Member Article

Property experts turn to marketing automation to power customer conversations

Home builder specialist Strata has invested in new marketing technology to ultra-personalise its customer comms – resulting in its first tailored email exchange doubling the average open and clickthrough rates.

With the property market recently reopening – following an industry-wide lockdown to battle COVID-19 – Strata wanted to further customise the house-hunting experience to suit individuals’ needs. Therefore, the Doncaster-headquartered family firm – which has over 200 employees – has brought in fellow Yorkshire organisation Force24 to help further bolster how, and when, it speaks to customers online. As a result, Strata can now utilise its marketing automation platform to build personalised email templates in minutes – which, if done manually, may have taken days to complete.

The South Yorkshire organisation has since launched its first online campaign, taking customers and prospects on a step-by-step journey throughout the house buying process– and has reported successful results from their pilot comms.

Strata’s first email alone was delivered to 2,500 people – achieving a 42% open rate, which is double the 21% average. Click-throughs also gained a 7% open rate, eclipsing the average of 2.5%.

Natalie Wilson, content manager at Strata, said: “As a small business in comparison to most builders, we must focus on our differentiators – such as having an in-house interior designer – so that we can continue to provide a personalised customer experience and generate positive word of mouth endorsement.

“We needed a sophisticated piece of technology that would enable us to speak to a more targeted audience, at the times when they are most engaged. With email being a preferred method of comms – especially during the Coronavirus outbreak when viewings turned digital – our first online campaign results have been amazing.”

Speaking about the Force24 partnership and how Strata intends to plug in automation to build future house-hunting experiences, Natalie added: “We’ve been blown away by the positive response to our first piece of comms and want to build on this momentum to provide customers with a completely tailored experience each time.

“With Force24, we’re now able to be more targeted and savvier with our customer service because the automation platform simplifies and manages time-consuming tasks. We’re already collecting vital data to shape our upcoming digital content so that we can keep evolving and stay relevant in a challenging marketplace.”

Nearly 4,000 digital marketers have plugged in Force24’s savvy technology, enabling hundreds of household brands to deliver a total of 15 million emails each month, achieving more than 400 trillion data exchanges.

During the Coronavirus outbreak, the team has also donated 100 man-hours of free consultancy expertise to upskill marketers and provide support and training for life on its GDPR-compliant, UK-built and managed platform.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Katie Mallinson .