Author: William Cassidy

How To Use Facebook Ads And A Simple Real Estate Sales Funnel To Generate Leads And Sell More Homes

It seems to me like there is interest in how to build a Real Estate Sales Funnel campaign from both agents and marketers – including myself.

I’ve wanted to help realtors use Facebook Ads to generate leads and sell houses for awhile but wasn’t sure the best way to do it.

So, I decided to do some research to see if anybody else was having success leveraging Facebook Ads and a Real Estate Sales Funnel.

Because it was difficult to find good solid info I decided I would combine my knowledge and experience with the info I did find into a post that hopefully would benefit others.

First, let me share how this came about. I recently earned certifications in all DigitalMarketer’s training including “Sales Funnel Specialist” and I was surprised at some of the seemingly, basic marketing insights that had been left out of the thousands of dollars worth of training I had paid for in the past several years.

I decided that I wanted to use what I considered the most valuable of these insights I gained to help small and local business owners as part of my business: insights about paid acquisition, CVO and Sales Funnels.

Sales funnels for local and offliners differ from a digital product funnels in that most offliners will need to sell and deliver their Core Offer and Profit Maximizers in their shop; but, they are no less effective!

It is my belief that if small, local and offline business owners used online paid advertising and sales funnels properly, their results would be life changing; for most.

As part of my research, I wanted to have some good examples, so I asked myself: “Self, what niche example would you want to see most?”

I answered Real Estate, followed by fitness, medical, dental, mortgage… (Feel free to comment what you would want to see)

That’s when I got stuck (for awhile). It was difficult to find quality examples, first hand information or training. Crappy Lead Magnets weren’t even in sight.

Actually, I found a couple articles and a few Lead Magnets I thought I’d rather not waste my time on. I wanted solid information from someone who was “doing it” as opposed to a bunch of regurgitated marketing concepts.

I, specifically, wanted to find people who were using Facebook ads and Squeeze Pages to sell houses!

Eventually, I was able to find some information on a few websites and in a few Facebook Groups about people using Facebook Ads and a Real Estate Sales Funnel successfully.

Here is what I was able to extrapolate combined with my knowledge and experience:

PREPARATION

In Real Estate you know the product is the house you have to sell. I believe it was Gary Halbert who recommends writing out all the feature and the benefits of the product in an effort to write better copy. I agree and add that it will also help you with your targeting.

I’m a big advocate of preparation and planning. I’d suggest completing a customer avatar and sketching out your Real Estate Sales Funnel once.

I’d also suggest planning your targeting and messaging. Your copy may change, and probably should and will, but you need to have an idea to work with.

Although you can do the next steps in other orders, I’m going to walk you through this in a somewhat chronological, from the customer journey perspective, order.

TARGETING

First up is targeting. Targeting is ultra important and ultimately determines whether your campaign fails or is amazingly profitable.

This determines the audience for your ads.

Here are some examples of targeting that I found where a Real Estate Sales Funnel was successful:

• Renters
• Professional
• Empty nesters
• Moving up/down

I’ve seen successful ads that targeted pain points as well as big benefits.

MESSAGING

Next is your messaging. It’s hard to say that this is less important than targeting but, if the offer is good enough, or the graphic is eye catchy, you can still get clicks, leads and sales.

However, your messaging should be consistent throughout your campaign. And, it more likely will be if you did the preparation steps properly.

Here are some examples of messaging where a Real Estate Sales Funnel was successful:

• Renters – stop wasting your money, stop paying for your landlord to live free,
• Professionals – convenience to amenities, stop wasting money driving to work,
• Empty nesters – house too big, paying school taxes, heating, cooling, landscaping
• Moving up/down – house to big/small, tired of heating/cooling, cleaning, paying school taxes

GRAPHICS

As for graphics, they should be consistent, congruent and eye catching as possible throughout the funnel. Using a quality picture of the property for sale both in the ad and on the squeeze page seems to be your best bet.

LANDING PAGE

The most effective Landing Page seems to be a Squeeze Pages, as you may have suspected. Squeeze Pages have no leakage, you either subscribe or close.

I’ll always prescribe testing to see what works best in your market, but some feel that they’d rather have links to more info and other listing. However, I believe that testing will show that to be less effective with targeted, paid traffic. That probably works better for broad free traffic though.

The goal of a Squeeze Page is to capture your visitors email address. There are three main schools of thought on this process.

1. Go broad and offer a Lead Magnet like “10 Things Most Realtors Don’t Want You To Know”, “What’s Your Home Really Worth?” or “7 Hidden Problems That Cost Unsuspecting Home Buyers”.
2. Go straight for booking a showing or scheduling a call.
3. Promote an Open House event

I believe my research shows number three to be the most effective. Then offer number 1 as an Exit Pop Lead Magnet.

My research also suggests that company branding hurts conversion rates and you’ll get leads and sales from people who don’t go through the funnel and simply called the number you’ve included in the ad and the Landing Page or contact you directly through Facebook.

Having multiple contact options is smart marketing.

As a general rule of thumb in digital marketing, sending traffic to a “Value First” piece of content typically boosts conversions, but I didn’t find anyone yet who has tested this.

EMAIL SEQUENCE

Once your visitor enters his/her name and/or email address (lets go with her because I like girls better), two things happen.

She is taken to the next page in your funnel which should be the  Open House ticket, the Lead Magnet or a booking/scheduling page AND her name and email address are added to you contact list.

I’ll talk about this page in a minute.

Once added to you email service provider’s contact database, known as your “list”, your previously written and setup email follow up sequence is triggered.

Because of the long buying cycle in real estate, there are three schools of thought on effectively addressing this issue with email:

1. Try to get subscribers to take action; like show up to the Open House or schedule Private Showing
2. Nurture your list and try to be on their mind when they are ready.
3. Segment your list into the appropriate segment of their buying cycle.

I think it’s worth it to do all three, in the order listed above, but it does take time and effort.

It is also beneficial to your relationship to do broadcast emails sharing helpful info, including price drops, local and other market related, relevant news.

LEAD MAGNET

A Lead Magnet is an irresistible chunk of value offered in exchange for contact information; usually name and email address and sometimes phone.

As I discussed above, I think it’s best used as an exit offer. If your visitor is already leaving, making them an offer for something valuable and free is smart marketing.

This gives you a second chance to activate your email sequence, build a relationship, get them to take action and ultimately buy something from you when they are ready.

Your Lead Magnet should be helpful, easily consumable and when possible give your lead a taste of success.

Helpful PDFs with the titles I listed above would make great Lead Magnets.

EXIT POP

Many people make “urgh” sounds when they think of exit pops, but the fact is THEY WORK! And, they work well. They often increase conversions dramatically.

If you are paying for traffic, they are a must.

Because your visitor is trying to leave, that means that they aren’t interested in booking a showing or call right now.

They were, however, interested enough to click your ad, so, maybe they are just not ready to commit right now?

You can still help them by going a bit broader and offer them something sensational.

If they opt in, they should next land on a delivery page where they are able to download their Lead Magnet.

This page should also include either a way to call, schedule a call or a link to your Booking Page.

THANK YOU PAGE

After subscribing on your Squeeze Page, your lead should land on your delivery page. This is referred to as a Thank You Page in marketing terms.

If you’re promoting an Open House, you’d deliver the ticket or code and should share how awesome the event is going to be. Your phone number should also be available.

If you’re promoting  a private showing, your booking page should be iframed so your retargeting pixel can fire. You could send your subscribers directly to your calendar apps booking page but you’ll lose important/useful Facebook custom audience and conversion retargeting data.

I have used SetMore effectively and it’s free. Calenderly is another option.

Once they have completed scheduling a showing or a call with you, they have completed the online part of your funnel.

If you have an email sequence written to get them to book or call, you’ll need to manually remove them from that list and should move them to another list for people who have booked or called; or they will receive inappropriate, triggered emails from you.

Now it is your time to continue to move your lead through your funnel and make them a customer. Do what you do to sell them a house.

RETARGETING:

There is still more that will help you make your campaign more successful.

Retargeting makes use of effective, low cost advertising to recapture those who expressed interest but didn’t complete your online funnel (book or call).

Retargeting is Facebook’s way to advertise to audiences who took one action but not another.

For example, for those who clicked on your Facebook ad and landed on your Squeeze Page but not your Booking Page, you could advertise directly to them.

You could use the “oops , did life get in the way” copy or maybe offer them other homes or lead magnets.

CONVERSION MATH

Urgh, math sucks!

 …until it shows you how profitable your Real Estate Sales Funnel is. And, it’s critically important.

Here are important metrics you should be keeping an eye on:

1. Cost Per Click – How much does it cost you every time someone clicks on your ad and visits your Landing Page? You can find this number in your Facebook Ads Manager.
2. Cost Per Lead – This is the cost of getting one person to subscribe to your list. You find CPL by taking your ad spend and dividing it by the total number of leads gained. Marketing Spend / Total New Leads = Cost Per Lead
   
3. Cost Per Customer – This is what it costs you to acquire a new customer. Divide your total marketing costs by number of customers. This number will be more useful after completing multiple campaigns.
4. Average Order Value – This is how much money, on average, each customer spends. Again, this is more useful after numerous campaigns have been completed. To calculate it, divide total revenue by the number of orders.
5. Profit – Subtract your ad spend and other expenses from your commission once the house is sold to calculate your profit.
6. ROI – Return on Investment is your investment expressed as a ratio. Here is the basic formula: ROI = Profit / Total Investment * 100.

OPTIMIZATION

Every market and house is different, so you’ll need to optimize your ads, audience and funnel during your campaigns.

You should also apply the lessons learned from one campaign to the next.

If you follow suggestions in this system outlined here, you’ll have a great chance of being very profitable right out of the gate.

My guess is that there will also be much room for improvement. As you track, test new ads and copy and apply what you have learned, your numbers will improve.

Sometimes dramatically!

CONTENT MARKETING

One more thing you should know about sending paid traffic to your sales funnels.

Conversions typically increase if you send your traffic to high quality, “value first” content. You typically will also get better quality leads into your funnel.

More effort is required but this allows you, additionally to segment your leads so you can make better offers and ultimately lower your acquisition costs.

HOW TO GET YOUR FACEBOOK ADS AND REAL ESTATE SALES FUNNEL UP AND RUNNING QUICKLY

…and without spending a lot of time, money or effort.

If you like this strategy and want me to set it up for your business, I’m offering a special to get you started for FREE. Well, almost…

I wont charge you but you’ll have to pay Facebook for the ads.

I’ll setup the ads, the funnel and start generating leads for you for FREE, you just pay for the ads.

I’ll do this for 2 or 4 weeks at $5 or $10 a day; your call.

When it’s over, you can keep me, hire someone else or do it yourself. I’ll hand over the Facebook Ads and the Real Estate Sales Funnel (You will need a subscription to the special software and I’ll help you with that too).

All I want is a testimonial and to use your success story as a case study.

If you are wondering if this will work for your Real Estate business, let’s talk. No obligation. If you know it’s for you Contact me ASAP. I expect to close this down after I get a few testimonials.

You can also contact me on Facebook!

Contact me now if you want to use Facebook Ads and a simple Real Estate Sales Funnel to generate leads and sell more homes.