Most realtors these days in the US will offer to sign prospects and clients up for a daily email from the MLSMessenger service, so every morning you get a listing of the latest houses listed in the town(s) you're looking in. The email appears to be coming directly from your broker for that nice personal touch.



Being a relentless test-it marketer, I got on several brokers' lists for this, and recently one in particular, Edward Moy of RE/MAX of Newport, has impressed me because he's using the system to go the extra step toward really connecting with prospects and clients in a personal way. Moy has started supplementing the daily HTML email with extra little notes sent separately now and then.



The timing is irregular. It's about once a week but you can't count on a particular time or day, which helps this campaign feel much more personal. After all my friends don't send me an email every Thursday at 2 P.M. They dash off a note whenever they have something specific to tell me. The fact that Moy's extra notes are always in text-only also makes them feel "real."



Plus he writes them in a personal-sounding manner. One starts, "Hello Anne, On occasion I see a house that I think is worth quick investigation. 24 South Drive is one of those. I admit, I live on the same street, perhaps that is why I like this house, etc." Another note talked briefly about a neat Web site he'd discovered that revealed the latest valuations for houses in his county. It sounded useful, I clicked right through.



None of the notes are very long, not longer than a paragraph. None include a hard sales pitch to use his service. He's just keeping in touch. You know, sometimes I think we all get so excited about the power of email newsletters that we forget a little "personal" note now and then can also work wonders through email.