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Have You Cleaned Up Your Failures Lately?

January 6, 2012 in Email Marketing by Kelly  |  No Comments

Mass Mail Failures

Nobody likes a failure but it’s amazing how many don’t get cleaned up!

I’m referring to email failures. When a mass mail is sent Lasso attempts to send to all the email addresses in the list or group. Some of these email addresses fail . . . it’s inevitable. But the key is to minimize these failures. After you send out a mass email through Lasso, the Mass Mail Details report will show all the email failures. I encourage you to review this list and take action! Not only will cleaning up your database help with deliver-ability, it could help you re-engage with prospects. By reducing some of these failures, your mass mail reporting statistics will be more meaningful as you go forward.

Below is a list of example failure notifications and their explanations.

Failure Reason Explanation
Hard Bounce Email attempted. Registrant email address does not exist.
Suggested Client Action: Contact Registrant to obtain new email address.
Hard Bounce (Suppressed) Email address has hard bounced in the past and therefore is suppressed from future mass mails.
Suggested Client Action: Contact Registrant to obtain new email address.
Soft Bounce Email could not send due to an issue with the Registrant’s email mailbox (e.g. mailbox is full).
Suggested Client Action: If the email consistently soft bounces, contact Registrant and ask for an alternate email address. If the email has bounced more than 3 times, a good rule of thumb is to opt them out.
Invalid Email Address Email address has syntax errors (e.g. angelam@@mylasso.com)
Suggested Client Action: Correct error in Registrant email address.
Email address has been opted-out Registrant has Opted-Out or unsubscribed from Mass Mail for this project. Registrants will not receive any mass emails for this project.
Suggested Client Action: Contact Registrant to determine project interest level. Registrant should be removed from Custom list and/or Group.
Registrant had no email address No email address in Lasso.
Suggested Client Action: Contact Registrant to obtain email address. Adjust Custom List criteria for Mass Mails to exclude Registrants without an email address.
Registrant has chosen not to receive email Contact preference in Lasso is No Contact or No Email across all Client Projects
Suggested Client Action: Registrant should be removed from Mass Mail Custom List and/or Group.
Technical Email cannot be delivered to the email address because of technical difficulties (e.g. Network error, or a Data format error). Note: in some cases, the email addresses have incorrect domain names (misspelled) or typos.
Suggested Client Action: Update Registrant email address. Contact Registrant to confirm email.
Block Mass Mail is being blocked because your domain name or IP address is on an ISP/Inbox Provider internal blacklist.
Suggested Client Action: If email is a corporate address, follow-up with Registrant to request unblock, or ask for alternate email address. If email address is a large ISP (e.g. Hotmail, gmail, Yahoo, etc.), try resending in smaller volume. A typical rule of thumb, the larger the list, the higher the chances of blocks. If issue persists, contact Lasso Support.
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Creating Emails that Get Opened

December 16, 2011 in Email Marketing by Kelly  |  No Comments

Emails That Get Opened
It’s been said that an email recipient will first look at the sender to determine whether an email gets deleted and then look at the subject line to determine whether it gets opened.

Using a familiar from name when sending an email is your first step to success and your carefully crafted subject line is next in line for importance. The following are a few tips:

  1. Keep your subject line to about 50 characters. Some email clients allow more characters to appear in the subject line but make sure the most important part of the message is in the first 50.
  2. If the “from email” includes your company name than you don’t need to repeat in the subject line but make sure it’s clear in either the from name or the subject who the email is coming from.
  3. Check your spelling – often the subject line is not part of spell check so don’t forget to pay particular attention that your subject line doesn’t include any typos!
  4. Create some urgency. Creating a deadline often elicits more action.
  5. We’ve said this before and we’ll say it again – avoid the use of all UPPER CASE letters and the use of exclamation marks. Not only does it look kind of tacky, it will trigger spam filters.
  6. Ensure that the subject line matches the content in the email and that it’s not misleading.
  7. Subscribe to other projects and communities and learn from your competition! Read headlines from online articles and newspaper. What catches your eye? Appeal to your readers’ need for information.
  8. Ask for response in your subject line. One of the best ways to generate interest is to ask for feedback and opinions.

The subject line may have the greatest impact on your email marketing success so it pays to take some time to get it right. It takes some time but it pays to get it right.

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Designing Emails for Mobility

December 5, 2011 in Email Marketing by Kelly  |  No Comments

Designing emails that look great regardless of the viewing mechanism is a challenge these days – many people are reading email on mobile devices as well as their desktop. How do you design for different devices and screen sizes?

Here are a few tips to improve the readability of your email:

Mobile Friendly Emails

  • Stick to the “Keep it Simple” rule – the design of your email as well as the message should be kept simple. Try to avoid too much clutter and stick to a single column design as it’s easier to read.
  • Use a Preheader – often you see text at the very top of the email allowing you to view the email as a webpage. That text is called a preheader. While having a link to a web version is important, this is also a great spot to include the main point of your email and will give your recipients a better idea of the contents of the email before they open it.
  • Consider the readability and navigation of your email – make it easy for someone to click on a link in your email. Don’t put too many links together. When viewing on a small screen, it’s sometimes difficult to click on the correct link when there are multiple links close together.
  • Label Your Images – while some mobile devices automatically display images, others don’t. Always include an alt-tag so if your image doesn’t display, the reader can at least still get the gist of your message.
  • Choose colors wisely – small gray text may look great on your large monitor, it may not be easy to read on a small screen. Test out the email and see for yourself how it renders! Can you easily read it?

Consider these simple tips when creating your next email template and you will improve readability!

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Don’t Forget a Personal Touch When Communicating with New Home Buyers

November 25, 2011 in Lead Nurturing, Social Media by Kelly  |  No Comments

How do you feel when you receive a mass email from a company that clearly has no relevance to your needs? How do you react? The worst case scenario is that you unsubscribe from the email or report it as spam to your ISP; but more often than not, it just gets ignored and deleted. We are all too busy to read everything we receive so we focus on the things that are important and relevant to us.

Handwritten Note - Show you careThis is an important concept to remember when nurturing new home buyer prospects. The last thing you want to do is alienate prospects and turn them away because of your communication.

The best way to handle this is to allocate time to database management and ensure that you have a good system in place for duplicate management, that you’re recording all prospect activity (and avoid sending duplicate messages), and that you segment your lists before sending out mass email to help customize the message to that group.

It’s important to not hide behind email. Give your sales group opportunities to take a more personal approach to communication. For example, give them note cards (and stamps if necessary!) to write personal handwritten notes of thanks to their prospects. Encourage them to send birthday cards, or letters of congratulations when a milestone has been reached. Not only will this pay off in the long run from a referral perspective but it will create closer ties with the prospect.

And don’t forget how you interact with your fans and those who engage with you in social media. What is the benefit of being a fan on your site? Do you have a process in place for acknowledging followers and re-tweets? Find ways to involve your fans, ask for their feedback and acknowledge their comments.

A personal, professional approach goes a long way for long term success!

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Built Green BC Builder of the Year – Adera

November 21, 2011 in Customer Success Story by Kelly  |  No Comments

GreenAward
Kudos to our client, Adera! They have recently received the award for the Built Green BC Builder of the Year. This is the second consecutive year that Adera has one this award and we’re proud to have one of our clients be so successful in their sustainability initiatives.

“Sustainability has been a very important focus for Adera for more than 8 years,” says Eric Andreason, vice president of sales and marketing for Adera Development Corporation. “The people in our team actively participate in working with other groups and Eco-consultants to stay abreast of green technology in order to meet people’s housing needs and desires. Consumers are demanding sustainable living and energy-efficient homes for its significant benefits: direct financial saving, personal benefits by reducing their carbon footprint and the social benefit of living green for the greater good.”

Green is the new black. So what does that mean? State-of-the-art features made from natural materials or recycled content, chosen to last longer, and designed with a reduced carbon-footprint in mind. What else? High efficiency appliances that minimize energy and water consumption, and also reduce waste production. This is a motto that Adera stands by and have maintained for over 40 years. They have built a world-class portfolio that includes the development of more than 8,000 homes, from distinguished residences at UBC, to condos and town-homes spread throughout the Lower Mainland.

Adera Currently they have an extensive list of projects both coming soon and currently selling. These include Ultimate Green, Zen and Spirit which were the Adera projects that were recognized as part of the award. They are all innovative developments from Adera that consider green building practices, from livability for homeowners to the stunning designs that incorporate the latest innovations in sustainable building and West Coast architecture.

Green-Living Zen-Living Ultima

Originally published in BC Homes Magazine – October/November 2011 Edition – see the magazine online @ www.bchomesmag.com

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Tips for Lasso from Lasso

November 4, 2011 in CRM Software, Lasso Tips by Tolga Canatan  |  No Comments

It is impressive how adept many of our clients are in using Lasso and we like to think we know a thing or two about Lasso as well. In this post, Tolga Canatan, a Lasso Client Director, offers a few quick tips on how to most efficiently utilize Lasso.

 A little about Tolga:

As Client Director, Tolga elicits business requirements, implements projects and supports clients as needed. He’s equally as willing to help his colleagues as he is his clients, explaining things in a simple, easy to follow manner. Tolga is the guy around the office with a smile on his face and a witty comment up his sleeve.

Tips-From-Tolga
Contact Tolga directly at tcanatan@lassodatasystems.com.

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Polygon’s apartments at River District Vancouver: Great success!

October 31, 2011 in Customer Success Story by Kelly  |  No Comments

After a very successful release of Polygon’s second and final building, New Water, we are pleased to report that over 100 homes are now sold!

Buyers from all over the Lower Mainland have been raving about this up-and-coming new neighborhood. With the community pier, new park, kids playground and Romer’s waterfront restaurant and patio all active, there is much happening to get excited about.

This limited collection of homes will boast West coast modern architecture defined by the strength and quality of its brick, concrete and steel facade, married with the warmth of natural fir wood details. Inside, these one, two, and three bedroom apartment homes offer the latest in contemporary finishing including high-end stainless steel appliances from Fisher & Paykel and Bosch, quartz counter-tops, and laminate floors. AND they are located just a block from the water! With the opportunity to own a Vancouver home in a riverside neighborhood for such a great price, it’s no wonder there is so much interest in New Water!

New Water will be the first apartment residences in the re-development of the River District Vancouver neighborhood in South Vancouver. With the addition of new schools, parks, shopping, dining, and more it is poised to be a landmark community and one of the most desirable new places to live in Vancouver.

New-Water ExteriorNew-Water-Playground New-Water-Dock

The Polygon family of companies is among the most well-established and highly respected home builders in British Columbia. Locally owned and operated since 1980, they have built more than 19,000 homes throughout the Lower Mainland, ranging from concrete high–rises to wood-frame condominiums, town-homes and single–family communities. Polygon is also active in the construction of new single family homes through its sister company, Morningstar Homes.

They build homes based upon their four main principles (known as the Polygon Foundation) of trust, sincere care, forward thinking and environmental responsibility. It’s their belief in these principles that make Lasso Data Systems proud to have Polygon as a client of our CRM Real Estate Software.

For more information on New Water call 604.221.8865 or visit the sales office, 12 to 6pm daily except Friday, @ 8688 Kerr Street.

Click here to watch a video on New Water - premier apartments @ River District Vancouver.PolygonHomes
New Water Homes by Polygon
Photo Credit: River District

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How Hotmail’s Graymail Changes May Effect You

October 24, 2011 in Cool Technology, News by Kelly  |  No Comments

Hotmail is one of the largest (if not the largest) email providers in the world. Windows Live Hotmail has over 355 million active email users. It’s no wonder they are continuously looking at ways to reduce spam and help their users reduce unwanted email.

Here are a couple of interesting facts from Hotmail:

  1. Microsoft gets about 8 billion messages every day, delivering about 2.5 billion messages into the inboxes of customers. That means they are filtering out about 5.5 billion messages.
  2. Of the 2.5 billion messages that get delivered, they know that about 110 million messages are spam. So roughly 5% of delivered mail is spam. They want to improve these numbers!

It’s no wonder it has become harder and harder to reach the inbox.

What is graymail?

According to Hotmail’s blog, Graymail refers to those messages in your inbox that are unwanted, but that aren’t unsolicited. Common types of graymail include newsletters, social networking notifications, and alerts.GrayMail

The “right” way to handle graymail is not so black and white; different recipients will disagree on whether or not a given message is spam. In fact, it’s neither the content of the message nor the sender of the message that best determines whether or not the message is wanted; rather, it’s your own relationship to the content or to the sender that determines whether or not you want to see the message in your inbox. What is perhaps most interesting is that your opinion on whether a particular e-mail is spam can actually change over time. (Advertisements for TVs are annoying until you’re looking for a new TV.)

How is Microsoft dealing with this type of mail? They have come up with new features that help customers.

  • Newsletter Category – Hotmail will automatically categorize newsletters. So far, they say they are about 95% accurate in identifying newsletters!
  • One-Click Unsubscribe – unsubscribe immediately from a newsletter, all handled through Hotmail
  • Scheduled Cleanup – keep only the latest message from a given sender and delete messages as they get old. This will be done for email messages such as newsletters that come frequently.

What does this mean for real estate sales and marketing professionals sending mass email to Hotmail addresses?

It really means that blasting email out to anyone and everyone in your database will become even less effective than ever before. Growing a true opted-in list of email recipients who are actively engaged is the way to go. Monitor who is opening and clicking on links within your emails – if they aren’t responding or taking action, maybe it’s time for another method of communication!

Read the complete article about Hotmail’s changes here.

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Porto Montenegro has sold over 70% of Tara Residences!

October 6, 2011 in Customer Success Story by Kelly  |  No Comments

From time to time we like to highlight our client’s success stories and this week we’d like to congratulate Porto Montenegro for selling more than 70% of their newest building, Tara Residences.

Tara was launched in June 2011 and features 47 residences, ranging from studios, 1 to 3 bedroom luxury apartments and penthouses. The homes offer grand entertaining spaces and expansive views of Porto Montenegro’s marina, with homeowner services including 24-hour security and a private gym. The sales success of Tara contributes to Porto Montenegro’s recent recognition as the fastest selling development in the Mediterranean, having sold 114 of 129 units in just 24 months.

Tara Residences

“Already home to an international community, Porto Montenegro is an intimate collection of waterfront and promenade homes. Designed by world-renowned Tino Zervudachi of Milinaric, Henry & Zervudachi, and with landscaping by Martin Lane Fox, Vice Chairman of the Royal Horticultural Society, the homes unite traditional architecture and contemporary lines with soft colors, elegant stone and hardwoods.

The project’s founders hold a firm belief that families should be able to live within steps of their boat, quality should be uncompromising throughout the marina and attractive landscaping should connect one’s home with the natural pleasures of being on the water; all of which has been faithfully translated into a reality today.”

Lasso is proud that Porto Montenegro uses Lasso real estate CRM for their marketing, sales and inventory management. From capturing leads and managing prospect and broker activity, to email marketing and managing inventory and pricing from single source, Porto Montenegro effectively uses Lasso home builder software for their day to day business.
Porto-Montenegro

For more information on Porto Montenegro and their residences, please feel free to contact btucker@portomontenegro.com or visit www.portomontenegro.com

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Daybreak Featured on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

September 30, 2011 in Customer Success Story, News by Angela McKay  |  No Comments

We love to share stories about our clients and this one is pretty cool.

Our client, Kennecott Land, developers of Daybreak in Utah was recently part of Extreme Makeover:  Home Edition. The episode will air this weekend. The power of community is a pretty amazing thing and this show definitely brings this out!  The show will feature interviews from all those who made the home possible, including the builder Holmes Homes.  Tune in to watch it on October 2nd on ABC!

The home was built for Jessica Gomez and her two children.  Check out an introduction to the show which was aired on Good Things Utah and view the photo gallery on the Daybreak website

Daybreak is the best-selling new-home community in the Salt Lake Valley.

Congratulations to all those involved!

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