The State of CRE Marketing Is Getting Smarter

Commercial real estate may not be known for its fast pace when it comes to marketing innovation, but SharpLaunch’s 2025 Industry Report suggests a notable shift: data-driven strategies are no longer optional—they’re the new baseline.

Based on user behavior across thousands of listings from January to August 2025, the report delivers what the industry has long lacked: hard numbers on what actually works in CRE marketing.

Precision Over Promotion

Perhaps the most telling data point is this: 92.1% of listing traffic comes from just two sources: direct visits and email campaigns. That means all the energy spent on social media, portals, and SEO? For most firms, it’s background noise.

This doesn’t signal the death of diversification, but it does confirm that focused, high-quality outreach is the backbone of any effective CRE marketing strategy today.

The Art of the (Subject) Line

Email remains king in CRE, but SharpLaunch makes the case that how and when you send matters just as much as what you’re promoting.

The report finds that subject lines with specific details (dollar amounts, cap rates, property type jargon) dramatically outperform vague alternatives. “$12.5MM STNL Asset – TX” may not sound flashy, but it consistently pulls open rates over 38%.

Timing is equally strategic. Tuesdays between 4 and 5 PM emerged as the sweet spot for engagement, while weekends and evenings predictably fall flat.

The lesson? Precision matters more than polish.

Rich Content, Real Engagement

SharpLaunch’s report also confirms something CRE marketers have long suspected: depth of content drives real results.

Listings that include 15+ detail sections, downloadable floor plans, and professional visuals don’t just look good, they increase engagement by up to 57%. Time on page more than doubles when floor plans and video tours are included, jumping from 39 to nearly 86 seconds.

Buyers are busy, but not indifferent. They’ll engage if you give them something to engage with.

Conversions Follow the Money

When it comes to converting interest into action, bigger deals are still the easiest to close, at least in terms of confidentiality agreements.

CA execution rates top out at 89.8% for $50M+ listings, compared to just 61% for smaller $1–10M deals. That’s not surprising, but it reinforces a larger point: serious buyers show up for serious deals, and marketing needs to reflect that level of professionalism and polish.

Mobile Is No Longer Optional

A striking 28% of all CRE traffic now comes from mobile devices—up significantly from years past. That stat alone should be a wake-up call for firms still clinging to clunky, desktop-first platforms.

In 2025, a listing that doesn’t load properly on a phone is a listing that might not get seen at all.

The Tech Behind the Curtain

Behind every slick property site is a CRE tech stack that, according to the report, is still playing catch-up. WordPress (used by 80% of firms), Office 365, and Salesforce dominate, but fragmentation is everywhere.

Most firms piece together tools that weren’t designed to talk to each other, resulting in what the report calls “functional but fragile” systems. Even among firms using CRE-specific tools, integration remains a major challenge, particularly when aligning content management with CRMs and email platforms.

A Smarter Future

The 2025 SharpLaunch report doesn’t just offer data—it offers direction.

In a market where margins are thin and attention is thinner, the firms that win are the ones that embrace clarity, specificity, and seamless tech. The days of relying on generic subject lines, half-baked property pages, and disconnected platforms are coming to an end.

For CRE marketers, the message is clear: be precise, be polished, and be ready for mobile. Anything less is a missed opportunity.

Download the Full Report