So I got this great idea in the beginning of the summer that I would create some amazing tools for property managers to use and give them away for free in hopes to build traffic to my new rental site PickRent.com.
I created what I thought was a really cool web site template for property managers and a new mapping widget which took me about a month to build in my part time summer schedule.
But then I had a problem, I created this neat cool free stuff but no one knows about it, so then I came up with brilliant idea #2 to start an email marketing campaign directed towards property managers. Sounded simple enough, just let them know about it and they will come and use it since it is free. I thought I could convert perhaps 7-10% of the people.
So as a test, I gathered over 215 email addresses for property managers which was a pain in the butt and took way too much time, and then I created an email below:
I created the email in such a way that I could record what links people clicked on to see what they were interested in.
Here are the results.
- Out of the 215 emails, about 15 came back undeliverable (I knew that would happen)
- Only 7 people clicked on one or more links (that was depressing!)
- Most only clicked on only one link
- Most people seemed interested in the video I did with Marc Cunningham (which was not really the purpose of the email campaign – note to self; don’t do that again)
- Only two people were interested in my rental scam quiz
- Only two were interested in my rental scammer blacklist
- Three people were interested in my web site template
- Not one person clicked on my mapping widget which I thought was so cool and guessed tons of people would use.
- 0% conversion!
I thought I would get a lot of people opting out of the newsletter since I provided a quick one click unsubscribe link, but not one person did. Odd.
Yep, I would call this email campaign a failure. I bet I got a little bit of branding out of it but not much more than that.
Anyone know how else I can get the word out on my free tools that I thought were super cool?
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8 users responded in this post
I’d suggest that next time you use less content. It looks a bit busy and unfortunately has a ’spammy’ feel to it. Obviously you’re intentions were the opposite. You have a legit tool and service you’re offering to a direct crowd. Less is more, especially with email campaigns. Keep it high level in the campaign and let the destination of the links within the email sell it. I think you’d see a significant amount more click throughs, and ultimately that would lead to more conversions.
Thanks for sharing this info Dave!
Marcus,
Thanks for the advice, I think you are right. Next time I try it I will write less.
I wonder how many property managers would be interested in the scammer related tools/widgets? To me, this seems like something potential renters would be interested in as this is who it is geared towards(educating tenants) and not necessarily landlord/property managers.
With your next mailing, how about just promoting the tools/widgets landlords/property managers would be interested in? The free templates and mapping tool seem most relevant to their needs.
Good luck!
Dave,
As we discussed….Don’t forget the “CALL TO ACTION”
That will dramatically increase your clicks.
Don’t get discouraged this is only the first email you have sent so far.
It takes time for users to get to know you and then eventually they will be curious to give pickrent a try.
Just be persistent and don’t give up!
I absolutely agree with Marcus – less is more and getting right to the point works best. You have some great tools – try different things to see what works best for you.
In addition to what the others have said I’d suggest checking for typos (to/too) and checking how “Free Rental Scam Tools” sounds to someone who is not familiar with your tools and services.
I thought the layout of the email blast was well done. Your biggest issue is you need to get more email addresses. “The Law of Averages” You did get some branding out of it. It takes the average person 16 times to see something in-order for them to truly remember it. Keep working on it.
[1] Did you send an email that these people were not interested in?
[2] Are scams something that property managers are interested in?
[3] Maybe using the word scam in the title caused many emails to go to junk mail folders…
[4] Maybe it should have been more positive and less negative? Instead of “free rental scam tools”, maybe “imcrease the number of leads by removing scammers”
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