8 indicators to measure the success of your real estate newsletters

Sending newsletters is an excellent way of building loyalty among your prospects and partners, as well as reminding you of your former customers. But do you really know what impact this has on your business? Here are 8 indicators to help you objectively measure the success of your property newsletters.

An essential tool and indicators

Property newsletter is a essential tool to maintain the link, whether with your prospects, partners, former customers or employees. Their success can be measured by indicators specific. The newsletter is a kind of newspaper in which you relay your agency's news:

• Editorial content (text, photos, videos)
• Team news (arrivals, departures, events, etc.)
• Market analysis
• Personalised advice

The important thing about the newsletter is to communicate interesting and relevant information to your target audience (buyers, sellers, tenants, etc.). This is a highly effective means of communication that can meet a number of challenges:

• A newsletter sent on a regular basis builds loyalty among your prospects
• It encourages your contacts to join your website or social networks
• It generates requests for information
• It allows you to showcase your work, your services, your values, etc.
• Your personalised advice positions you as a real estate expert

Why and how can you measure the success of your property newsletters?

Ensuring the effectiveness of your newsletters is essential for measure the impact of this campaign on your order intake or sales. What's more, without a basic check on the newsletter's performance, it's impossible to know what needs to be improved for a future email campaign.

To measure the success of your campaign, you'll need to opt for an emailing tool performing. There are many on the market, both free and paid, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. One of the features of email analysis software is that it collects key performance indicators or KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) thanks to email tracking.

8 indicators to track to measure the success of real estate newsletters

Using the figures gathered by your email analysis programme and a few mathematical formulas, you can obtain indicators to measure the effectiveness of your campaign.

• Deliverability rate

For your email to be read, it must first reach the recipient's inbox. To find out how many emails have been delivered, we calculate the deliverability rate. It is obtained using the formula below :

(Number of emails sent - number of emails bounced) / number of emails sent x 100

The ideal delivery rate is between 93 % and 98 %. A low deliverability rate will increase the chances of your newsletter ending up in junk mail ("spam") of its recipient.

• The opening rate

Your newsletter has arrived in your contact's inbox. But did they open it? To measure the opening ratethen perform the following calculation:

Number of emails opened / number of emails delivered x 100

According to theCopernic agencyThe average opening rate in the property sector is around 22 %. Are you below that? Don't panic! The best way to use this indicator is on a comparative basis. For example, compare your opening rate each month and try to improve it.

• Click-through rate

Your newsletter has arrived safely and has been opened. That's good, but it's still not enough, because the aim is to get your recipient to click on your links. The click-through rate measures the percentage of subscribers who clicked on one or more links in your email. It is obtained using the following formula:

Total number of clicks / total number of emails sent x 100

In the property sector, a good click-through rate is between 1.5 % and 4 %.

• Reactivity rate

The reactivity rate is the percentage of subscribers who click after opening your email. It tells you whether the subject of your email and its content work well together. To obtain it:

Total number of clicks / total number of emails opened x 100

According to various sources, the average reactivity rate in the property sector is between 7 % and 18 %.

• The conversion rate

This is probably the most important result. In any case, it's the one that will show whether or not your newsletter campaign is really effective for your business. It measures the percentage of your subscribers who become customers. To calculate it :

Total number of people converted / number of emails sent x 100

This important indicator shows the extent to which your newsletter is helping you to achieve your business objectives.

• The growth rate

The growth rates measures the speed at which you win new subscribers. How to get it:

(Total number of new subscribers - unsubscribes) / total number of contacts in your list X 100

Don't forget that your contact list will dwindle over time (around 20 % per year). To maintain a large audience, make sure you are constantly expanding your list of recipients.

• Churn rate

Getting new subscribers is all very well, but managing to keep them and develop their loyalty is even better! Visit churn rate measures the number of people who unsubscribe after each issue of your newsletter. To calculate this rate :

Number of unsubscribed contacts / total number of emails opened X 100

This rate should be put into perspective, as some contacts may remain subscribers but no longer open your newsletter. We therefore advise you to pay closer attention to the reactivity, click and conversion rates.

• Return on investment

The aim of your newsletter campaign is obviously to generate added value. Visit return on investment of a newsletter in the property sector is harder to measure than in the sale of more tangible products or services. To calculate this ROI (Return On Investment), you can still use this formula:

(Total sales generated by your newsletter - total cost of your newsletter) / total cost of your newsletter x 100

A way of optimising the success of future campaigns

These 8 indicators will enable you to measure the success of your property newsletters. However, be careful not to jump to conclusions if the rates obtained are not as expected. Certain parameters, such as the unsubscribe rate, for example, are hardly representative of the value of your newsletters if they are not put into perspective with other data.

But generally speaking, these indicators have repeatedly demonstrated their effectiveness. Gathering and analysing this data will enable you tooptimise your future campaigns and make a positive impact.