Latest / Marketing Automation with Fexingo: HubSpot, Marketo, and Automated Customer Journeys / Why Marketing Automation Ignores Your Home Sale
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot on this show about the blind spots in marketing automation, the moments where the software just can't see what's happening in a customer's life. Today I want to drill into one that hits an entire industry: the home sale. Luna: The home sale. As in, when someone lists their house and sells it? Because I can see how automation might track someone looking to buy, but selling is a whole different beast. Lucas: Exactly. And it's a beast that most marketing automation platforms, whether it's HubSpot or Marketo, are really bad at handling. I came across a case study from a regional brokerage in the Midwest that saw a forty percent drop in engagement from past clients within six months of a home sale. And the reason wasn't that the clients were unhappy. It's that the automation had no idea the sale even happened. Luna: Wait, how can it not know? If someone sells a house, that's a major life event. There's got to be data somewhere. Lucas: You'd think so. But the problem is that most automation relies on static demographic data and past behavior. It knows a client's age, their income bracket, maybe how many times they visited a listing page. But it doesn't have a field for 'home sold on August 3rd' or 'currently under contract.' So the system keeps sending the same generic home-buying content, when the person's reality has completely shifted. Luna: That sounds like a classic case of the software being built for a marketer's convenience, not the customer's life. And I think this is a good moment to mention, you know, if you're finding these conversations useful, and you've actually used some of the ideas we've talked about, listener support is what keeps this show ad-free. If you ever feel like it, you can buy us a coffee at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. No pressure, but it genuinely helps. Luna: Anyway, back to the home sale. Why is it so hard for automation to pick up on this? Lucas: Because the triggers are almost never captured. Think about it: a home sale is a long process, and each phase has its own signals. The listing, the open houses, the inspection, the appraisal, the closing. But automation platforms are event-driven, and they only know about events if someone tells them. Unless the agent or the CRM is manually updating a custom property, the system is flying blind. Luna: So it's not that the platforms can't do it, it's that the setup doesn't include those events. That's a huge gap. Lucas: Right. And the brokerage in that case study, they had a perfectly good HubSpot setup. They had workflows for new leads, for anniversary dates, for past clients. But no workflow for 'client just sold their home.' So when someone sold, they'd get an email the next week saying 'Thinking of buying? We have great listings for you!' Which is not just wrong, it's tone-deaf. Luna: And that's when they start ignoring your emails. Or worse, they mark you as spam. Lucas: Exactly. And the fix is actually pretty straightforward. You need to create custom event properties that map to the home selling journey. For example, a property called 'Home Sale Stage' with values like 'Listed,' 'Under Contract,' 'Closed.' Then you set up automation to update those fields—either through integrations with the MLS or through manual entry by the agent. Luna: But isn't manual entry a pain? Agents are busy, and they're not going to update a CRM every time something happens. Lucas: That's true. But there are ways to make it easier. Some platforms have APIs that can pull data from the MLS automatically. Or you can use a simple form that agents can fill out on their phone after a closing. The key is to make the data capture as frictionless as possible. Otherwise, it won't happen. Luna: So once you have that data, what do you do with it? What's the right automated response to a home sale? Lucas: It depends on the relationship. If it's a past client who just sold, you don't want to immediately pitch them on buying another home. They might be moving to a rental, or they might be downsizing, or they might be relocating to another city. The smart move is to send a congratulatory message, and then ask a question: 'What's next for you?' That opens up a conversation, and it gives you the data you need for future personalization. Luna: So it's about shifting from a batch and blast approach to a more conversational one. That makes sense for real estate, but I bet this applies to other industries too. Lucas: Absolutely. Think about any long-term customer relationship that has a major life event in the middle: a wedding, a new baby, a career change. We've talked about several of those on this show. But the home sale is particularly tricky because it's a finite event that completely resets the customer's context. And most automation treats it as just another transaction. Luna: Let's talk about that reset. After someone sells a home, how long does it take for them to re-engage with the market, if at all? Lucas: That's a great question. National Association of Realtors data suggests that the average time between home sales is around five to seven years. But that's an average. Some people sell and buy within months, others move into a rental for a while. The point is, if you're not tracking the sale, you're guessing, and your automation is sending irrelevant messaging to someone who's not in the market. Luna: And that irrelevance kills your deliverability. If people stop opening your emails, your sender reputation drops. Lucas: Right. That's why this matters from a purely operational standpoint. It's not just about being nice to the customer, it's about protecting your ability to reach them at all. The brokerage in that case, they saw not only a drop in engagement, but their overall email open rates fell by fifteen percent across their entire list. Because a lot of those past clients were marking emails as spam. Luna: Ouch. So what's the solution? How do you build that home-sale trigger into your automation? Lucas: First, you need to define the event. Create a custom property, like 'Home Sale Status.' Then you need to decide how that gets updated. If you're using an MLS integration, great. If not, you can create a simple workflow where the agent updates it manually. The important thing is that it's consistent. Luna: And then you need to build the different paths for each status, right? Like what happens when someone is listed, versus under contract, versus closed? Lucas: Exactly. For 'Listed,' you might want to pause any buying-related emails and send a checklist for sellers. For 'Under Contract,' you could send a timeline of what to expect. And for 'Closed,' that's the moment to shift into post-sale mode: ask about their moving plans, offer a list of trusted vendors, and start the process of nurturing them for the next sale. Luna: That sounds like a lot of moving parts. Is there a simpler way to start? Lucas: Sure. Start with a simple 'sold' tag. Just tag anyone who you know has sold a home. Then, create a workflow that sends a one-time congratulations email and asks what they're planning next. From there, you can branch out. The key is to start the conversation and listen to the response. That's more valuable than any complex automation. Luna: So it's about building a relationship, not just a pipeline. And that's something automation can help with, if you set it up right. Lucas: Right. And I think the broader lesson is that marketing automation is only as good as the data you put in. If you're not capturing the significant events in your customers' lives, you're just guessing. And guessing means you're going to send the wrong message at the wrong time, and that's how you lose trust. Luna: And trust is the thing you can't automate. You have to earn it. Lucas: Absolutely. So, for anyone in real estate or any business with long customer lifecycles, take a hard look at your triggers. Ask yourself: what life events are you missing? And then think about how you can capture those events in your automation. It might be the difference between a customer who ghosts you and one who comes back to you five years later for their next sale. Luna: That's a great note to end on. Thanks for listening, everyone.