REI Nation: Turnkey Real Estate Investing Company Grows Traffic and Qualified Leads

Press Play to Hear From Our Client:

"Sauce is a fantastic team that has taken the time to listen and understand what we really needed. As we've evolved as a company, they've been there to make sure the marketing is working. We're looking forward to many more years to come with this team."

Chris Clothier, Partner, REI Nation

Summary:

Customer: REI Nation, formerly known as Memphis Invest

Sauce Solutions Tier: Scale Smarter

Timeline with Sauce: 2019 - Present

Services/Deliverables: Team Sauce consistently works to drive results, increase efficiency, decrease costs and craft innovative solutions. So far, our engagement with REI Nation has included:

Results:

Introduction: 

In early 2019, REI Nation (Real Estate Investor Nation), then called Memphis Invest, contacted Sauce because they wanted the user experience on their website to match the amazing experience they provide to each of their turnkey real estate investors. They also wanted to make better use of their HubSpot Enterprise Marketing Hub, and its integration with Salesforce. 

Team Sauce met with REI Nation’s key stakeholders to gather facts, feelings and perspective about the business. While it was clear there was room for alignment in several areas, everyone was in agreement about the fact that REI Nation was doing something right when it came to attracting new customers—they just weren’t quite sure what that was. In spite of their best efforts, their tech-stack wasn’t yet positioned to provide insights into what was working and what wasn’t.

It was clear REI Nation was in the position so many successful, scaling businesses often find themselves in—they had grown quickly, and in order to continue on that growth trajectory, they needed support, guidance and implementation from a team of experts. Team Sauce is honored to be the team they chose back then and the team they still entrust today to help them Grow Smarter! Below you’ll find highlights of some of the ways Team Sauce has served REI Nation since 2019. 

A Story That Sells:

Problem: REI Nation is a family owned and operated business with an amazing team of 130 dedicated employees. Together, they’ve worked hard to refine the unique approach that enables thousands of passive real estate investors to confidently choose REI Nation as their Turnkey Real Estate Investing Provider. They’re proud of all they’ve accomplished. Their hard work and dedication to excellence is evident in everything they do, and that is certainly something to be proud of. 

Unfortunately though, like so many other businesses, they were leading with their accomplishments to demonstrate authority. When a business does this, they believe they will impress their prospective customers. Instead, the business positions itself as the hero of the story. The problem is, a prospect with a problem isn’t looking for a hero. They’re looking for a guide with a plan to help them travel far, far away from “the land of problems” to “the magical land of problem solved”.

Plan: In 2019, we used HubSpot’s Inbound Marketing Methodology to develop an empathetic understanding of REI Nation’s target personas. Then, we used our understanding of their brand voice to create on-brand messaging that was better positioned to compel their best prospects to take action. 

Build: In 2019, we were able to begin shifting their messaging away from touting their own accomplishments to demonstrate authority, but full disclosure, we just didn’t know what we didn’t know. This version of their messaging was a huge step in the right direction but it still left plenty of room for improvement as well.

Fortify: In 2021, Team Sauce combined our in-depth knowledge of REI Nation with our data-driven understanding of their best customers, HubSpot’s Inbound Marketing Methodology, and our StoryBrand Agency Certification to craft a Story That Sells. Then, we started with their most popular website pages to implement iterative improvements to both the user interface (UI) and user experience (UX. This included a repositioning of their messaging that leads with empathy and guides with authority.

2022’s predictions of an upcoming economic recession showed us that REI Nation needed to reframe their messaging to address this concern for their customers and prospective investors. We reframed REI Nation’s messaging to acknowledge the fear and hesitation that the predicted downturn is causing, and to inform readers of REI Nation’s track record for producing positive outcomes for their investors despite past economic downturns and recessions. As a result, REI Nation’s incoming leads and sales have remained on-track to meet their growth goals, and more importantly, their investors are continuing to build wealth through real estate investing . 

Content Management System: HubSpot CMS Enterprise
Approach: Growth-Driven Design + StoryBrand

A System That Scales:

Problem: REI Nation adopted inbound methodology and the HubSpot Marketing Hub very early on in HubSpot’s existence. At the time, HubSpot didn’t even have a Sales Hub, much less a Service Hub or Operations Hub. So, the sales and service teams within their organization used Salesforce, and an integration between the two systems was put into place. In 2019, when REI Nation became a Sauce customer, they had been through several in-house HubSpot Administrators and a quick audit of their HubSpot portal showed evidence of this. They needed documentation and consistent administration to ensure they were realizing the benefits of a fully-optimized tech stack, which included HubSpot Enterprise Marketing Hub, HubSpot CMS, HubSpot CRM and Salesforce.

Plan: We quickly began an in-depth audit to take inventory of what was in their portal, how it was being used, and how it was mapped to Salesforce. Next, we documented our proposed approach and presented it to their Salesforce team.

Build: We implemented the plan to clean up the custom properties, workflows, lists, contacts, landing pages, files and so on. Then, worked alongside their Salesforce team to streamline and optimize data flow to support successful handoff of sales-qualified leads (SQLs) to Salesforce through the HubSpot - Salesforce Integration.

Fortify: As a business grows, its processes evolve, and so too must the systems that support those processes, if you intend to enable continued growth. For REI Nation, this means Sauce serves as their HubSpot Solutions Partner. From developing complex solutions to implementing minor adjustments, we work to continually align their systems with their evolving sales and marketing processes. 

We also coordinate with their Salesforce team to update the HubSpot - Salesforce integration, which ensures the information gathered in the marketing leg of the buyer's journey enables the sales team to contextualize the conversations they’re having with prospective investors. We continue to work with REI Nation to identify opportunities to both future-proof their tech-stack, and proactively address portions of their setup that require iterative improvements.

In 2022, we implemented Business Units in their HubSpot Marketing Enterprise portal to enable separation between communications with customers and prospects. Alongside this initiative, we assisted in setting up a business unit for another brand in their family of brands. We are now in the process of decommissioning this business unit and reallocating it for a different brand in their family of brands. This work will allow data-driven decision-making about the marketing efforts of the other brand, as well as a better user experience for the customers and prospects of this brand. Be on the lookout for another case study for this project soon!

A Website That Wows:

Problem: In 2019, when REI Nation first came to Sauce, their website had a lot of great information. Unfortunately, the design was dated and all that great information wasn’t organized in a way that was intuitive to site visitors—better known as prospective clients. 

Plan: Our initial rebuild of REI Nation’s website required a more traditional approach rather than Growth-Driven Design. All 200+ pages of their website needed to be addressed in a short timeframe to ensure there wasn’t a vast disconnect in the path through their content. So, Team Sauce rolled up our sleeves, looked to our foundational data including customer personas and their buyer’s journey map to plan and implement a total redesign of their website. 

This rebuild/redesign took place before Sauce became a StoryBrand Agency. While our messaging has always been based on an empathetic understanding of the target persona(s), the messaging on this iteration of the REI Nation website was not crafted using the StoryBrand methodology and in hindsight, while our improved messaging was a huge step in the right direction, it still left much room for improvement. Spoiler - in the Fortify portion of this section we’ll share how we were able to improve the messaging on their site to perform even better after becoming a StoryBrand Certified Agency.

Build: Using the HubSpot CMS, we applied their new design and upgraded messaging to each page. We took care to redirect any pages that were not going to be recreated to avoid 404 errors and negative SEO implications. We also made sure to optimize each page to be responsive on all screen sizes. 

In the process of this total overhaul, REI Nation, then Memphis Invest, was so excited about the improvements we were making that they decided this was the perfect opportunity to launch a rebrand of their company alongside the launch of their new website. You can learn more about that work in the next section, “A Brand That Beckons”.

Fortify: On an ongoing basis, we collaborate with REI Nation’s marketing team to conceptualize new campaigns. Then, we build, launch, test and improve those campaigns in HubSpot.

We also practice Growth-Driven Design with their website, which means we look to the data to inform improvements of existing pages on the site and identify opportunities for new pages and content. 

In 2021, after becoming a StoryBrand Certified Agency, we assessed the data on REI Nation’s homepage through the StoryBrand perspective. While the homepage wasn’t performing poorly, we hypothesized that the application of the StoryBrand methodology would improve both performance and the user experience. So, we rebuilt REI Nation’s homepage using the StoryBrand methodology. The results were undeniable. Not only were visitors staying on the homepage longer than before, but they were also staying on the entire site longer, and transitioning into a sales qualified lead (SQL) faster. 

In 2022, as mentioned in the Story That Sells section above, we adjusted the messaging to accommodate the prediction of an economic downturn. This was because the site traffic had decreased, as did the number of leads coming in. After these adjustments to their message, we worked with the REI Nation marketing team to re-launch an advertising campaign on a third-party website that attracts large numbers of REI Nation’s target personas. In just a few weeks, the incoming leads were headed up and after about a month, they were back to their average lead volume. 

As the economy shifts, we’ll continue to work with their in-house team to ensure REI Nation is positioned to meet its prospective investors with empathy and guide them with authority to the successful Residential Real Estate Investing outcomes REI Nation is known to deliver to its thousands of investors—time and time again.

As a result of the work Sauce has done on their website, REI Nation has seen an average increase of 11.23% in Organic Traffic, and an average increase of 36.19% in New Customer Sessions. While we’re not able to share company and revenue growth data here, one of the partners at REI Nation was kind enough to record a video testimonial for us which you can check out at the bottom of this case study.

A Brand That Beckons:

Problem: At their inception, REI Nation was called Memphis Invest. The company focused on investment properties in the greater Memphis, TN area, but as their proven process for true turnkey investing generated results, the demand for their services increased, and they set their sights on expansion into other markets. In what seemed like no time at all, Memphis Invest was in 8+ markets and growing. This meant the “Memphis” portion of their name didn’t quite make sense anymore. They needed a new name and a new brand aesthetic that could represent both the company they had become and the company they were continuing to grow into. 

Plan: As any savvy entrepreneurs would, the leadership at Memphis Invest anticipated the day would come that they may need a name that made room for the next stage of their business. In anticipation of this, they had already begun using “REI Nation” for one portion of their operation. They also already had a logo that simply needed to be translated into a vector version. The one thing they didn’t have was a Brand StyleGuide. So, we took their team through our discovery process to align on the personality of their new brand. 

Build: Equipped with information from the leadership team at REI Nation, and more importantly, real user data from their audience, Team Sauce set out to develop their Brand StyleGuide. No detail was left undetermined. Fonts, colors, correct logo usage, brand voice guidelines, audio branding guidelines, and how to choose on-brand multimedia elements were all included. Their comprehensive StyleGuide was positioned to ensure that no matter who was working on an asset for the brand, the requirements were clear and the cohesive brand identity, down to the most nuanced detail, could remain intact.

Fortify: When a Brand StyleGuide is well done, there isn’t a lot to do beyond ensuring the rules of the guide are followed. The team at REI Nation does an excellent job at this. One thing we have added along the way are accent colors, mostly used on calls-to-action, because the real user data we gathered through A/B testing revealed that certain colors resulted in more clicks and conversions than others. We’ve also added and adjusted web fonts as iterative improvements to keep their website aesthetic subtly up-to-date. 

Moments That Matter:

Problem: Genuinely, there was no problem with the experience REI Nation provided to its customers, and there still isn’t. The biggest opportunity with regard to experience was to provide a more contextualized experience for each person on their website. 

Plan: We crafted a strategy to serve up calls-to-action that are relevant to the user in whatever stage of the buyer’s or customer journey they are. 

Build: We used the Smart Content functionality in the HubSpot CMS to ensure a customer who visits the REI Nation website won’t see calls-to-action that are geared toward prospects, and vice versa. Additionally, we use tokens to provide a personalized experience to users on certain website pages, and of course, in email communications as well.

Fortify: We continue to identify ways to use technology to support REI Nation in efficiently providing a highly-contextualized, delightful user experience for their customers and prospects alike. 

Training That Transforms:

Problem: REI Nation’s in-house marketing and tech teams had several junior-level employees when we began working with them. Despite thoughtful in-house leadership, several of these team members opted to seek employment elsewhere when the business operations began to level up. After this transition, the leadership team chose to bring in a seasoned professional as their VP of Marketing. Shortly after, she hired a handful of pros to assist her in implementing the plan. While each of these pros brought impressive capabilities, none of them was familiar with HubSpot. 

Plan: We worked with their new VP of Marketing to identify opportunities for skills-building with each member of the in-house team.

Build: We worked with the in-house team to bring them up to speed on the HubSpot functionality they needed to utilize to fulfill their day-to-day responsibilities. 

Fortify: While the team at REI Nation is now running like a well-oiled machine when it comes to HubSpot usage, we remain present as a sounding board to solve problems, build new skills and keep them up to speed on proper usage of their tools.