Many real estate agents are unsure of the best way to capture leads. The secret actually isn’t much of a secret. Across industries, marketing professionals use what’s called a lead magnet to entice consumers to willingly provide their contact information. We’ll explain what this tactic is and share the best real estate lead magnets that will help you grow your business.
What is a real estate lead magnet?
Simply put, a real estate lead magnet is an offer for a freebie in exchange for someone’s contact information. The lead will either voluntarily provide their contact details or contact the agent directly in order to receive the offer being promoted. Some of the things that a lead magnet might tease include an eBook, a consultation or an e-newsletter.
There are offline versions of this lead generation tactic, such as a sign-up sheet at an expo, but it’s most efficient and effective when used online. That’s because your real estate lead magnet will live on a dedicated website, available 24/7, and ultimately reach more people than you’d even have access to at a single in-person event.
Attributes the best real estate lead magnets have in common
As with any marketing tactic, there are right and wrong ways to create a lead magnet. Here are a few do’s and don’ts to remember as you set out to develop yours.
1. DO present a compelling offer that adds value and is related to the services you provide. Ideally it would showcase or reinforce your expertise.
2. DO create clear messaging on the landing page so there isn’t confusion on what the offer is or how to get it.
3. DON’T ask for too much information from the lead. The more fields you require that they fill out, the lower your conversion rate will be. An email address (and sometimes a first name) is typically all you will need to ask for.
What are the best real estate lead magnets?
There is no shortage of content, products and services you can give away in exchange for contact information. But there are real estate lead magnets that tend to work better than others. We’ll dive into the top five that we’ve seen firsthand perform best for agents.
1. Free home evaluation
This is arguably the most popular real estate lead magnet. It works because sellers are ever-curious of their home’s value. You can set this up yourself on a dedicated landing page within your real estate website. You would just need to integrate your email program with an in-house automated valuation or comparative market analysis tool so that the report can be delivered when the lead submits their email address.
2. Market reports
With so much access at their fingertips, consumers are more hands-on in the home-buying journey than ever before. They want to know all the latest market details to ensure they’re getting the right home at the right price. As such, a market report is one of the top lead magnets targeting buyers. This weekly email snapshot should include new listings, recent sales and local market trends for the zip codes the buyer is most interested in.
3. Buyers and sellers guides
You could easily spend all day Googling various aspects of the buying or selling processes. But most people would opt for a one-stop shop in the form of a comprehensive and authoritative guide or eBook, making it an effective lead magnet.
The main hurdle in executing this is actually writing the content and packaging it in an easy-to-navigate PDF. You can hire a freelance writer and designer to help if you don’t have time or the know-how to create it on your own. Or, if you already have a marketing partner, they may be able to make these guides for you.
Buyers and sellers guides are particularity effective if you are just starting out or have not had recent listings. Below you can see generic, non-branded samples of buyer and seller guides Homesnap agents use.
4. Google’s Local Services Ads
Most real estate lead magnets require a form fill before rewarding buyers and sellers with a download link or their freebie via email. The new Local Services lead magnets remove a step in that process to reduce friction. That is, leads don’t need to submit their contact info. Instead, GLS offers a tap-to-call option that immediately connects you with the lead—live.
These ad units appear when someone searches with local intent, like “real estate agents in [city].” Not surprisingly, these lead magnets are already highly effective. That’s because they appear at the very top of the Google search results page, even before paid ads and website suggestions.
This premium placement makes these ads more expensive than other real estate lead magnets. But the price is worth it—they are already the best lead generator out there. Why? When you answer the phone, you have a hot lead on the line requesting your services. There’s a much higher probability of these leads converting to clients than those who submit their email address.
5. Educational webinars
The other lead magnets we listed are passive—you can publish them online and let them run without much maintenance. While you may not think that a webinar can be passive as well, it actually can be. Services like Zoom Webinar and eWebinar allow you to run pre-recorded webinars that seem like they are being presented live.
This is a better option than hosting live webinars because it saves you, the presenter, a ton of time. Record it once and you’re done! It also saves you from wasting time. Holding a live webinar for just two people is not a good use of your time, but if it’s automated, then it doesn’t matter how many people show up! Plus, your automated webinar can run multiple times each day, giving consumers more viewing options and maximizing your lead capture potential.
