4 Reasons Realtors Should Avoid the “Reply All” Approach

Ever you ever been a party to a “reply all” email that you really didn’t need to be a party to?

How about when it starts becoming a “reply all” party and the people using the option are doing it because they think everyone wants to (or should) hear their input. 

Maybe the “reply all” offender is too lazy to single out the email address for the specific people they are trying to get their answers to? 

Perhaps they just don’t know how to reply to specific people?

4 Reasons why “Reply All” is never a cure-all

I am speaking metaphorically here. It’s less about your email ettitquette and more about your approach to reaching your clients and customers.

1. Not everybody wants to get your message.

Only send it to those who have given you permission to market to them. (See: Seth Godin – Permission Marketing) If you don’t want other marketer’s spam and crap, why would they want yours?

2. Not everybody wants to hear your message.

Don’t write it for everybody. Target your audience and tailor your message to them.

3. Not everybody deserves to hear your message.

Don’t send it to everybody. It’s not worth the postage if the recipient isn’t someone who I want to work with.

I don’t get lots of mail from Mercedes-Benz, Ritz Carlton or Tiffany’s because I haven’t demonstrated that I am in their “potential customer” audience. Have you really started to consider who your ideal client is and the message they want or need to hear? (See: David Meerman Scott – Buyer Personas)  

4. Not everybody understands your message.

Renters don’t need to know why they should be a Seller right now. Explaining to home owners why it’s a great time to be a buyer doesn’t mean as much if they were planning to retire to that second home they purchased before retirement. A digital message doesn’t reach an analog consumer. Hashtags, acronyms and abbreviations don’t work for everyone. Charts and graphs mean a lot less to a right-brained artisan.

Anyone who is trying to reach everybody usually only succeeds in reaching nobody. They’ll also end up annoying a lot of people along the way.

What will you do to make sure your messages are being received the way you intended to send them?