The average Realtor spends $12,000 to acquire a new customer. With so many costs associated with acquiring new customers, it can be hard to figure out where you should spend your marketing dollars and resources.

Yet, the top teams have figured out the secrets to lowering their customer acquisition costs (CAC) and they’ve put in the work to determine how best to optimize their lead generation.

In this article, you will get 5 tips for lowering your CAC and the secrets that top realtors have figured out to optimize their lead generation. If your goal is to increase sales and lower CAC, these tips are for you!

Tip #1: Dip your toes into the lower-quality ad space

Lower your CAC by buying cheaper ads from platforms like Facebook to drive volume and cast a broader reach to your prospective audience. You might think this sounds counterintuitive, but it’ll pay off if you’ve got the systems in place to qualify your leads.

Rather than spending a premium on platform sites to buy higher-intent leads (that include a much higher CAC), put automated systems in place to qualify leads yourself. Then, you’ll weed out the tire-kickers instead of wasting your agents’ time.

Tip #2: Don’t forget them – retarget them

Don’t waste the opportunity to maximize your reach once a lead comes to your site.

Your customer is already on your website. They’ve made it past the gatekeeper, and they have expressed interest in you or your listings, so now is not the time to back off!

If a lead leaves your site without engaging you for an appointment, continue to stay in front of them with retargeting ads on Google or Facebook. These ads are usually very inexpensive because they’re based on a Cost Per Click model, which means you’ll only pay when a lead clicks the ad to engage you again.

Paying a few cents to get your lead back to your website is a pretty great deal. Plus, it gives you another buying signal because they wouldn’t come back if they’re not interested.

Tip #3: Fine-tune your lead qualification process

Both of the tips above were set up to drive volume. You know the numbers; your prospects will decide to buy or sell after a life-changing event. So, if the time is right, you’ve got to be sure you have the proper processes in place.

Lower quality lead or not, you won’t get another chance to follow up if they’re left unattended now!

We know a thing or two about lead qualification – it’s our jam. But, even if you’re not using Structurely to follow up and qualify your leads, you absolutely need a system in place that immediately engages them after they’ve submitted a request on your website.

That immediate message can’t be something canned that sounds exactly like the Realtor down the street that your lead likely also engaged. Add some flavor to your message and differentiate yourself to let the lead know you’re serious.  

We like emojis for that. But, you do your thing.

The key is to respond with empathy once you understand their intent. For instance, if your lead is going through a divorce or needs another bedroom because of a newborn, your response should be empathetic and human.

You can’t type a custom response for every single inquiry.

Incorporating human-like responses into automated messaging is exactly what makes our Assistant unique, and more effective. Having more customized and realistic responses adds more layers to the conversation and increases engagement.

Tip #4: Tighten your lead routing rules

Time is money, and in a competitive market like real estate, you need to make sure that your time isn’t wasted.

Lead routing rules allow for automation to filter out the tire-kickers before they spend too much of your valuable resources.

Integrations with other lead management software or CRM systems allow you to route your lead through a qualification process first, gathering the data you need to determine if your agents should tackle the lead or not.

Keeping the tire-kickers away from your agents keeps everyone happy, and lets your agents do what they do best.

Tip #5: Automate the follow-up

Let’s recap quickly. Lowering your CAC is a volume game.

• Drive more volume with low-cost, low-quality leads.
• Route the leads as you need with integrations to streamline your processes.

None of that works, however, if you still have your high-salary agents or ISAs handling your tire-kicker leads. Not only will they be unhappy, but they’ll also miss their sales goals, causing your business to suffer, too.

What do you do?

Automate the lead qualification process with a solution that saves your entire company time and provides the confidence that results in a lower CAC and happy agents.

“I lowered our Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) by 300% and improved our agent happiness at the same time with Structurely,” said Chris Watters, CEO with Watters International.

👉 Read the Watters International Case Study here.

Conclusion

The cost of acquiring a customer (aka CAC) has been steadily increasing for years and is only expected to continue trending upward.

What’s the solution?

You can lower your CAC by investing in cheaper leads that have less potential, or you could retarget those who haven’t responded with an automated follow-up from an AI assistant. We recommend implementing both of these strategies so that your business continues to grow without breaking the bank.

If you would like more information on how these techniques work together, contact us today!