.

As the Journal reported Friday, 15 apartments going for roughly $1 million each at 515 E. 72nd St. have been purchased by Asian buyers in the past six months. That’s just a small part of the $9 billion buyers from China and Hong Kong spent on U.S. real estate in the 12 months ending in March, according to data released earlier this month by the National Association of Realtors.

Several full-floor apartments at the new One57 high rise in Manhattan — with price tags of about $50 million — have gone into contract with buyers from China. The building’s owners are going out of their way to appeal to an Asian audience:

[T]he building put many of its most luxurious full-floor apartments on the 80th through 88th floors—a clever way to appeal to the Chinese belief that eight is the luckiest number. Apartment 88 is under contract to a Chinese buyer for around $50 million.

The phenomenon of deep-pocketed overseas buyers, while not new in Manhattan, has reached a fever pitch in recent years. As the Journal noted earlier this month, foreign buyers snapped up five of the 12 Manhattan homes that have sold for more than $35 million since 2010.

Brokers say wealthy home buyers in America and abroad are viewing New York luxury properties as a “haven for wealth” during rocky economic times. Read more and see a slideshow of some of the biggest purchases.

In each Economic Update, the Research staff analyzes recently released economic indicators and addresses what these indicators mean for REALTORS® and their clients. Today’s update discusses jobless claims and inflation. The two pieces of data released today affect the real estate market in both positive and negative ways. The weak job market continues to hold back income growth, while the lower inflation rate brings relief to consumers.

Insurance Claims for Unemployment Insurance Increase to 386,000

• The job market continues to disappoint. Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose to 386,000, up from the previous week’s claims of 380,000, which was also revised upward.
• The total number of continuing claims or the insured unemployed now stands at 3.278 million.
• If the weekly figures rise above 400,000, then it would suggest no net job creation and possibly net job losses. The data so far still suggest moderate growth leading to 1.5 million net new jobs this year. With jobless claims rising, the current unemployment rate of 8.2 percent is likely to remain unchanged or to increase.

Inflation Falls in May to 1.7 percent

• The good news is that consumers are getting a reprieve from a slower pace of price increase. The annual inflation rate decelerated to 1.7 percent from 2.3 percent in April. On a month-on-month basis, consumer prices are lower in May 2012 compared to April 2012.
• The decline in inflation was on account of lower energy prices. Taking out prices of food and energy, which are volatile items, the core inflation rate held steady at 2.3 percent. Core inflation has held up due to the increase in prices for medical care, apparel, and used cars and trucks. The cost of shelter services (e.g, rent) has continued to climb steadily at about 0.2 percent every month.
• If inflation continues to rise modestly and within the Fed’s target of about 2 percent, interest rates may hold steady for a while, which should continue to benefit homeowners.

Agents must take advantage of resources available to them

Letter to the Editor

By Inman News, Thursday, May 24, 2012.

Inman News®

Re: Are big brokers delivering on tech, training promises? (May 17)

Dear Editor:

I am an associate broker with a Keller Williams-affiliated broker in Fishers, Ind., a suburb northeast of Indianapolis. I recently read your article on big brokers delivering tech and training.

I will have to disagree with you, as Keller Williams is very progressive. First and foremost on training, and making that available to agents in and outside of our brokerage, and also (in providing) access to the latest and greatest technology that our industry offers.

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In fact, to touch on the topic you brought up in your article, our office is pushing to be “paperless” by the end of this May through our online document management system DotLoop.com, which Keller Williams has a national contract with. I use this system exclusively with my in- and out-of-town clients, and am very pleased with the efficiency of this program.

Keller Williams puts on regional training seminars for our agents and opens it up to other brokerages as well to receive training on these programs. However, none of this training is mandatory, so it’s up to the individual agent to take advantage and utilize the resources available to them.

Nate Gustus
Associate Broker
Keller Williams Indy Metro Northeast
Fishers, Ind.

                                         

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