Can chatbots help real estate companies?

Location, location, location, the famous real estate mantra is as true for properties as it is for communication channels. When applied to communication, it means that a company must be present in all the communication channels its customers are using.

Real estate companies have long understood the physical side of this and attempted to open physical offices near their customers. When the internet became popular they kept up with the times and quickly learned to use friendly, easy to navigate, websites to help people find the right properties.

Today, many have started to lag behind and are missing out on the rise of messaging apps as a C2B communication channel.

A change in habits

Messaging apps started off as a way for people to… well, message each other, and have quickly become the default method of communication for a lot of consumers.

Their efficiency and ability to send quick, short, messages have appealed especially to the millennial generation, that grew up with computers and often prefers the informal text communication style of messaging apps over voice or email.

This generation is often thought of as one of the “kids” that aren’t relevant for businesses like real estate, but in reality, is made of people that are currently in their 30s and are well into the home buying and renting target age. They are also a very influential generation that has shaped the way other people communicate and are very sensitive to friction in the communication process.

Friction refers to the amount of effort needed to communicate with the company. In the past, it was not a significant factor as most businesses had similar business hours and communication methods, but in today’s competitive environment it has become an important factor to determine lead retention.

How real estate companies can adapt

In a world where friction plays such important role companies have to work hard to remove any obstacle, becoming available 24/7 on whatever channel their target market prefers. This is especially true in real estate, where leads can be worth thousands of dollars and realtors often don’t have exclusive rights on a property.

The challenge is that this level of availability can require significant human resources that would increase considerably the cost of each lead. Luckily, if done well, automation can provide a good alternative in the form of chatbots and AI.

A good chatbot can take over the early stages of the interaction, saving your sales team precious time and reducing the human resources required to achieve a satisfactory level of availability. A single chatbot could be deployed on all major messaging apps, handle multiple conversations at the same time while also collecting data and recording it on the company’s CRM.

To help you identify opportunities and navigate the world of chatbots we have put together an awesome team of experts that will assess your company’s unique situation and recommend the right solution. You can reach out to them using the link below.