If you’re like most construction companies, you probably don’t put a lot of thought into your email marketing. After all, it’s not like you’re selling products or services online-you’re in the business of building things!
But the truth is that email marketing can be a powerful tool for construction companies if used correctly.
Before you click away, we’re not talking about starting a newsletter that doesn’t get read or any other generic email marketing tactics and strategies.
You’ll learn real, actionable advice to help your business grow.
Why You Should Consider Email Marketing
While the name email marketing implies that it’s for the marketing side of your business, odds are your construction company will benefit more with email while going through the sales process.
That mostly consists of following up on prospects, quotes, and bids.
The last thing you want is to forget about that bid sent out for a job. By figuring out your email system, you can easily set up reminders to follow up with prospects and clients to ensure you win those bids!
Not only does this dramatically increase your chances of securing the job, it also helps build better relationships with new and existing clients.
One of the biggest complaints we hear about businesses as a whole is the lack of communication. No one, and we mean no one, wants to wait a week for a response after they enter their email somewhere.
Likewise, if you’re keen on sales training, you may have heard the phrase “time kills deals.” This is especially true when you have competition in your area that can secure a deal because they were the first to contact a prospect.
Emailing can solve a ton of these problems for your business. You can easily nurture prospects and turn them into clients by promptly responding to emails and setting up automated follow-ups.
And with the rise of mobile devices, more people are checking their email on the go than ever before.
Why Email Marketing is Important for Your Construction Company
Let’s not beat around the bush here: money. Money is why email marketing is important for your company.
The numbers don’t lie. For every $1 you spend on email marketing, you can expect an ROI of $38. You may have heard that tossed around, but for the most part … it’s nonsense. There’s no magical number that you’re guaranteed to make back.
However, with the lucrative opportunities for construction companies, you can easily pay for whatever tool you use after one quote is signed or a bid is won.
And that’s just the beginning.
We know how much reputation is, especially in the construction industry. Whether you’re doing residential jobs or commercial, your name holds weight.
So on the backend, you can set up reminders to send out testimonials after a job is complete. Especially important if you’re doing any sort of SEO or PPC advertising for your company.
4 Real Tips for Creating a Successful Email Marketing Strategy for Your Construction Company
Now that you know most of the reasons to get email marketing for your construction company, it’s time to give you some tips on making it work.
Most of your email marketing is really about keeping up with sales opportunities
As we know, traditional email marketing doesn’t work as well in this industry. You’re not going to get a ton of people signing up for your newsletter because you’re in the business of construction, not content marketing.
Instead, focus on using email as a way to keep up with sales opportunities.
This can be anything from following up with a quote or bid to sending out a post-job satisfaction survey.
The important thing is to focus on the sales process and use email as a way to nurture prospects and clients alike.
The other part of email marketing is sending your service list to new contacts
This is where most businesses struggle, but it doesn’t have to be that way. You can use a number of different methods to find new contacts and then send them an email with your services.
One of the simplest ways is to manually add contacts that you meet at job sites or networking events. For example, say a ton of your work comes from being subcontracted out jobs. When you get those business cards, add them to your CRM and send them a brochure of the services you have expertise in.
Now they have a copy of your services they can keep on file or share with their contacts when someone asks about a service you provide.
Create templates for frequently used emails
Instead of handcrafting every email you send, review your business’s most frequently used emails and create templates for them.
You can easily do this in Gmail or Outlook with their template feature.
This way, you’re not starting from scratch every time you need to send an email, and you don’t have to worry about missing any important information.
For example, some templates you may want to start with are
- A we-received-your-form-submission-and-will-reach-out-soon email
- What your site visit date is, and what does one look like
- Reminder email that you’re doing a site visit the next week/day/that day
- Bid follow-ups
- Quote follow-ups
- Asking for a review/testimonial
All of those require little or no editing once you have the template set up, which will save you tons of time in the long run.
Use automation for your email marketing strategy
One of the most important things you can do for your business is set up automation for various tasks, including your email marketing.
For example, you can set up an automation that sends out an email whenever someone submits a form on your website. Depending on your tool, you can include key factors from the form submission in that email, like their name, job type, and job specs.
Or, you can set up an automation that adds a task for whoever completed a site visit to follow up with the potential client. This is an excellent way to stay top of mind and send them information that they may find helpful as they’re making their decision.
Lastly (this is especially helpful for B2C construction companies and contractors) is to automatically send out an email 30, 60, or 90 days after a job is completed for a review or testimonial. You’re going to build up a ton of reviews on your Yelp or Google My Business profile which will help your rise in the rankings when people search for your services and don’t have a specific company in mind.
Very powerful.
There are endless possibilities for what you can automate with your email marketing, so it’s important to explore all of the options and see what works best for your company.
Best Email Marketing Tools for Your Construction Company
Ok, now that you know what email marketing is and how to do it, let’s talk about some of the best tools for construction companies. While there are a lot of great email marketing platforms out there, these are our top three.
How to Scale Your Email Strategy
It’s one thing to learn how to do email. It’s another to implement it and start using it. If you’re not careful, email can easily become another thing on your never-ending to-do list.
The key to scaling your email marketing is to be strategic about it. You want to make sure that you’re using automation as much as possible and that you have a plan for how you’re going to create and use email templates.
You’ll need to get your sales team and estimators on board to start using email to follow up with leads and customers. The sooner you can get everyone on board, the better.
You also want to make sure that you’re monitoring your results so that you can see what’s working and what’s not. Adjust your strategy accordingly and always test new things to see if you can improve your results. This doesn’t have to be done daily or weekly. Once a month is enough for a busy construction company without the manpower to constantly be testing and improving.
Some things to look at when you’re analyzing and testing your email efforts include
- Test time between a quote being sent out and its follow-up. You may find you need longer time for bigger deals, for example.
- Analyze which email templates convert prospects into clients. Maybe they need more information about your process before making a final decision.
- Are your estimators and sales reps following up on all their tasks to send out emails? Are they finding the 2nd follow-up isn’t necessary as, after the 1st, prospects let them know when they’ll be ready to sign?
Don’t fall into the trap of not getting started because you’re unsure if you’re doing it right. The best way to learn is by doing. So, get started today and tweak as you go.
Email Automation for Your Construction Company
We’ve talked a bit about email automation already, but let’s do a deeper dive into real automation you can easily set up to keep your team on top of things.
We’ve talked about these, but you can set up an automation that sends out an email whenever someone submits a form on your website. Depending on your tool, you can include key factors from the form submission in that email, like the services they’re interested in or the time frame they need the work completed by.
Most CRMs have the ability to track what a contact does on your website. Say you have a services page on your website. You can have an automatic email go out to anyone that visits that page with a link to your service brochure, giving them something they can save and share.
You end up marketing your company hands-off! And the best part is you only have to set it up once, and it will work indefinitely.
Another great email automation for your construction company is automatic site visit reminders. This can be a great way to ensure that your sales reps keep on top of their appointments and that your customers know when someone will be coming by.
You can also set up automatic aftercare emails depending on the services rendered. Something as simple as a ‘hurray, you can now walk on your concrete” lets clients know you have some level of give-a-damn.
Last but not least, you can use automation to send out thank-you emails. These can be sent after someone books a job or signs a contract. They’re a great way to show your appreciation and build goodwill with your customers.
In conclusion
Email marketing for your construction company doesn’t have to be complicated. Following the tips in this guide can easily get started and see great results.
Remember to be strategic about your email marketing, use automation to save time, and monitor your results so that you can continue to improve.
Contact us if you need help getting started or want to take your email marketing to the next level. We’re always happy to chat about how we can help you grow your business.