Just-listed email templates that get opened
Four templates below, one each for past clients, buyers who asked about the area, other agents, and a short one that reads whole on a phone, with fourteen subject lines. Copy one, swap in your listing’s facts, and send it only to people whose consent you can point to, with your name, brokerage and mailing address in the footer and an unsubscribe that works.
The just-listed email is the one piece of listing marketing almost every agent sends and almost nobody reads. The subject line says Just Listed, the body starts with "I’m excited to announce", and it lands next to four others that say the same thing. The templates below put one fact about the house in the subject line, open with the house instead of the agent, and ask for one thing. The second half of the post is the why: who may receive the email under Canada’s anti-spam law, and what every message has to carry.
Four templates to copy
All four are written for the same listing, so you can see what changes between audiences and what stays. The facts in square brackets are yours to swap; the shape holds for any house. Each one ends with the footer CASL requires, which is the part most agents forget when they send from Gmail or Outlook.
What stays the same across the four: the facts come as facts (the year of the kitchen, the size of the lot, the distance to the station), the house is described and never the buyer, there is one ask near the end and nothing after it but the sign-off, and the footer carries your registered name, your brokerage with the word Brokerage, a mailing address and a way off the list.
Fourteen subject lines
The subject line decides whether the rest gets read, so give it the one fact a reader would forward. The address alone does nothing for someone who doesn’t know the street, and "Just Listed" alone says nothing about this house. Phones cut a subject line around forty characters, so the fact goes first and the address last.
- •Pie-shaped lot on Fennell, backing onto the trail: the feature first, the street last.
- •3+1 bedrooms, two blocks from the GO: a number and a distance, no address at all.
- •2022 kitchen and a lower level with its own entrance: two facts a buyer would forward.
- •$749,000 on the west Mountain, open Sunday 2 to 4: the price, for the week the price is the story.
- •A bungalow with a step-free entry on Fennell: the property’s feature, never who it’s for.
- •New on Fennell: 160-foot lot, no neighbour behind: what the lot means, in plain words.
- •Open house Sunday at 95 Fennell, 2 to 4: the event, for the list that comes to open houses.
- •You asked about the west Mountain. This one’s new.: for the buyer who inquired; it names their ask.
- •[First name], the one I mentioned on Fennell is live: for a person you’ve already spoken to, and only them.
- •For your buyers: 3+1 bungalow on Fennell, $749,000: agent to agent, the basics in one line.
- •Five minutes to the escarpment stairs from this one: a distance in minutes reads as a walk.
- •Just listed on Fennell, and why I’d look at the lot first: the one time "just listed" earns its place, with a reason attached.
- •95 Fennell: the lot, the kitchen, the price: three nouns, for the reader who scans.
- •Know anyone looking on the west Mountain?: the referral ask as the subject. For your sphere, never for a buyer.
Who it can go to
Before the sending, the list. A just-listed email encourages someone to take part in a commercial activity, which makes it a commercial electronic message under Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL), and every one of those needs consent. The CRTC’s guidance sets out two kinds.
| The person | Consent you can rely on |
|---|---|
| Someone who ticked a box or told you in writing they want your emails | Express consent. It doesn’t expire, though they can withdraw it any time. |
| A past client who bought, sold or leased through you | Implied, for two years from the transaction (CASL s. 10(10)). |
| Someone who asked you about a listing or your services | Implied, for six months from the inquiry (the same section). |
| Someone who handed you a business card | Implied, only where the email relates to their business role and they didn’t say they don’t want marketing. |
| An agent whose address is on their brokerage website | Implied, only where the email is relevant to their role and the page carries no "no unsolicited messages" note. |
| A person referred to you by a client | One message, naming the person who referred them and saying it was sent because of the referral. After that, you need consent. |
A list built from open house sign-in sheets, a purchased list, or everyone you’ve ever met is where the trouble starts. The maximum penalty per violation is $1 million for an individual and $10 million for a business, and the CRTC says directors and officers can be liable too. Keep a record of how each address got onto the list.
The first two sentences
Most just-listed emails open with the agent. The reader opened it for the house, so start there. The first sentence names the home and the one thing that made you want to see it in person; the second says who it’s for in terms of the property, never the buyer: a main-floor bedroom and a step-free entry, a legal basement apartment, a workshop with 200-amp service.
Write the way you’d tell a friend about it on the phone. "Had a look at 95 Fennell this week. The lot is the thing: a 160-foot pie backing onto the trail, and the kitchen was redone in 2022." Contractions, short sentences, no "stunning", no "won’t last".
What goes in the body
- •Three features, as facts: the year of the kitchen, the size of the lot, the distance to the station. "Renovated" is a claim; "2022 kitchen with a gas range" is evidence.
- •The price and the basics on one line: list price, bedrooms and bathrooms, the type of home.
- •The open house, with the date and time, and a line on what to do if that time doesn’t work.
- •One photo and a link to the full listing: the cover photo, then your listing page or the board’s public page, where the rest of the gallery lives.
Describe the property, never who should live in it. "Perfect for a young family" and "ideal for downsizers" are the phrases that draw fair-housing complaints. "Four bedrooms on one floor" and "a bungalow with a step-free entry" say the same thing about the house.
One ask
An email that asks for a showing, a share, a referral and a reply gets none of them. To past clients and your sphere, the ask is a referral; to buyers who asked about the area, it’s the showing; to other agents, it’s the booking. One sentence, near the end, and nothing after it but your sign-off.
What every message has to carry
CASL adds two requirements to consent, and the CRTC’s guidance spells both out.
- •Who sent it: your name, the brokerage you’re registered with, and a mailing address, phone number, email or web address people can reach you at. The CRTC says the address has to stay valid for at least 60 days after the message is sent.
- •A way out: an unsubscribe link or a reply-to-stop line. A request has to be processed without delay and no later than 10 business days after you receive it. Keep the unsubscribe working for at least 60 days.
- •Your brokerage’s name, as registered: this one comes from RECO rather than CASL. Every advertisement, email signatures included, names the brokerage clearly and prominently, and you use your registered name, with no short forms.
A mail platform handles the unsubscribe and the footer for you. A listing email sent from Gmail or Outlook doesn’t, so the footer is yours to write, and "reply STOP to come off this list" is yours to honour by hand. That is why each template above ends with one.
Frequently asked questions
Can I send a just-listed email to everyone who signed in at my last open house?
Only where you can point to consent. A sign-in that asked whether they want your emails, with a box they ticked, is express consent. A name and email on a sheet, on its own, gives you nothing to point to. A visitor who asked you about a property or your services gives implied consent for six months from the inquiry.
How long is a past client fair game?
CASL’s implied consent from a purchase or lease runs two years from the transaction. After that you need express consent, which is a good reason to ask for it while you’re still working together.
Can I use the same template for every listing?
The shape, yes: a fact in the subject line, the house first, three features as facts, the open house, one ask, the footer. The words, no. The fact that makes the subject line is different for every house, and a reader who gets the same sentences with a new address stops opening them.
Should the price go in the subject line?
Only when the price is the story: a sharp list price, a price improvement, the lowest price on the street in a year. Otherwise it crowds out the feature that would have made someone open the email, and the price is one line down anyway.
How Listing Launchpad handles the just-listed email
Listing Launchpad writes the listing emails from the listing itself, so the facts in the email are the ones on the MLS form, and the sending stays in the tool you already use.
- •The blank page: a Just Listed email is written from the listing’s own details, with a subject line and a plain-text body you copy into Gmail, Outlook or Mailchimp. A Neighbour Outreach note and an Open House Invite are written beside it.
- •The subject line that says nothing: the subject is drawn from the listing’s features and shown in its own box above the body, so you can change it before you send.
- •The same email every month: make your own templates for the moments you write about every month, with Price Improvement, Coming Soon and Back on Market ready to start from. Your saved sign-off closes every one, and they’re written in your brand voice.
- •The footer and the unsubscribe: the emails Listing Launchpad sends for you, the open house reminder, the attendee thank-you, the weekly seller report and the closing reminders, carry a one-click unsubscribe plus your name, brokerage and mailing address, and an unsubscribe, bounce or spam complaint puts that address on your suppression list. The Activity tab shows what was delivered and what bounced. The consent to email someone is still yours to hold.
The Just Listed, Neighbour Outreach and Open House Invite emails are on every plan, Free included. The newsletter, the automated emails, the weekly seller report and delivery tracking are on Pro and Studio, and in the 14-day Pro trial.
Robert Cekan is a REALTOR® in Hamilton, Ontario, the publisher of Urbanicity Hamilton, and the founder of Listing Launchpad. The playbooks here come from running real listings.