Effective email campaigns: what do they look like?

At last month’s breakfast seminar, we hosted the first Ungapped Sessions; a series that gives away a free campaign to one lucky guest. In December the lucky winner was Svenska Mäklarhuset (SMH), one of Sweden’s leading real estate agencies. Since the seminar, we’ve received a lot of thanks and appreciation for running a seminar that tackles what effective email campaigns should look like. So why not share it with everyone?

So, in this post we have brought together all the material we designed for SMH, highlighting CTAs and critical elements in each campaign phase. Follow along yourself, reading first some background info on SMH and then through each of the four campaign phases we created.

Background on SMH

The foundation of effective email campaigns first comes from proper identification of a problem and then aiming to solve that problem through a goal. Without these two things, a campaign cannot be effective. The same applied to SMH while we developed this campaign.

Svenska Mäklarhuset

• Leading real estate agency in Stockholm and Uppsala
• 26 offices in the region
• Approximately 3,500 sales per year

SMH gave us three problems they were currently experiencing:

1. Customer experience as a buyer wasn’t satisfactory
2. Registration numbers for viewings weren’t high enough
3. Brokers had no way of getting viewers’ feedback after a showing

From these problems, the SMH team outlined four goals that they wanted to reach with the aid of an effective email campaign;

1. Increase viewing registrations (the number of people that signup to attend a viewing)
2. Get better feedback (from buyer, seller and viewing attendees)
3. Increase the overall experience (for both buyer and seller)
4. Become the “Best in viewings” in region

Our campaign outline

With the brief in our hands, our creative team got stuck into creating an effective email campaign that also made use of other channels for a comprehensive and holistic campaign.

Phase One – designed to meet goal #3 and #4

• Welcome

Phase Two – designed to meet goal #1, #3 and #4

• Build expectations
• Provide added value
• Remind

Phase Three – designed to meet goal #2, #3 and #4

• Thank
• Ask for feedback

Phase Four – designed to meet goal #2, #3 and #4

• Congratulate
• Ask for feedback

Comprised of four phases, the campaign was designed to enhance the entire customer experience from start to finish. In phase one, the purpose was to kind of set the expectation for all following communication, contributing to goals #3 and #4.

In phase two, similar ideas were applied except for the added focus on increasing viewers on viewing day as well as encouraging future registrations that would be encouraged based on this smooth experience.

Phase three and four were primarily focused on obtaining feedback, an element that had been missing from SMH campaigns previously. Giving people an opportunity to give feedback would allow SMH brokers to better viewings in the short term and long term so that goal #3 and #4 could be achieved.

Take a look through the campaign material for yourself:

Please note: This campaign was originally created in Swedish and may still contain Swedish text. Where needed, English has been used for example purposes only. 

Phase One: Welcome

Purpose (1): Welcome potential buyers and provide more info on viewing

Call-to-action (2): Add viewing to potential buyers’  calendar AND get potential buyers to invite partner/friend/significant other.

Trigger: Sent as soon as the potential buyers’ email is added to list of registered viewers

Phase Two: Build Expectations + Provide Added Value + Remind

Purpose (1): Remind potential buyers of viewing and rekindle their interest in the property.

CTA (2): Get the potential buyers to map their way to the viewing AND get the potential buyers to start exploring the area (cafes, parks, schools etc)

Trigger: Mailing is sent the day before the viewing (or early Friday afternoon for potential buyers registered with a work email). Text message is sent 10:00 am of viewing day.

Phase Three: Thank + Ask for Feedback

Purpose (1): Thank potential buyers for coming to the viewing and create an interest in bidding AND get feedback on the viewing so that you can improve for future viewings.

CTA (2): Initiate contact with the broker to place a bid AND Give feedback for the viewing.

Trigger: Sent the same day after the viewing. Survey linked in mailing.

Phase Four: Congratulate + Ask for Feedback

Purpose (1): Congratulate buyer on new property, encourage social sharing AND get feedback on overall experience.

CTA (2): Share on social media AND fill out survey (for buyers only)

Trigger: Sent when the contract is entered into the CRM system.