On Saint Patrick’s Day in 2020, Jacqui Luberto opened the doors to her own brokerage, Realty ONE Group Emerald Coast in Destin, Florida – the same day the governor shut the state down in response to the global pandemic. Since then, the real estate industry has changed drastically, with many ups and downs as the housing market shifts. But, thanks to hard work, a personal touch, and an effective marketing strategy, Jacqui and her team have successfully navigated the unpredictability. The brokerage now includes five locations, 165 agents, and a full team of 210 people.
Email Open Rate: 43%
Open Rate Growth YOY: +7%
And if the booming brokerage wasn’t enough to keep her busy, Jacqui also runs six other affiliated businesses together with her husband, who is the director of operations and oversees all of their company financials. Splitting responsibilities with her husband allows Jacqui to dedicate her time to the agents and growing the brokerage.
“My husband is a huge part of what we do. It lets me be a better leader. I get to focus on people instead of production, which just changes up the feel of real estate for my agents,” Jacqui explained. “I allow my agents to define success for themselves, and then I support them through achieving that.”
With such a personal approach to leadership, a cornerstone of Jacqui’s marketing communications plan is customized email and SMS text message content. Constant Contact is a key part of her communication plan because it enables her to efficiently and effectively use multiple marketing channels. She can create email templates to speed up workflows, organize contacts into different audience segments, and seamlessly text her team with important updates, all within the same tool. And when all that is done, the reporting dashboard shows her what works well and what doesn’t so she can pivot and make improvements.
“It’s really easy to integrate all of the different real estate businesses and their individual goals. [Constant Contact] has become such a reliable tool that not having it would really leave a gap.” — Jacqui Luberto
Increasing efficiency with email templates
In real estate, timing is everything, so being able to reach people quickly is essential in order to close sales. Whether Jacqui needs to inform her agents of upcoming networking events or announce new properties to clients, she uses email templates to ensure that her team has emails ready to go at a moment’s notice – and that the messaging and visuals are consistent with the Realty ONE Group Emerald Coast brand.
Part of the support Jacqui offers her agents is sending emails on their behalf when they need to advertise an open house or promote a newly listed property. “Our agents using it to promote their listings have reported additional showings and contracts coming in after pushing out a property-specific email,” she said.
“It’s very plug-and-play for the agent to just select what they want. Within a couple of minutes, we’ve got that email out and into the hands of thousands of real estate agents in the market,” Jacqui added. “Constant Contact gives you a start with your information, the templates, and the colors. It’s so easy to build without having to know how it all works. And your ability to put that information in the hands of the other agents in your market is pivotal to your success as a listing agent. ”
Segmenting the way to success
Relationships are the bread and butter of the real estate industry, whether they are with agents, buyers, sellers, or other industry professionals. Jacqui uses segmentation to make sure she is reaching the right people and providing them with relevant information. Custom, targeted content makes subscribers feel seen and understood, which nurtures relationships for years to come.
“I have so many different people in different segments that I need to market to every day.” Jacqui explained. “We can quickly identify all these different segments, how they need to work together, and what we need to message to them. Within minutes, we’ve got that message curated and sent.”
Besides sending marketing emails and communicating with her current staff, Jacqui also needs to recruit and onboard new agents to keep the company growing.
“Constant Contact allows us to also email proactively to people who have just gotten their real estate license. So when I do reach out to them, they’re not surprised… We’re able to use Constant Contact to send one message to those new agents and a completely different message to experienced agents very easily.”
Making it simple with SMS
In addition to email, Jacqui depends on SMS text messages to share important business updates and a weekly calendar of events. This helps the brokerage run efficiently and maintains a personal connection with her team – no matter where they are.
“Constant Contact lets us send out group text messages each Monday to let them know what we have going on. The agents don’t have to go look for that information – we recognize that they’re all in different places. They’re all doing different things,” said Jacqui. “It’s very easy to click and just see what’s going on for the week.”
Listening to the numbers
With Constant Contact’s reporting tools, Jacqui and her team can see digital marketing metrics, which helps them make decisions that improve results. For example, they know that the average email open rate is 43%, and they can see the click rate for each SMS text message. In 2025, their average SMS click rate is 20%.
“We’re really into our numbers right now and really looking at what’s working and what’s not working with our emails,” Jacqui said. “We track the delivery, the open rate, and the click-through rate.”
By using insights from the data, they can pay attention to emails that perform really well and try to emulate them in the future.
“We’re looking for that one email that just fell flat or that one email that was double the click-through rate. It allows us to quickly identify results and do A/B testing right in real time. We’re just making sure what we’re doing is being well received, and then we want to duplicate that as much as possible.”
Selling more properties
By using Constant Contact for multi-channel marketing, Jacqui keeps many balls in the air and continues to evolve her business ventures. With email templates, segmentation, personalized content, SMS text messaging, and reporting, the brokerage not only keeps going – it keeps growing.
“I am able to put a property in front of 7,000 real estate agents across four markets in the same day. It’s in the inbox of all of those people,” she said. “You will absolutely sell more properties with good marketing. Constant Contact allows us to do so many things.”
