Prospecting is one of those things that we all hate, but its the only way we are going to make our numbers and buy that five-star trip to Maui! Email has been one of those great revolutionary tools for sales people, but it is no secret that its lost its bite over the last decade. As a loan officer, its an easy thought to "E-blast" everyone in your contact list and see what sticks, but this method could be hurting you more than helping. I'll be posting an article on the dangers of e-blasting, along with a best practices guide for growing your realtor partner base, so join our newsletter to keep posted!
Below is a cheat sheet that every loan officer should use when it comes to email marketing, whether you are prospecting for partnerships, customer refinancing, or new purchase loans.
1. Timing is Everything! Send Your Emails Early
The average person deletes 48% of their inbound emails every day, IN FIVE MINUTES! So if you don't want your message to go the way of the DoDo, then you need to get your email to your prospect when they want it.
And believe it or not, research shows that the vast majority of prospects want to read emails at 5 and 6 a.m.! Who knew there were so many early birds out there?
2. Make Your Subject Pop...In All The Right Ways
You would never yell at a prospect when you first meet them, so why are you doing with your emails? Here are a few tips to make your Subject Line scream "OPEN ME!"
- NO ALL-CAPS IN SUBJECT! - this will hurt response rates by 30%
- Keep Subject lines within three to four words
- The words you use matter, take a look at words that get the most and least replies
3. Keep Your Message Simple & Engaging
- Messages written at a third-grade reading level get 36% more replies than at a college level
- Keep messages between 50-125 words
- Having one to three questions will increase your response rate by 50%