When it comes to the digital marketing world many real estate agents have moved past “How do I generate leads?” towards “How do I convert more online leads?”.

Converting the leads is where the real challenge comes into play. There’s a ton of companies who can help you get more leads, including us. Those will do nothing for you if you don’t know how to convert them to an in person appointment. Nothing you do online matters if it ultimately doesn’t result in a face to face meeting.

For example, we had a client generate 1,000 leads over 6 months and did not generate a single deal. Not one. The exact same campaign type for another client and he got 6 deals on the first 100 leads.

If you want to convert more leads you need to look at you processes. It’s almost never a question of generating higher quality leads. It’s a question of follow up process.

There exists  a lot of opportunities to improve and convert more leads. I often see the same mistake being made time and time again and its right at the beginning of the process. It’s how many respond to the initial inquiry.

Top Online Lead Mistake Many Real Estate Agents Make

So let’s take an example of a common real estate lead. Someone fills out a form on your website asking a question about a specific listing. What I’ve seen many people do right now is respond to the lead with something along the lines of:

“Hi John,

Thank you for reaching out about 123 Main Street, it’s a great listing, priced right, and not likely to last long on the market.

As per your question, the current owners would like to close within the next 60-90 days.

Are you working with an agent? If not, we’d be happy to sit down and discuss how we can help.

Have you been pre-approved yet? Happy to refer you to a mortgage broker who can help.

Would you like to set an appointment to see this property? It has a great layout, it’s been well maintained, and it’s close to some great schools. Presents a great opportunity for a young family. We can meet at my office first to go over buyer representation

Do you have any more questions about the property I could help you with?

I look forward to hearing from you and thanks again for reaching out!

REAL ESTATE AGENT SIGNATURE

*Oh by the way, I’m never too busy for your referrals”

How to Actually Respond to Convert More Online Leads

If you want to convert more online leads you need to respond differently. Remember, people are usually reading their email on their phone and so quick and to the point is better.

The above response asks too many questions and is way too long.

All you are doing at the beginning is trying to get them to respond to you. The first step to convert more online leads is to just get a conversation started.

So if someone asks you a question about closing time frame of your sellers from your website try something like this;

Hi John,

My clients would prefer a mid-October closing but can be flexible for the right offer, what timeline for closing are you looking for?

AGENT SIGNATURE

It answers their question, isn’t overwhelming and ends with a question that has an expectation of a reply. That type of answer will help you convert more online leads.

Instead of laying out all the questions in one email, you can answer each reply and end with another single question. Keep it simple. After a couple back and forth emails where you always answer their questions and respond with your own, you can invite them to a phone call to get it all done in one shot.

Don’t push too hard for the phone call if they haven’t provided a number yet. Respond to them how they have shown they want to talk to you.

If someone is just looking for more information about a listing but doesn’t provide a specific question we recommend something simple like “Are you looking at this property for yourself or as an investment?”

It’s short, simple, and to the point. Remember, the goal is just to get a reply at this stage. That’s the first win. Think of the consumer is a scared cat who ran up a tree. It’s slow deliberate actions to get them down. You don’t just rush up the tree and try and grab them!