As a roofing professional, you know every job demands a unique approach. With so much competition and so many customers in need of your help, it’s essential to put yourself out there through effective marketing and networking strategies. Roofing email marketing is a powerful way to do just that without wasting too much of your time.
Think about it. A single roofing email marketing campaign can reach thousands of customers at once. You can send emails every day, keeping your business at the top of your customers’ minds whenever they need you. Roofing email marketing also lets you build lasting relationships with your customer base, ensuring repeat business for years to come.
But knowing what’s good for you and actually doing it are two different things. This guide will provide you with a comprehensive overview of roofing email marketing, from the basics to the best practices and beyond. Let’s dive in.
How Can Roofers Use Email Marketing
We put a lot of stock in email marketing here at Scorpion. Why do we do it? Because it gives you the power to do so many things at once! With a short, cost-effective email, you can boost conversions, generate buzz, promote your products, and a lot more. Emails give you the opportunity to:
- Sell Your Services: Email marketing is an effective way for roofing businesses to pitch their services. It’s a voluntary professional relationship between your roofing business and anyone who signs up for your newsletter, so have at it. Highlight your recent roofing jobs, tell them about problems they don’t know they have yet, and sell yourself to anyone in need of a roofing contractor.
- Share Every Customer Success Story: Roofing email marketing lets you give your customers what they want most before buying: Real stories from real people you’ve helped. As much as they want to hear from you, they would like to hear even more from “Gary across town,” whose roof had the same weird issue they have today. Here’s your chance to share all your customer successes.
- Deliver Educational Content: Email marketing is an excellent strategy to educate your audience. Giving advice and ideas about roofing can help you get more business and show your knowledge in the field. Weave in links from your blog posts or articles to give your emails some extra seasoning.
- Offer Special Deals or Promotions: Offering discounts on roofing services or new promotions to your customers not only encourages new signups but also engages your current customer base. You can even start a loyalty program for email subscribers to reward their continued support of your roofing company.
- Share News About Your Roofing Business: Emails are a great way to spread awareness about the latest happenings in your company or the roofing industry at large. This could include seasonal or weather-related tips, upcoming changes you’re making, or other newsworthy items.
As you can see, an email digital marketing campaign does many things at once. Among all the other marketing strategies you can employ as a roofer, this is one of the most important. At Scorpion, we invest a lot of time in developing comprehensive email marketing strategies for our clients. We strongly believe that email campaigns are a cornerstone of a healthy business, which is why we place so much emphasis on them.
Roofing Email Marketing Strategy
Roofing email marketing centers on leads and prospects. Not everyone who interacts with your content will become a paying customer, but all of them are prospects. Your job is to take those leads and cultivate them into customers willing to pay for your roofing services over time.
To achieve that, you need to source email addresses. It’s possible to buy lists with email addresses of people who have bought a product or service in the recent past, but these are often unreliable, outdated, and even unethically sourced. Instead, you can grow your list organically using several tactics to capture addresses. These could be:
- A landing page for potential customers to opt into your emails
- An email subscription form listed on your blog or website
- Offering compelling bonuses in exchange for an email address
The idea isn’t to sell a product but to make contacts and build relationships that might blossom down the line. Sourcing roofing leads is a critical part of any roofing marketing strategy, and there are many ways to do it.
Social Media and Local Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for Roofing Marketing
Most of your customers are probably already on social media. Pay attention in your interactions to what platforms they prefer, be it Facebook, Instagram, or any of the other major sites. Along with your Google Business profile, you should establish business pages on major social media platforms where customers can interact with you freely.
These interactions are gold mines for roofing lead nurturing. First, you can target specific geographical areas via local SEO, reaching customers in the neighborhoods where you operate. Second, you can coordinate local events or community service projects to draw in more interested prospects. These events are great opportunities to get new customers signed up for your emails, so don’t let them go to waste.
Organic digital marketing like this saves you the trouble of setting up a paid advertising campaign. Although Google Ads, Facebook ads, and other forms of paid ads are effective, word-of-mouth advertising is often just as, if not more, effective, and it’s easier for small business budgets to bear. Ask your happy customers to leave reviews on your Google Business profile page to boost your roofing SEO efforts.
At Scorpion, we focus our social media marketing on establishing secure customer feedback and interaction. When customers have a positive social media experience with your brand, they’re more likely to visit your website to see what you’re all about. That’s when we present them with the option of signing up to your email list in exchange for a PDF, promotion, or some other item of value. This is an excellent way to turn leads into valuable customers for the long haul.
3 Roofing Email Marketing Examples
As powerful as email marketing is, it can’t help you without great execution and strategy. You need to plan your campaign in detail to get the most from it. If you’re not sure what that looks like, we’re bringing together some examples here to help you out.
Example 1: Personalization in Email Writing
You never want your readers to feel you’ve written an email to a general audience. Each email should sound personal and targeted to a specific person, addressing one specific problem they’re facing. Even though your email content marketing campaign is for hundreds or even thousands of people, it should be targeted to the individual to be relevant.
So design your emails with the individual customer in mind. Engage them with personalized content segmented by their unique preferences or behaviors and resonating with their individual interests. If they’ve shown recent interest in shingles, filter them into a list of customers interested in that topic and write content for them.
If done right, personalization can increase your chances of converting a roofing lead into a paying customer.
Example 2: The Use of Engaging Visual Design
Since “a picture is worth a thousand words,” why not leverage that power into more attention and clicks from your audience? Crafting visually appealing emails with high-quality images that make lasting impressions is a surefire way to entice your customers to learn more about you.
Have you thought about taking before-and-after pics of your roofing jobs? Snap a photo when you first arrive at the site, then take another after repairing the roof. You can share these with your email list to showcase your work. It’s like broadcasting a neon sign saying, “This is what I could do for you!”
We use this sort of marketing material a lot here at Scorpion. Our email marketing campaigns go out with a lot of compelling images to inspire action from your customers. We also work hard to make sleek, modern campaigns that look great and fulfill your goals.
Example 3: Using Email to Follow Up With Your Customers
Great digital marketing strategies depend on consistent lead nurturing and following up with prospects at every opportunity. You need to stay at the top of their minds, particularly in busier times of the year when roofing services are in high demand.
For instance, once a prospect signs up to receive your emails, immediately send them an initial promotional offer or a consultation request form. It gets the ball rolling and sets the tone for your professional relationship. It shows you care about them and want to provide them with excellent service.
You can automate these follow-up emails at consistent intervals as well. It saves you time and lets you stay in touch with your prospects better.
Scorpion’s email strategy is simple: Every email is written for just one person. The content of each email is geared toward conversion, with every element aiming toward that goal. We strongly believe that personalization and visually appealing designs make all the difference.
3 Roofing Email Marketing Templates
Alright, we’ve established that email marketing works, and you need it. But writing an effective email can be challenging, especially when you have to do it so often. Templates — like the ones we’ll show you below — can get the job done faster and more effectively.
We’ll review three common email template types.
Template 1: The Ol’ “Welcome Aboard” Email
Subject Line: Thanks for signing up with [Company Name]!
[Name of Customer],
As the owner of [Company Name], let me take a moment to welcome you to our newsletter. We’re thrilled that you chose us for your roofing needs, and we look forward to providing you with the exceptional service you deserve.
This email is to let you know we’re here to help. Our experts can answer your questions or offer guidance about common roofing problems.
We can also offer you a special discount if you schedule a consultation within the next month. It’s a token of our appreciation for choosing us.
Thanks again,
[CEO Name]
(Use this when customers first sign up to receive emails from you. The discount isn’t just a nice incentive — it actively encourages signup and helps you book new business in the near future.)
Template 2: The Ol’ “Limited-Time Promotional Offer” Email
Subject Line: (Limited-Time Offer) Save Up to [Insert X Tons of Money Here] Dollars On Your Repair.
Hey [Name of Customer],
Weather like this really hammers home the importance of a good roof over your head, doesn’t it? For the next [period of time] only, we can offer you an exclusive discount of [X dollars or percentage off] if you book us for roofing repair or maintenance.
The biggest mistake people make is letting tiny nuisances turn into gigantic problems. Since we want to help you avoid that, we’re offering our top-quality roofing services at an affordable price with this limited-time offer.
Looking forward to hearing from you, and thank you for choosing [Company Name].
Best,
[CEO Name]
(Leverage those limited-time offers to create a sense of urgency in your readers. It’s especially effective, as the template implies, in times of ‘iffy’ weather, like lots of rain or snow. Everyone benefits from having their roof inspected, and that’s a great moment for you to pitch your services.)
Template 3: The Ol’ “Follow-up” Email
Subject Line: Been a while since we heard from you!
Hey [Name of Customer],
We couldn’t help but notice you haven’t reached out to us in a while about your roof.
That’s okay. We just want to remind you that maintenance is the best preventative measure against an expensive roofing crisis. And even though life gets busy, these little crises can sneak up on you. It sometimes takes a trained eye to find the small leaks and cracks in your roof.
If there’s anything we can do to help you out or if you have a couple of questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out. We truly value your business and the opportunity to serve you.
Best,
[CEO Name]
(This is just a nice casual email to keep your business in their mind. Mailchimp and other professional email services will let you know when someone isn’t interacting with your emails, so you can use that data to spruce up your offerings. Remember, email is about lead nurturing as much as it is about selling.)
Scorpion offers pre-built templates to make the process of writing emails more efficient. But remember, templates are not to be followed rigidly. They’re a baseline to establish what you want to say and how, but filling in the details is up to you.
Don’t Wait On Your Roofing Email Marketing Campaign
There’s no time like the present if you haven’t already begun email marketing. We hope this guide and the examples we’ve provided inspire you to start your email marketing campaign. But if you need some help, consider turning to the experts at Scorpion. Our team is ready to accelerate your roofing business growth, so schedule a consultation with us today.