I started to name this article, “Drip Campaigns are for Drips!”, which should give you a hint as to what I think of drip campaigns.  I changed my mind because I realize that many of us have used drip campaigns or are currently using them.  And the reason we do is often because we have been taught that it’s a good idea, and we’re simply following instructions.

Unfortunately, there is no free money in real estate.  Real estate is a relational business, and therefore, our marketing should be designed in such a way as to advance the relational ball down the field.  Every time we contact our client, we should be warming up, not cooling down the temperature of that relationship.  And that’s exactly why I’m fundamentally against the “drip” mentality.

Let’s face it, all of us would like to create an automatic money machine. Why do you think people are drawn to pyramid schemes and other get-rich-quick ideas? We would all like to receive maximum income with minimum work. The simple fact is that there is no “free lunch” or “easy money”.

Mega-producing agents all share one characteristic — they all work very hard. Don’t think for an instant you can put a lead into an email drip campaign and walk away with a commission check. It doesn’t work that way.  You may be wondering, what exactly is an email drip campaign?

A drip campaign is a pre-written series of email messages set on a time-release calendar that you can design ahead of time. When you turn on the campaign, each customer gets the same series of “authentic sounding” personal emails that are not personal at all. I’m sure that if you think about it, you notice getting those drip campaigns every day in your email inbox.

So let me ask you a question: How long does it take for you to identify an email as being a drip campaign email? About two lines? Yeah, that’s what I thought. Me too. We’ve all seen so many of those campaigns that we can spot them a mile away. Now let me ask you another question: How do you feel the moment you realize that the “personal” email you just got was a canned drip email, and part of somebody’s marketing campaign? Did it make you more or less inclined to like the sender? I thought so. Me too.

Remember, our objective in prospecting is to make the customer like us. If the approach we use has the exact opposite effect, we shouldn’t use it, even if it’s easier. We’d be better off doing nothing than using an approach that moves the relational ball the wrong way down the field. Resist the urge to use the free money machine — it doesn’t work anyway.

How do I know? Because, like many of you reading this, I’ve tried using drip campaigns. I’ve spent years in quest of the perfect series of letters. Then one day I woke up and realized that it was a bad idea, even if taught by some of the best companies and coaches. There are two simple rules I use in my email marketing: keep it short, and keep it personal.

I have a friend who writes thousand-word epistles to her clients, believing that by being verbose she will win them over. There is an abundance of research on the subject, and according to all those who have researched it, less is definitely more.  So keep it short.

You should try to keep your email correspondence to 50 words or so, until and unless it is in response to a specific request from a client or customer. Then make it as long as it needs to be to cover the topic. You have an interested audience, and they will more than likely read it if it is not a waste of their time.

But if it is unsolicited (not in response to a customer’s correspondence to you), keep it short and to the point.  Remember, you’re simply staying in touch.  And remember to keep it personal and not canned.  Personal is always better than impersonal.

I try to recount some personal reference or anecdote to make my reader know that it is not a canned email. Some experts in the field use lack of capitalization, lack of proper punctuation, or intentionally misspelled words to keep their message looking personal and not automated. Three or four good personal, well-thought-out sentences will do more for advancing your relationship with your customer than thousands of words of cold, impersonal, drip campaign letters will ever do.

If you can’t be bothered to take the time to write a personal note, you really need to rethink your profession. This is a very relational business.  So I’m against using impersonal drip campaigns as part of my marketing.  And that’s my quick answer.