Focus on Estate Agency Software – Better applicant engagement!

In this article we are looking at ways for Estate Agents to engage better with applicants using HTML mailers to send property information from an Estate Agency software system. So we have produced a list of 10 good reasons for agents to send property information to applicants using HTML mailers.

Perhaps some estate agents reading this article will already know what we mean when we talk about HTML mailers, other will not. If you do not understand what an HTML mailer is, this article will help you get a better understanding, and if you already know what an HTML mailer is, it will give you a better understanding of how HTML mailers can help you better engage with your applicants.

Our 10 reasons are listed below in no particular order;

The benefits of an HTML mailer:

HTML Mailer to applicants – An HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) mailer is a graphical mailer with embedded links that take the recipient to a website. You are likely to receive these types of emails on a daily basis from companies you have purchased items from online, normally promoting further products or discounts. However these types of e-mailers can be used to great advantage for estate agents. Through modern Estate Agent software systems these HTML mailers can be used to send brief details of a selection of properties to applicants.

Drive traffic to website - Using HTML the applicant receives a professionally designed email with images & a short description of available properties, when the applicant clicks on any of the properties within the email they will be taken to the property they click on within the estate agents own website. This is great as it means more traffic will go through your estate agents website.

Interactive emails to applicants – HTML mailers are interactive and give applicants an opportunity to take control of how much information they view about each property. And if none of the properties the applicant received within the HTML mailer are of interest, they are already on the agents site, and can refine their search.

Other assets available – Just start to consider what assets that are available on an estate agents website compared to what is available on a standard set of property details. These assets include; High resolution images, detailed mapping, Streetview, a link to the full EPC, Floorplan, and a PDF brochure. Many estate agent websites will also give the applicant the ability to share property information with their ‘friends’ on social networks including Facebook and Twitter.

Quality Communication with applicants – When compared to the ‘old school’ set of details that would have been sent through the post, or even as a PDF attachment on an email, a professionally designed and high quality HTML mailer offers a much better quality communication to your applicants.

Engage with applicants – Because the HTML mailer links back to the estate agents own website, this offers the agent better engagement with their applicants from the first time they send out a selection of properties, and the whole way through the relationship.

Reinforce brand identity – With a professionally designed and individually branded HTML mailer each time properties are sent to an applicant the agent is putting their brand in front of them. Typically these mailers will have a company header and a message from the agent above all of the property information.

Consistent professional look – Of course individual negotiators may want to change the message within the HTML that they send to their applicants, but the design will always remain consistent. This means that any of the properties that are sent out from a particular estate agency business will be consistent – regardless of which negotiator they are sent by.

Rich user experience – HTML mailers offer applicants a rich user experience. Just think about the user experience you get when viewing a paper set of details compared to when you view a property online.

Impress your potential vendors – We all know that some applicants are also potential vendors. If you are the agent that offers a stand out presentation of a property and display a better use of technology, these potential vendors will be sure to call you when they are ready to choose an agent to sell their property.

Our fully web-based estate agency software package is called RTLive. HTML mailers are just one of the many modern features available within our software package. If you would like to find out more about our software please contact us for a free, no obligation demonstration.