While most technology aimed at real estate is focusing on moving to the internet, one California-based direct marketing company is insisting that there is still a need for the human touch

SendPepper, a company that combines web marketing with direct mail, is finding success by offering the direct mail campaigns used by large companies like Amazon to small businesses.

‘As we virtualize all of these services that used to be offered by offices, we are finding that people are looking for that sense that there is someone out there,’ says Landon Ray, CEO of OfficeAutopilot, SendPepper’s parent company.

“There is something much more tangible about having something in your hand and we are finding that there is a demand for it.”

Though maybe part of a rearguard action, SendPepper does unite two of the current trends that are occurring in the real estate market: the use of the web to generate high-value leads, and the recognition of ‘community’.

By using the response rates from targeted and personalized direct mail to direct customers to internet pages, it can then bring them ‘online’ to allow more sophisticated tools to gather information on them.

SendPepper works by linking together interest from the web and offline contact data. Existing paper-based lists are automated and new ones generated. Visitors to a web page generate a record that the system then tracks all the way along the sales cycle, keeping a complete record of web visits and responses to email, which includes phone calls and meetings.

It works by tracking who’s on your site, how long they’re staying, and what pages they’re viewing in real time. Once it has some understanding of you, the system will automatically send follow-up emails, phone calls, or direct mailings at intervals that the realtor specifies. Once set up, SendPepper then automates the process.

‘Imagine visiting a site, looking at a potential property, then receiving a postcard in the mail offering additional details and a personal tour,’ says Ray.

With the debate starting over whether real estate offices will leave their former bricks and mortar to become virtual shadows of their former selves, Ray claims that SendPepper can go some way to solving that.

‘Realtors are famous direct mail users, but in the past it has been batch and blast. Our system changes that by collecting information that then allows you to have a dialogue with your customers.

‘What we aim to do is help you generate a list – and then help you nurture it.’

Ray says that SendPepper does this by noting specific information, such as birthdays and the anniversary of someone moving into a house, then sending out appropriate post cards or emails.

‘Direct mail is a very powerful tool. There has been a slump in its use since the arrival of the web, but now we are seeing it pick up because people are getting very intolerant of their email queues being jammed with junk.’

Ray claims that by sending out personalized cards, tailored to an event, that realtors can show an awareness of their customers that enhances their brand.

The system also offers a personalized landing page system that increases response rates and can be used for particular campaigns.