Here is exactly what your first five emails to a new real estate lead should do

by REM Bot

The ad switch worked. Since switching from website traffic to Facebook lead forms, Taylor Hack’s team has received 287 leads in a matter of weeks. The new problem is the same one most agents face once lead flow improves: building a follow-up system that actually converts them.

In a recent episode of their weekly sales and marketing show, Hack and Andrew Fogliato mapped out the first five touchpoints every new lead should receive – from the initial text within minutes to the emails that surface motivated buyers without pushing everyone else away.

Before the emails: the first text

When a new lead comes in from a Facebook ad, the first contact should be a text within minutes. Not an email. Not a phone call. A text that references what they clicked on and asks one easy question.

The most common mistake in that first text is using internal language. Words like portal, login, or system mean nothing to someone who clicked on a house photo while scrolling through Facebook and may not even remember doing it.

“They just saw a house and clicked a button,” Fogliato said. “They don’t know what your portal is.”

The text should reference the house specifically and ask a single question that is easy to answer. Something like: “Hey, saw you were checking out that property – were you just curious about it or are you thinking about a move?” That one question sorts ready-now buyers from everyone else without pressure.

Timing matters too. Fogliato recommended the email go out immediately and the text follow a minute or two later. The slight delay creates a natural gap rather than triggering an instant association with an automated system firing.

Email one: acknowledge what they clicked on

The first email has one job. Acknowledge what the person opted in on.

This sounds obvious but most sequences skip it. A lead who clicked on a listing ad for a specific property gets a welcome email about the agent’s services, the team’s values or a login link to a portal they have never heard of.

“There’s a real chance they don’t remember your name,” Fogliato said. “They just saw a house and clicked. The first email should reinforce whatever they opted in on.”

If they clicked on a listing, the first email references that listing and asks a simple question. Were you able to get all the information you wanted about the home? Was there anything you could not see in the pictures? That one question is useful, low-pressure and directly tied to what they were already thinking about.

The goal of the first email is not to book an appointment. It is to get a reply. A reply tells the system this is a real person who wants to engage, improves deliverability for future emails and opens a conversation. Everything else comes after that.

Email two: the equity check

For an audience of move-up buyers – people who already own a home and are looking to upgrade – the second email should be the equity check.

The equity check addresses what Hack calls the seller’s algorithm: the question sitting in the back of almost every move-up buyer’s mind. If I sell my current home, will I have enough to buy what I actually want?

The email does not need to be complex. Fogliato’s version: I know it can be stressful to find a home you love and not be sure how much equity you can pull out of your current property to make an offer. Reply to this email with your address and I will pull comparable properties and tell you how much you would net if you listed today.

One ask. One reply. The people who respond are telling you they are a seller as well as a buyer, which immediately puts them in the highest-value category.

Fogliato added a useful structural touch: close the email with a P.S. that links to a case study showing how the agent helped someone in the same situation get more from their sale. The case study does not have to be long. A single paragraph with real numbers is enough.

“It’s not what you list a home at. It’s what you net after the sale,” he said. “That’s the pitch in the P.S.”

Email three: buy or sell first

The third email addresses one of the most common objections a move-up buyer faces before they ever raise their hand: the fear of getting the order wrong.

Most move-up buyers want to know whether they should sell their current home before buying the next one or buy first and then sell. The answer is almost always it depends, but the more useful thing the email can do is surface the question and position the agent as someone who can help them think it through.

The email can walk through a simple version of the pros and cons of each path, then end with an invitation to talk it through on a quick call. The people who respond are telling you they are close enough to the decision that the logistics are on their mind – which makes them among the most motivated leads in the pipeline.

Email four: the interest rate angle

The fourth email uses the interest rate environment to demonstrate expertise and create urgency – but the framing matters.

Hack’s approach is to lead with a problem the reader may not know they have. Most buyers do not know that lenders only lock in rates for people who complete a full pre-approval, because committing to a rate means setting aside capital. Without a pre-approval, a buyer can find a house they love and discover their payments are higher than they planned.

“Most people don’t know that. That’s the gap,” Hack said. “You’re not just talking about the lender. You’re saying: we know the things you need to know so you don’t miss the best options.”

The email closes with a question that feels like a service rather than a pitch. Do you have a lender you know and trust, or would you like an introduction? That phrasing is deliberate. It acknowledges that they may already have someone and offers help only if they do not – which feels completely different from telling them to call your mortgage person.

Email five: a case study or story

The fifth email is where the sequence transitions from education to proof. Rather than more information about the market or the process, this one tells a story about a client in a similar situation and how it worked out.

The format Fogliato uses: wrap the insight in a real experience. Instead of an email about why pricing accuracy matters, tell the story of a client who received a low offer that looked insulting on the surface, reframed it around what they actually needed from the sale, and ended up making the move they wanted.

The story does not have to be long. What it has to do is reflect the reader’s situation back to them in a way that makes them think that could be me. That is what gets a reply.

Write to your ideal client, not everyone

The principle that runs underneath all five emails is the same one that determines whether the sequence converts at all.

Every email in the sequence should be written for the specific type of client the agent most wants to work with – not for every possible person who might have clicked an ad. The equity check only works if the audience are homeowners looking to move up. The buy-or-sell-first email only resonates with people who already own a home. The interest rate email only lands with someone who is close enough to buying that financing feels relevant.

“I’m writing these emails to my ideal clients to surface more of them and get more responses from them,” Fogliato said. “Some people will look at the equity check email and think it’s not for them. Good. That’s the filter working.”

The people the sequence does not fit will self-select out. The people it does fit will raise their hand. That is the point.

Fogliato also recommended building one sequence first before adding segmentation, branching paths or multiple tracks for different buyer types. Complexity can come later. The foundation has to work first.

The full episode covers response time and how it affects conversion, how to use conditional automation to prevent texts going out at the wrong time, and the ongoing live experiment tracking Taylor’s team through the full rebuild.