Is Zillow’s Email Marketing Effective, or Overwhelming?

Zillow has homes, apartments, townhouses, and condos for sale and rent all over the United States and Canada, and you can filter results to meet your desires.

Nearly ten percent of Americans move every year, equating to about 31 million people. Moving is a long, difficult experience, especially if you are moving a long distance or to an unfamiliar area. Packing up all your belongings, selling your house, and picking out your new home takes a lot of coordination, organization, and hard work. That’s why websites like Zillow can be so useful. You can even sell your house to Zillow if you are struggling to find a buyer.

Zillow also employs an extensive email marketing campaign, and users can receive email notifications from Zillow as frequently as several times a day, with subjects such as new homes for sale in areas customers are interested in, price drops or increases, and notifications of houses that have already sold. While this can be helpful for potential buyers who are looking for information, the sheer volume of emails also has the potential to be overwhelming.

Effective: Fast, Important Information is Necessary

As mentioned, buying or renting a new home is a difficult process, and of course, not everyone is a real estate expert. That’s where Zillow’s many emails can become important, because they can provide information that eases the process. If you are waiting to make an offer on a home, but are waiting because of the price, Zillow’s email notification of a price drop can be all the nudge you need. Additionally, if you’ve been paying attention to the housing market, you know how crazy it is right now. Homes are flying off the streets, buyers and renters are making offers sight-unseen, and there’s hardly any time to wait. A house could be posted to Zillow, and just hours later, already be off the market. Zillow’s frequent emails could be the difference between you getting your dream home, or losing it.

Overwhelming: Superfluous Information Takes Up Space

If you’re getting emails from Zillow three or four times a day, that can quickly become very overwhelming and confusing. By getting a notification about houses you may be interested in, houses you’ve already saved, prices about each of those homes, and notifications about potential offers and sold houses, it can be very difficult to sort out that information, especially the pieces that you didn’t ask for and aren’t interested in viewing. Granted, the website does offer the opportunity to change your email preferences; if you are feeling overwhelmed, you can change the frequency at which you receive emails, and the information you get, while still utilizing Zillow for any needs or wants.

So- What’s Right For You?

Whether Zillow’s email marketing is effective and important or overwhelming depends strongly on your motivations for using Zillow, and your current home goals. If you are actively looking for a house or apartment to buy or rent, these frequent and thorough email notifications can be life-saving, especially in the current housing market. But if you are casually looking for a new home, just enjoy using Zillow as a hobby, or have already purchased a home, it’s likely that all those emails will become annoying and frustrating, and it is probably a good idea to make some changes to your email preferences so Zillow isn’t clogging up your inbox. However, even if you are serious about a home, five emails a day can be excessive, and there’s nothing wrong with you making some changes, too.

Zillow can be a very useful tool when searching for a new home, but depending on your level of use of the website, the aggressive email marketing can either be useful, or annoying. Your personal goals will influence the impact of Zillow’s marketing techniques, so find the balance as you continue your search.