"Send Mail. Send Texts. Get Listings!"

Who Else Wants An "AI Proof," Scalable System For Growing Your Real Estate Business?

Hi, I'm Ryan, one of the Co-Founders of Thanks.io.

For the last 8 years, we've been helping real estate agents all over North America generate consistent conversations through our automated direct mail platform at Thanks.io.

Our system now serves 5,000+ business owners, including hundreds of top-producing real estate agents like Brett Furman in suburban Philadelphia.

You can watch Brett's unsolicited thoughts about us here below:

Top producing brokers and team leaders like Brett use Thanks.io every day to send postcards, letters, and notecards that help them reach new clients, recruit prospects, and retain existing relationships.

You know, the basics:

etc...

The bread and butter stuff that keeps your pipeline flowing.

And alongside these common use cases, we're always testing fresh angles and new ideas with direct mail.

A few months ago we started experimenting with something new.

👉 We started using Thanks.io's "trigger webhook on postal delivery" feature to automatically send follow-up text messages a few days after someone receives a mail piece.

It worked great for us internally...

And when we started adding a text follow up step for some of our real estate users we started seeing replies such as:

The initial piece of mail works great as an "ice breaker," so the follow up text doesn't feel too "cold" or pushy...

Here Are Some Other Reasons Why This Combo Works So Well

👉 Physical mail gets opened 90% of the time (vs 20% for email)

👉 Text messages get opened 98% of the time within 3 minutes

👉 Combined approach response rates: 4-8% respond to cards, 10-30% respond to text follow-up!

👉 It's completely automatable: You can "set and forget" a mail then text system in an hour or 2...

... and then from there it's just a matter of dealing with the warm inbound conversations you'll start getting every day.

Once you've decided to start "Mailing Then Texting," You'll Probably See:

✔️ 1-3% of recipients respond because they're actually considering selling pretty soon...

✔️ 10-30% respond to text follow-up (even if just to acknowledge receiving the card)...

✔️ Higher quality conversations than cold outreach...

✔️ No spam filters, blocked numbers, or ignored emails...

Not because of posting on social media daily... and not because of expensive lead sources...

But because you're using a systematic approach that gets homeowners to raise their hand and say "Yes, I got your card" - which naturally leads to into conversations about when and whether the homeowner is thinking about selling anytime soon.

Mailing Then Texting Can Solve 3 Main Problems For You

Problem #1: "I need more predictable lead flow"

Does your business currently rely on referrals, expired listings, or expensive lead sources? Does it work sometimes, but it's NOT generating consistent and predictable conversations?

The Solution: One systematic "Mail Then Text" approach where you send a consistent flow of AI realistic handwritten cards to your target area, followed by automated personalized text messages.

Problem #2: "I need better quality conversations"

Are you getting leads that aren't qualified? People who are just curious but have no real intention of selling?

The Solution: "Mail Then Text" pre-qualifies prospects with "Golden Notecards" that ask directly about their selling intentions, so you only have conversations with homeowners who are actually considering a move.

Problem #3: "I'm tired of competing with every other agent"

Are you fighting over the same expired listings and meta ad leads as 20 other agents? Buying the same leads that everyone else is buying?

"Mail Then Text" gives you a direct line to homeowners in your target area before they hit the market or start shopping for an agent online.

With..

No expired listing battles
No FSBO cold calling
No expensive lead purchases
No social media posting
No complicated funnels
No content creation
No door knocking

Just: Mail → Text → Conversation → Appointment

The Traditional Way 👎	The Mail Then Text Way 👍
❌ Fight over the same expired & fsbo listings as 20 other agents	✅ Reach homeowners before they decide to sell
❌ Pay premium prices for the same "vendor" leads everyone else is buying	✅ Generate your own exclusive conversations for well under the cost of an overpriced Zillow lead.
❌ Hope your phone rings with a referral	✅ Respond to text messages from people who got your mail.
❌ Send generic printed postcards that look like junk mail	✅ Send AI realistic handwritten cards that look like you personally wrote them.

Here's How To Set Up Your Automated Mailing Then Text System

Step 1: Build Your Mailing List

Our favorite "likely to sell" mailing list source uses ai to overlay criteria like:

Homeowners who've owned for 5+ Years
Properties with significant equity
Demographic indicators suggesting life changes like divorce and kids moving away to college

Step 2: Create Your Golden Notecard Campaign

The most effective notecards we've seen follow a pattern similar to a "Golden Letter."

Simple question format: "Hi [Name], just curious are you thinking about selling your home on [STREET] anytime soon? If yes, please call or text me at NUMBER"
Agent branding with picture at the bottom
P.S. Call To Action

The P.S. call to action should mention a scannable QR code to "learn more about the current value of your house and send the homeowner straight into your home value tool.

👉 It is also highly recommended that you use something like Thanks.io's "EvenFlow" campaign sending approach to send 5-10 notecards a day in the beginning.

This is better than sending a huge batch for a number of reasons.

evenFlow sending let's you gradually test and scale your budget higher.
Sending only 5-10 follow up text messages a day is WAY better for TCPA compliance
Managing the conversations generating from 5-10 a day is WAY easier than dealing with an immediate onslaught of conversations :)

And overall the purpose of this system is to get you away from "Spray & Pray," and instead give a system that can be scaled steadily while giving you a predictable flow of "conversations with homeowners who might list with you..."

Step 3: Automate The Text Follow Up

On delivery of your notecard, Thanks.io can trigger a webhook to your sms enabled crm or tools like BluText that queue up text messages to be sent directly from your phone.

The most effective follow up texts go something like:

"Hi [Name], just checking to see if you got the notecard I sent about [ADDRESS]?"

Here's A Quick Diagram Overview Of The Process

The best part is that once your Mail Then Text listing funnel is built, it can run mostly on autopilot.

And it works so well because:

AI realistic handwriting forces attention. Our proprietary engine creates cards so realistic that recipients believe they're personally handwritten. It's impossible to ignore physical mail in your hands.
Text messages get immediate responses. 98% of text messages are opened within 3 minutes. When you text someone asking "Did you get my card?" they almost always respond.
No competition from other agents. While everyone else is fighting over the same expired listings, you're having conversations with homeowners before they hit the market.
No spam filters or blocks. Physical mail and personal texts bypass all the digital noise and "AI Slop" that's making it hard to get your marketing through these days.

Types of responses you can expect:

"I got your card - we've been thinking about downsizing but weren't sure about timing"
"Not ready now but maybe next year"
"I'm not looking to sell, but my neighbor mentioned they might be"
"Yes, I got it. What's my house worth?"